christmas recap

Christmas 2010 was magical.

Phil had to work until 1:00 on Christmas Eve so I held down the fort making calendars for my mom and sister. They tend to be a big pain in the bazooka, but they turn out so cool.


Then we had a couple of stores to visit. Last minute shopping stuff. You know how it is.

For the first time in our married lives we went to the Christmas Eve service at church. It's not that we're heathens and never go, it's usually because we're at Phil's aunt and uncle's house. But they made other plans for their immediate family this year, so we went with Plan B.

Then we went out for Chinese at our favorite place. Just the two of us. We found it quite funny that the little Chinese lady kind of scolded us for not ordering any vegetables.

Our usual tradition is to start opening gifts around a quarter til 12, that way he gets to open his stuff on Christmas Eve and I get to open my stuff on Christmas morning. (Hey! It works for us.) Except this year. We were tired and went to bed at 11.

We were giddy with excitement on Christmas morning. OK, maybe giddy isn't the best word to describe us, and I was like, "Is Starbucks open?" but we were up at 7 to open gifts.

We both bought each other an ornament this year. I got him a University of Oregon snowman. You know. . . national champions. They need representation on our tree. He got me a Willow Tree Angel. I opened an empty box. I was like, "What the heck? Where is it? Hanging on the tree???" The angel, he said, had indeed been hanging on the tree for about 3 weeks.

Give me a break, people. It was the back side of the tree.

We spent Christmas Day with two fabulously fun families. And I am so ever grateful for the way they open their homes to us.

We ate monkey bread and played Guitar Hero.

I totally lost my mojo since the last time I played Guitar Hero. Hotel California just wasn't as good this time around.

And, in case you didn't know, Phil505 surprised me with a trip to the coast.

He told me after I opened two of my gifts: umbrellas and binoculars. Both are necessities on the coast.

We stayed in Manzanita. Our first time exploring Manzanita. I like it there. One of the stores sells scrapbook supplies. Because you never know when you might need something scrappy in a pinch.

We went to Mo's for their world famous clam chowder. I still can't believe I actually eat clam chowder. But it's so good on a cold, rainy day.

It rained. And it rained. And it rained. Which is to be expected on the Oregon Coast in the winter.

But it doesn't matter because it's still beautiful, even in the rain.