'tis the season

It's so nice to not be traveling during the holidays, especially watching the news and seeing all of the delays at the airports. Rick and I had a nice, quiet and enjoyable weekend to ourselves.

By Thanksgiving, I had finished all of my Christmas shopping. I had six nieces to shop for and ship gifts, and since I'm not a fan of crowds (malls) or lines (post office), I was hellbent on making sure I didn't subject myself to either. Being that this was our first Christmas together, I had suggested that we start some traditions of our own including exchanging ornaments with each other.

I set out to find the "perfect" ornament for Rick, and so I went to Hallmark to scour their collectibles. You wouldn't believe the specialized keepsake ornaments they have. And there it was, on the bottom shelf, the ornament that I wanted to give Rick for Christmas.

Inscribed on the box:

"Beauty all around,

Snow falling without a sound,

Twinkling lights,

Sparkling nights,

Stars shining above,

Hearts filled with love...

Christmas."

I had the perfect picture of us while we were in Lanesboro to insert into the frame. I think the reason I liked this ornament so much is that it reminds me of the times where we would sit in the swing on my back patio and watch the dogs play in the yard.

We were too excited to exchange gifts to wait for Christmas Day, so we decided that since there's no kids, and no Santa Claus to work around, we'd open our gifts on Christmas Eve.

Christmas Eve
On Saturday (Christmas Eve) we woke up and thought it would be fun to go to the Seattle Aquarium. Rick had been given two free admission tickets from work months ago, and they were going to expire by the end of the year. He hadn't been to the aquarium and so was excited to be finally going. He only had one more errand to do that day as well -- getting me my ornament.

He had gone out the other night after work in search of the ornament that he wanted to get me, but got distracted with other unplanned Christmas shopping. So I suggested we go to the aquarium and then we could make a pit stop at a Hallmark store for him to find something.

It was raining pretty good and so the breezeways in the aquarium were a little chilly. We spent a good hour walking through the exhibits -- watching the sea otters and harbor seals, listening to the researcher talking about the six gill shark research being done beneath the pier at the aquarium, and sitting in the dome aquarium while the volunteer divers fed the fish. As we were leaving, we walked out through the gift shop, where Rick spied the ornament he wanted to get me. An ornament from the Seattle Aquarium was very fitting given our Christmas Eve activity, and would be the perfect way for me to remember this Christmas. I kept my eyes closed so that I wouldn't see it before he gave it to me later that evening.

We decided to spend Christmas at my place, and so to set the mood, the Christmas tree lights came on, the Christmas CDs played, the candles were lit, and the wine was drank. We cozied up to the Christmas tree, the dogs running around the living room. The first present Rick grabbed was one for the dogs. I think in an effort to distract them from the get go. We each took a wrapped present and ripped off the wrapping paper. A plush fire hydrant and mailbox. Beaux immediately went for the fire hydrant and all I saw was his tail as he happily left the living room. Zoe settled for the mailbox and went off to another corner of the room.

Now it was our turn. We each opened our ornaments. Rick really liked the one I got for him and he promptly put it on the tree. I opened mine from the aquarium -- a beautiful cloisonne seahorse.

I handed Rick a gift from and he selected a gift for me to open. I waited as he unwrapped his gift. Voila....Pop Up Karma Sutra. When I saw it in Fireworks I thought it was hysterical, so I couldn't resist. :) I opened my box and saw a beautiful glass candle holder with a candle.

I was excited to give Rick his "main" gift. A couple of days before Christmas he was pressing me with guesses of what I might have gotten for him. He was convinced I'd gotten him a parka. I loved the look on his face when he opened the iPod. He had no idea, even though I was certain that he was on to me in November when I thought I gave it away several times, especially when he was buying his new car stereo and I encouraged him to get it iPod ready. I bet he's glad he did now.

The other gift I got him was a CD by Royksopp (to go with his iPod). He was a little puzzled when he opened the CD, not really knowing what it was. And so I told him, "You know that Geico commercial with the caveman at the airport that you think it hilarious? And that song that you really like? Well, I looked it up and it's called Remind Me by Royksopp." He thought that was pretty cool.

