So now that Christmas is long over, it’s about time I write something on it. It feels like it was months ago already. Where to start? How about with Christmas Eve. Mike and I hosted Christmas Eve at our house this year. I didn’t have to work so I spent the day preparing food and cleaning up the house. I made a turkey — my first ever! Although it started off roughly (I couldn’t find the giblets sack and had to call my Mom and Mike for instructions on where to look!), the final product turned out deliciously. My family decided to switch things up a bit this year and go to the earliest Christmas Eve service our church was offering. Usually we go to the evening one, but we decided to go early and spend the rest of the evening eatting and hanging out. Bad idea. The service we chose was supposed to be the “family friendly” one, but we didn’t know exactly what that meant. Well, it meant that instead of having a candle lit service, we received neon glow sticks at the door. And everything was definitely directed towards children. If we had kids it would have been great. But we didn’t. And I kind of felt like I was gipped out of our Christmas Eve service. Oh well. Next time we’ll know not to go to the “family friendly” service! =)
After church the whole family headed over to mine and Mike’s house and we spent the evening eating and watching Christmas movies. The next day, Mike and I woke up around 8 a.m. and headed downstairs to see what Santa brought us. He definitely spoiled us this year! My favorite gift was the boxed set of Friends — the entire series! I’ve been watching it every night before bed. I want to watch the entire series in order. I’m still on Season 1. =) Mike’s favorite present was his new RC airplane. That’s all he’s been talking about for forever. I actually hid it under the guest bed because if I had wrapped it and put it under the tree he would have known exactly what it was. He’s the worst at guessing presents! Give him any wrapped package and he’ll tell you what it is within five seconds.
Mike and his airplane
After Christmas morning at our house, we headed over to my parents. We opened presents there and then continued the Christmas movie tradition and headed over to the theater to see Marley and Me. Marley and Me was sold out so we ended up seeing Bedtime Stories — which was surprisingly good! The rest of our day was spent hanging out with the family. We were also joined by Nick’s parents visiting from Las Vegas, and my parents neighbors. My Dad outdid himself with Christmas dinner. We had the BEST prime rib I’ve EVER eaten! It cooked most of the day because it was such a big hunk of meat. I’m not usually a huge beef eater but I ate so much that night I literally couldn’t stuff another bite in, even though I wanted to.
After leaving my parents that evening we headed over to a friend’s house where a bunch of our good friends had gathered. After taking a group shot of peppermint shnaupps in edible candy cane shot glasses, we ended the night playing games with some of our favorite people in Colorado.
Good Friend, Good Fun
After Christmas, my next big thing to look forward to was my good friend Alice’s visit. Since neither of us had to work between Christmas and New Years she came out the Monday after Christmas and stayed through Friday. We did a lot of fun things while she was here, including sledding in Winterpark, lunch at D Bar (a DELICIOUS dessert restaurant, that also serves lunch. YUM!), shopping, watching The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, and plenty of Wii! She was also here for New Year’s Eve, which deserves it’s own little section. Keep reading. =)
New Year’s Eve
We rang in 2009 at a party thrown by some friends of friends. The theme? White trash New Year’s! It was hilarious. Everyone had to dress to the theme and bring a dish to share that fit in. Some of the dishes included macaroni and cheese, cheez whiz, fried chicken, flaming buffalo turds, pigs in blankets and more. Quite a spread! =) Alice and I went to the thrift store to find our outfits. I ended up looking more like a farmer girl in my overalls, plaid shirt and pigtails, but I thought Mike looked great! I just tried posting pictures and apparently I’m at my upload limit on this site. Bummer! I’ll have to get that figured out, but meanwhile I uploaded a bunch of pictures here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/34434436@N08/.
And the Fun Continues
My friend Alice left the Friday after New Year’s, and Mike’s Mom (also named Alice) flew in that very same day. This was her first visit to Colorado and we kept her very busy. Saturday Mike had to work so we had a girls lunch at the Brown Palace followed by a tour of the hotel. That night we all went to my parents house for a very yummy dinner made by my brother Chad, the future chef. That was the night we got to meet their cute little puppies for the first time too. Sunday we took a daytrip to Estes Park. It’s a cute little town nestled just outside the Rocky Mountain National Park. We had lunch at what claimed to be the world’s best burger joint and then went over to the Stanley Hotel for a tour. This was the hotel that inspired Stephen King’s novel “The Shining.” The popular Jack Nicholson movie wasn’t filmed at this hotel, but King did film a made for t.v. mini series there. And he stayed there and apparently had some ghostly experiences, similar to some of what he wrote about in The Shining. But anyways, we took a ghost tour that tells you about all the hauntings and weird things that happen at the hotel. It was pretty creepy! Before the tour I always thought it’d be a fun place to stay for a weekend — not so much anymore. I thought the tour was very interesting, but Mike thought it was a load of crap. True or not, it made for an interesting afternoon. After the tour we did some shopping downtown and got some of the best cookies I’ve ever had. Yum!
The chandelier at the Brown Palace. It's only on display during the Christmas season. Off season they keep it in an airplane hanger!
The Stanley Hotel
The most haunted room at the Stanley. It's also the honeymoon suite!
Monday was back to work for me. =( It was very hard, as I enjoyed my vacation so much and it felt like I had been off for much longer than a week and a half. I survived though, and I’m getting back into the swing of things. Mike and his Mom spent the day going to Chick Fil-A, visiting Outdoor World, and touring the Coors factory in Golden before we dropped her off at the airport that night for her flight home. We had a really good time with her and hope that she enjoyed Colorado as much as we do!
Now everything’s back to business as usual. My Mom and I have started planning my sister’s bridal shower and I’ve been keeping very busy with that. I won’t say what we’re doing yet because it’s a surprise and my sister may read this, but after March 21 there will be plenty of pictures of the event to post. I’m also going to help my friend Melissa as she begins planning her July wedding in Florida. We’re supposed to go look at possible decorations/ center pieces this weekend which should be fun. They’re getting married on the beach so they’re thinking of carrying the theme over into their reception which I think would be really cute. I love weddings. =)
With the holidays over, I’m counting down to Feb. 5 when I leave for NYC! I’m so excited! But at the same time a little nervous. I have to take a train all by myself from the airport in Long Island to the city. Yikes! Hope I don’t get lost! This will also be the furthest I’ve been away from Mike, and the longest plane ride by myself. I just can’t think about that part!
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