Hi and Merry Christmas to Youuuuu

HI and merry, merry Christmas from Alex, Cooper, Roary, Lexie, and I. 

 

 

I really hope that you were so busy stuffing yourselves with turkey and sweets (and spending time with your loved ones)(maybe I should have those two activities reversed, haha) that you didn't notice my lack of posts over the last few weeks. It was pretty much Crazytown over here.

 

We were on a roll with the whole holiday preparation business, even shopping for gifts in November (a first time for us procrastinators). However, Cooper got his very first cold two weeks ago (boo hoo) and we ended up hiding in the house for over a week watching all three seasons of The United States of Tara and reversing all of the progress we made on the crib-sleeping. Whoopsie. Long story short, we got a bit behind. 

 

We hosted two Christmas dinners this year, one dinner for twelve on the Saturday night before Christmas and then one dinner for eighteen on Christmas Eve. Needless to say it was a little haywire trying to get everything ready on time. We couldn't have done it without the help of Cooper's two grandmas who took turns entertaining him while we vacuumed dust bunnies and made creamy vegetable casseroles.

 

There were so many times when I wanted to stop and take some photos (of our Christmas tree with the gifts all wrapped underneath it, or the mint chocolate cheesecake that I baked for dessert, etc.) but it was just too chaotic this year (in a good way of course)!

 

I thought I would share some randoms from our Christmas this year:

 

- The power went out on our street at 5:30 p.m. during Christmas Dinner #1. Luckily everything was cooked by then but we had to light about 5000 candles and we still couldn't see what we were doing. It was pretty fun though, I have to admit. Oh yeah, and my candle collection came in very handy.

 

- My aunt brought over a box of cocoa-dusted truffles that Alex and I have been looking for for the last two years! (She gave some to us when we hosted Christmas in 2009 and we've been obsessing about them ever since.) We both squealed in delight when we saw them, then hid the box at the back of a cupboard so we wouldn't have to share. Muhahaha!

 

- I tried a brand new-to-me recipe for Sweet Potato Pie and it was a hit! I got the recipe from a friend who brought it to a potluck last year. I finally tried making it myself and I'm in love. My new favorite holiday recipe. 

 

- All Alex wanted for Christmas was snow machine gear. He's wanted a used machine for the last few years and finally bit the bullet and got one. We had a winter storm with 25 cm of snow in 24 hours on the weekend so he begged me to open his helmet early so that he could go for a ride. I caved. ;)

 

- Alex surprised me with some fridge organizers. I guess I made a bit of a scene when I saw them in the aisle at Costco a few weeks ago. What a good husband to indulge in my extreme nerdiness! 

Image - Crate and Barrel

- Alex's best bud at work made some absolutely delicious homemade Pulla (Finnish dessert bread). Since it's tradition at our house to have some every Christmas, we let Cooper try it for the first time. Let's just say that he smooshed every last bit into that little belly of his.

 

- Cooper got two toboggans for Christmas, an awesome wooden one with skis that converts to a wagon for the spring / summer and a plastic one that he can use for now while he still needs a bit of support to sit up. He went for his first little sleigh ride on Christmas day and he babbled away the whole time. Score 1 for Santa!

 

 

I'm off to clean up my wrapping paper mess and drink another cup of coffee. Other than that we are doing absolutely nothing for the next few days. Dreamy.

 

P.S. How was your Christmas??? Did Santa bring you anything fun like, you know, fridge organizers? ;)