Home for the Holidays

I've really got to get on this blogging thing again...

Christmas 2009. Seattle.

The whole gang was home +1 new 8 month old addition. I must say it was a fantastic break full of relaxation, food and family. I caught up on plenty of tv shows and you tubes that will help me achieve nothing, aside from some good laughs.

I was the first to get in town and was able to see 'A Christmas Carol,' on stage with my parents for a work function. It was in the round, something I've never experienced before! I loved it despite the fact that Scrooge spit when he talked...a lot...

I met up with a couple friends and ate at a vegan bakery and rummaged around a vintage shop or two (can't find too many of those around Provo).

For the past, oh, 14 years my family has had the tradition of eating at the Space Needle for Christmas Eve dinner. We eat early so we can watch the sun set and all of the city lights come on. It's something that always look forward too! This year we had perfect weather. I had salmon. Being in the North West, I order seafood at any chance I get!

Here's the gang...

I'm pretty sure we started this tradition...maybe not...but it's been there as long as I can remember! Let me explain. The restaurant floor of the Space Needle rotates. Some kid had the bright idea to put a little note on the ledge of the window. Obviously, as the floor rotates, the notes get passed on for all of the other diners to enjoy. We always become close with others in the restaurant through a crayon and sticky note. Some typical messages that I've seen pass by:

"Anyone having the stuffed chicken?"

"I'd avoid the chicken, go for the steak..."

"All I want for Christmas is a boyfriend."

"I'm from Fiji! Where are you from?" A likely story...

Business cards...

You get the idea. There have been a couple years where the waiters try to keep a handle on the notes...usually with little success.

We get the same dessert every year. As a kid it was just the coolest thing...now it's just tradition. It's called the lunar orbiter. All it is, is a dish of ice cream, BUT it sits in a bigger dish which is full of dry ice and hot water.

The views are just hard to beat.

For the past couple of years I've started making crepes for breakfast on Christmas morning. yum.

We went on a ton of walks...trying not to let the Holidays (and the sugar that comes with them) get the best of us! Maria slept through most of them...

We rode a ferry through the Puget Sound to go visit some family. Ferries are always an exciting event...you just never know who (or what) you're going to encounter. Sometimes it's people with cotton balls safety-pinned to 90% of their clothing, others in cow costumes, having it stall like 20 yards from the landing dock, and occasionally you run into the bum sleeping on one of the benches.


Regardless you get to see some of the beautiful tree-covered islands that make up the Puget Sound.

New Year's was exciting. My brother and I drove around down town simply to people watch. We weren't dissapointed in the slightest.

On to 2010. Bring it on.