So then it was my turn to open my gift. I knew he had gotten me some jewelry in Lanesboro because as we were preparing to fly back, he asked me about having valuables in checked luggage. I told him it wasn't a good idea and to carry on anything that he didn't want stolen. He pulled out a gold wrapped box, and said, "You're going to find out about this, so you can decide if you want to open it now or later." I opted for later. :)

So I sat next to the tree with my gold wrapped jewelry box. I opened it up and inside was a beautiful Tahitian black pearl necklace. What was even more sweet was that he had called my sister back in Seattle while he was in Crown Trout jewelers to get her opinion on whether I would like the necklace. I did!

I couldn't find a picture of it online, but here's a close replica.















To cap off the evening, we stayed up until 1 am watching Tivoed episodes of King of Queens and The Dog Whisperer.

Christmas Day
My brother-in-law had suggested going skiing, but we opted to have a lazy morning instead, finally rolling out of bed around 11 am.

I'd been antsy about spending some time in the backyard raking up the leaves and landmines (aka dog poop) that had been left unattended for quite awhile now. We grab the rake, gloves and garden tools and stepped out into the sunshine to give some badly needed TLC to the yard, especially with all of the tree branches that had been tossed onto the yard during last week's vicious wind and rain storm.

Uggh. Lots of poop. I need to get on that now that the leaves are no longer an excuse as to why I haven't ventured out there to clean up. Rick, of course, was a trooper and we went beyond the originally intended yardwork to start clearing away some overgrown brush at the base of a couple of trees. We still have much more work to do with that, but there's more time before spring to get to that.

Andrea and Jeff came over with their dog and so the four of us headed over to the dog park to get the three dogs some exercise -- and hopefully exhaust Zoe (if that's even possible).

For Christmas Day Dinner, Jeff and Andrea joined us and instead of reliving the full blown glutfest of Thanksgiving 2006, we toned it down with a honey glazed ham from Honey Baked Ham, complemented with cheese and chocolate fondue. Jeff is the chef, so Rick, Andrea and I sat around and munched on pieces of baguette and apples until the cheese fondue was ready. And on my word was it good. Top it off by dipping the ham in the cheese and I was in fondue heaven.

Stuffed from the cheese, we gathered in the livingroom to watch "My Super Ex-Girlfriend. Now ready for the chocolate fondue dessert, we pulled out Clue and played a round while the chocolate melted. Rick had never played it before, so as Jeff told him the rules (and I got my refresher) we quickly got engrossed in the game.

Then came out the strawberries, angel food cake, apples, and even more bread. Dip, dip, yum, yum. Andrea and I were both on a sugar high, and she started to have a giggle fit, which them set me into one. Both the boys just sat there and starred at each other in disbelief. I can only imagine they were thinking, "What the hell did we get ourselves into?"

It was getting late, and Rick had to work the next day, so we shuttled Jeff and Andrea home with all of the leftovers and called it a night.

I can't think of a better way to spend Christmas!

As I think about what a difference a year makes, I remember this time last year.

Jon had just dumped me (just a week before Christmas). I had planned to spend Christmas Eve and Day with him and was then going to be meet my family in Salt Lake City. I ended up alone on Christmas Eve sitting in the movie theater watching "The Chronicles of Narnia" while some guy sitting in the seat behind me hacked up a lung.

Christmas Day 2005, I was very grateful to Nate & Janya to invite me to join them and Nate's mom for dinner at the Barking Frog (I distinctly remember ordering the beef wellington.) I was so happy to not have to spend Christmas Day alone that year while I nursed my hurt feelings and yet again broken heart.

The last twelve months have flown by. I finally released myself emotionally from Jon, I met an incredible man, and we've been together for nearly six months now. I've met his family, he's met some of mine. He's coming to Europe with me....nearly six months away. (Now if that isn't commitment, I don't know what is.)

As the new year approaches, I am excited to see what the next twelve months bring....