Well, it’s been such a wonderful holiday season so far!  We’ve had such a memorable  time with family and friends, and our own little family unit.  🙂  The interesting thing about this year, is that I didn’t feel all stressed out and panicky as I typically find myself being.  For some reason around the holidays, I just start panicking, and I worry, worry, worry, until I make myself sick!  Don’t ask me why…I think it’s in my genes.  But this year, I was really concentrating on being at peace, and letting things go…setting goals for things that I wanted to get done, but not freaking out if those goals weren’t met.  I tried to embrace the alternative if a change in plans had to occur.  Well…I guess I was actually successful this time, as I spent the most peaceful and enjoyable Christmas that I can remember in a very long time.  I’m sure my family did too, because they inevitably feel the pressure pouring off me when I’m in that precarious state of mind.  So, all were blessed by my atypical holiday sanity, lol! 😉  (Well…I can’t say that I didn’t get sick, though, as I’m sick with the flu as I write these words…a lovely gift from my daughters, who decided to spend Christmas week throwing up.  How sad for them…and how happy I am that they shared with their mom, lol! )

Our first item on the agenda was to go to a movie as a family…Twilight New Moon.  This was actually on my 13 year old daughter’s wish list, lol!  So, we all trundled off to the theater to get our vampire/werewolf fix until the next installment comes out next year.  There were plenty of satisfied girlies in the audience, as there was no lack of very handsome lads on screen, who preferred walking around sans shirt, lol! 😉  This last week we actually were able to see Avatar as a family as well…Awesome movie!  One of the best we’ve seen in a long time…except maybe the new Sherlock Holmes (my hubby and I went to see this one), which was just as satisfying, and that’s saying a lot as we’re big fans of the classic stories, and wouldn’t have appreciated a lot of veering from their original characters.  Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law made an excellent investigative duo!

After we saw New Moon, we planned to go on a middle of the week excursion to the Great Wolf Lodge in Grand Mound, WA!  We’ve never been before, and have wanted to go ever since we watched the huge resort being built as we would travel up and down the freeway.  My daughter’s school was having an event there, and so we got in on an excellent deal, otherwise their prices really would not have allowed us to go…whewy…speeeend-y!  We actually brought a lot of our own food with us to save a few bucks, lol…I know how to have fun and still be frugal! 😉  The rooms were great, and the swimming area was SO FUN!  I loved going down the water tubes and splashing in the wave pool with my girlies and hubby.  In the evening, it actually SNOWED in the huge lobby, can you believe that?!  So cool!  Needless to say, we had an excellent time and stayed until the very last minute…definitely an excersion to remember always!

The following Saturday, Evan and I got all dressed up to attend his company’s Christmas Party.  Then, on Sunday we got to go to my family’s Christmas party, where we had a big gift exchange with some fun pranks thrown in, lol!  (I won’t mention any names…) I got to hold my brand new great nephew, Tristan, for the very first time.  He was only 7 days old at the time, and oh, so tiny!  He was only 5 lbs and 2 oz when he was born and dropped a little weight his first week…it was like holding a cloud.  I don’t think I’ve ever held a baby that tiny before.  He was definitely a sweetie pie!

After this, we came to the week of Christmas.  My little family has, for some years now, celebrated Christmas in a little bit of a different way than the norm.  We try to love and appreciate each and every gift given as well as time with each other, rather than the mad dash to tear off the paper and grab the next gift that comes to hand that is usually experienced when everything is crammed into one day.  We started celebrating the 12 days of Christmas (or as near to it as we could, determined by how many presents we were able to get that year.)  by opening one present each night, and then doing something fun as a family.  Some of the before mentioned things were part of this celebration.  This year, we had enough presents to start the week of, and everyone enjoyed seeing the sparkle of eyes as that one special present was opened for the day.  We love doing it this way! 🙂

On Christmas Eve day, Evan and I went out for a couple last minute errands, and then for a drive out to the country.  Such beautiful country here in our new town!  We live not far from Mt. Rainier, and so there’s lots of green and hills just outside the bustle of the city.  Here are some shots of a lovely spot we found on our drive…this bridge was on the way to a glacier and was teetering about 150 feet over this deep ravine.  It was so cold there that the water was causing mist to rise into the trees…the pics really don’t do the rugged beauty of the place true justice, but they give you a good idea.

Soon, I’ll share with you all the loomy goodness that I was able to share with my loved ones and friends this holiday season…it was truly a “handcrafted with love ” year!  I think those are the best kind, don’t you?  When you receive, or give, something that was made lovingly for that special someone…it just means so much more…it’s a gift from heart to heart.  ❤

I hope your holiday season has been that kind of year…filled with warm hugs and time with loved ones, while celebrating in your own special way…

Bethany~