We have had a wonderful time this holiday season even though we've been stuck at home because of all the stay-at-home orders going on. We've made the best of the situation by still celebrating - I know lots of people who stayed in PJs all holiday but we did the opposite and went big with celebrating small!
First, I got in on the advent action when Way sent me this delightful advent calendar from Palais de Thes. It was super fun to wake up each morning and open a little treat, and then text with Way and Samantha to compare tasting notes. There were some intriguing flavors and I have to say that I was surprised to find out how much I liked the green earl grey. Thanks for the lovely treat, Way!
 |
| I loved all the inspirational quotes each day. |
 |
| Beautiful packaging. |
Then, my mom got us a shipment of Portos goodies. YUMMMMMMM! No potato balls but we got chicken empanadas, chocolate twists, guava and cheese strudels and cream cheese tarts. Thanks, mom, for the yummy treats!
The girls even put on a little holiday concert for us a few times. They dressed up and worked on different lighting options and everything! You can't really tell in the pics though because we had to turn on the lights in order for the photos to turn out.
The week before Christmas, we decided to do a Christmas celebration with our quanran-team, the Wongs. It gave us a chance to dress up and eat lots of good food, and the kids did a secret santa to exchange gifts.
 |
| The kids goofing around in front of the tree. |
 |
| Me and my girls |
 |
| All ready for dinner! |
 |
| Soy sauce turkey |
 |
| First time making sticky rice. YUMMY. |
And then for the ACTUAL day of Christmas Eve and Christmas, we had Grammie and Grandpa visiting from LA! The girls were beyond excited to see them since we haven't seen them in many months. I was super sad to not see my side of the family - this is the first time in 41 years that I haven't been home for Christmas! I had to make do with several Facetime calls and sending pics back and forth of the girls and what we were making for dinner. :P
Since the weather was clear, we did a quickie Christmas Eve hike to show Grammie and Grandpa where Goldie is buried. Goldie lays near the Coal Creek dam and it's a fairly easy 10-15 minute walk through the woods to get there. It was very chilly, but clear, and we saw lots of other folks out and about enjoying nature.
 |
| Nora being a good sport about taking photos. |
 |
| Hiking photo |
For Christmas Eve, we heated up a Costco ham (pretty good! Recommended!), made some freshly baked no-knead dinner rolls, and then cooked up some wild rice and green beans. For dessert, we had the usual cookie platter which was chockful of home made deliciousness - oatmeal raisin cookies, brownie cookies, zucchini bread, pecan lace cookies and cranberry butter tarts. I think this may have been our best year of cookies yet!
 |
| Photos before dinner |
 |
| All dressed up! |
 |
| The girls wanted to do a funny photo. |
 |
| Festive bubbly |
 |
| Dessert tray |
 |
| I love this candid photo of Evie laughing |
 |
| Nora showing me her chocolate lipstick |
On Christmas day, we spent all morning opening gifts! It was a lot of fun and took a while because usually we split present opening into 3 different events (Christmas morning at Grammie's house, Christmas night at the Apollo Yu house and then our immediately family gifts when we come home after the holidays). The girls were over the moon for their gifts, and there was a lot of squealing and happiness.
For dinner that night, I made a pot roast type dish, mashed potatoes and brussel sprouts. For dessert, I finally had time to make the cranberry curd tart I've been wanting to make for ages! I see so many pretty instagram photos of it and while mine looked ok, it was really quite yummy. It was a lot more work than I thought it would be, but it was good and I'd make it again for a special occasion.
 |
Ginormous pile of gifts.
|
 |
| Photo of them in last year's Christmas jammies |
 |
| An action shot of the unwrapping. |
 |
| Most unusual and surprising gift: Scott made me a homemade squatty potty. |
 |
| Dinner that night of pot roast, mashed potatoes and brussel sprouts |
 |
| Cranberry curd tart |
And that concludes all of our holiday trimmings and trappings! Considering the craziness that was 2020, this Christmas was really low key but nice. I missed everyone very very much though and can't wait to see everyone again in person hopefully sometime soon!
 |
| Our Christmas Card wall. If you sent a card - thank you!! |
 |
| Merry Christmas, everyone! |
Aww, looks like you guys had a great Christmas week! I'm glad. We wish we could be together during the holidays this year too. We miss all of you SO MUCH!
ReplyDelete