Christmas! (And New Year's) Catch-Up

It certainly feels like the holidays came in a big rush, swept over me and now have receded into the background until next year. I think this may have something to do with starting my new job, as I was so busy during the week leading up to Christmas that I had little time or energy to spend enjoying the season. It's a bit sad, but hopefully next year things won't be quite as hectic.

One good thing about starting the new job is that Michael and I (finally!) had the same holiday schedule, and we both had Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve off from work. Usually I end up working both days, and in the past I have worked on New Year's day too. So it was nice to spend a little time together. Christmas Eve we raced around finishing up our shopping, but still made time to stop by two music shops in search of the guitar Michael has his sights on: a Les Paul Standard Plus Top Amber. He ended up ordering it from Five Star Guitars in Beaverton (a small shop that always feels crowded but is staffed by really good guitar players), and then we decided to check out American Music Company in Tigard just to see what they might have--can you tell that he really wanted it for Christmas? ;) The second store is much larger, being part of a chain, and felt less hectic than Five Star. A very knowledgeable employee talked shop with Michael and let him play a beautiful Les Paul guitar much like the one he ordered but with a smoky gray finish instead of amber. It's called a "Silverburst," which I think is a fantastic name. Michael loved its sound and looked so happy playing it. I'm excited for him!

We spent a quiet evening at home that night, exhausted from our day of shopping, but happy to be together at Christmas. The next day, my parents arrived at our house at noon, bringing bags of gifts and food and it really began to feel festive! We spent the next few hours playing Santa for each other and preparing a delicious meal of pineapple ham, baby red potatoes, green beans in tomato sauce (a childhood favorite for me), rolls and both apple pie and gingerbread for dessert. None of us were starving when we sat down to dinner in the first place, having snacked on a Costco veggie tray as well as assorted crackers and cheeses during the previous few hours. I went off of my diet (again!) and ate almost an entire wedge of Brie all on my own. I paid for it later, but boy, was it ever the most wonderful thing at the time. :)

The next week was another extremely busy one at work, as I tried hard to learn the ropes and keep up with the projects asked of me, and before I knew it, Michael and I were off again for New Year's Eve. It was a much calmer day for us, spent together mostly at home with a trip out to Costco and to REI thrown in for good measure. We got chicken teriyaki take-out and spent the evening watching Netflix and trying to stay awake until midnight (can you tell we are not as young as we used to be? ;) ). We tried our hands at recreating the most fabulous pear martini I had when we were in New York a year and a half ago. It was made with Grey Goose vodka (holy cow, is it ever expensive!), but we settled for Absolut pear vodka. When we tried making them at Christmas, we added champagne to the vodka but realized that we need to find some that isn't too dry, or the combination of flavors is just way too strong. Instead of champagne, we tried the vodka with some sparkling pear juice and found that combo to be quite nice: not too strong and with a pleasant taste. I haven't figured out how to get it as smooth as the one I had in New York, but maybe it's impossible to recreate it exactly without knowing what type of champagne they used. I think there were one or two other ingredients as well, and I have to find the note I made from that trip in order to get a more precise recipe. Regardless, it's fun experimenting, and if it's too strong for me, Michael will drink it. ;)

New Year's Day we had Michael's sister Christy, and her kids Ryan and Jessica over for snacks and video games. They wanted to try out the Kinect that we recently got for the Xbox. Christy's husband Dean joined us after he got off of work, and Michael went out for a couple of Papa Murphy's pizzas to bake at home. I made my own gluten-free pizza from a mix I got at Whole Foods, and I was really very impressed with how it turned out. The mix made two crusts and I froze one so I could have a quick and easy dinner the next week. For sauce I used some Trader Joe's spaghetti sauce, and added sun-dried tomatoes, yellow pepper, broccoli, olives, feta cheese, and some fresh basil leaves. It was extremely good! The crust tasted "healthy" but it wasn't bad, just different than regular pizza crust. Next time I'd like to get the different ingredients that make up the flour and try making it totally from scratch instead of using a mix.
It was nice seeing Dean, Christy and the kids and catching up with all of them. Of course Ryan and Jessica fell in love with the Kinect and would have happily stayed playing it all night . . . it was fun watching how involved with it they were. Hopefully, we'll be able to get together again soon!

Our holiday season was a mixture of rushing and resting, and while it was over far too quickly, it was very enjoyable. Wishing you a wonderful start to 2011. May it be a fabulous year for all of us!