Tag: holidays

Christmas 2011 Highlights


Oh, Christmas – sometimes its just so hard to recap after such epic events! And epic they were this year … we hosted our 1st annual Christmas Eve Open House (which was super fun by the way), and then we spent an awesome time with all of the Faceys on Christmas Day.

Here are a few highlights!

Because I am a perfectionist, I had to manually apply my fancy holly leaf sprinkles with tweezers to impress my guests at the Open House.

The effort was totally worth it, I think they turned out darling!

Christmas Eve wouldn’t be the same without my mother-in-law’s fabulous salad. I’ve tried to replicate it many times, but it’s just not the same. Spinach, red onions, craisins, blackberries, toasted almond slices, pomegranate arils and a very special vinaigrette are all part of the magic. I must’ve had atleast 3 plates of it!

Great friends showed up to share the evening with us!
   

Ed’s dad and new Stepmother arrived to celebrate

And even Ruby’s future boyfriend Ollie was there!

Ruby got a new baby doll from Halmoni and lots of other very special gifts from her and Grand-Uncle Wonil
 

And Uncle Lewis & Aunt Mary got some serious quality time in with Miss Ruby

Finally, it was time for Santa’s newest Elf to get started on gift assembly after the party was over …

Nice work, Daddy!

And here she is … awake on Christmas morning!

I love my chair!

Obsessed with her new toy puppy from Santa Alice at AutoPacific!

Grandma + Papaw even came over in the morning to watch Ruby open her presents. Here she is helping Papaw with one of his

After all of the excitement, Ruby took a morning nap … and Mommy + Daddy got to enjoy a Christmas Morning Mimosa.

That afternoon, we headed over to Grandma + Papaw’s for more food and fun. At my baby shower, my parents gave me a few of my baby dresses that they had been saving over the years for my own daughter to wear one day. One of the dresses was a red velvet one that I had worn on my very 1st Christmas when I was 10 months old. (I need to scan a picture!). Here is Ruby wearing that very same dress 35 years later:

We scored an awesome red Cuisinart dutch oven! Can’t wait to use it!

Ruby with Grandma + Papaw

Eric’s family arrived and we all shared a scrumptious dinner. Mom cooked TWO geese and a ham this year … not to mention all the other traditional family sides!

It was a fantastic year – I love Christmas!

Santa Visits: Then and Now

Last year, 5 weeks old

This year, 13 months old

Poor Ruby. Not so into Santa this year. We’re hoping that one day she’ll get a kick out of this pic in her baby book at least?

Unfortunately, Ruby wasn’t the only anti-Santa kid this year either. We decided to get together with our good friends The Shriers and The Arzates so that we could get a group pic of the future BFF’s Berlin, Violet and Ruby all together. Complete chaos.

Another Crafty Christmas Moment

When I was at Jo-Ann’s oogling all of the Christmas stuff this year as I was preparing to make my Christmas treats, I came across this idea on how to make a ribbon wreath. All the ones I had seen before weren’t really my style, but this one with all of the bows all over it was right up my alley! I decided to take the plunge and make one, especially since I already have so much ribbon in my “archives”. I am proud of how it turned out!

Christmas Treats: Chocolate-Dipped Pretzel Rods


Everybody knows how much I love Christmas – and of course, making treats for friends is one of my favorite things about this season! Since we had a ton of red chocolate left over from Ruby’s birthday party, my mom came up with the great idea of using it with pretzels. I especially loved the idea, because a pretzel dipped in less than .5oz of chocolate is almost guiltless! I decided to do 4 different types of decorations for them and package them in clear plastic bags. The packaging was a lot simpler than my usual stuff, but the pretzels ended up being so pretty that they just had to be the main focal point!

Here’s how they turned out:

Close-up on sprinkles:

In sets of three, before packaging:

All pretty and ready to go!

Now I’m getting excited about what I’ll make for our 1st annual Christmas Eve Open House!

Thanksgiving Day 2011

We had a fantastic Thanksgiving this year. It was cause for major reflection, as last year, Thanksgiving was the 1st holiday that there were three of us cool Kims, instead of just two! It’s pretty amazing that we’re now officially done with all of Ruby’s “1st” Holidays … last year, she was just 3 weeks old on Thanksgiving, and this year – we have a toddler!

What a difference a year makes!

 

This year, we decided to set a new family tradition … Ed, Ruby & I participated in the Long Beach Turkey Trot 5K! It was awesome … and just so much fun. We definitely want to keep this tradition up and do it every year! Ed & I ran it in about 35 minutes … not bad for dodging in & out through major crowds with a stroller!
Here I am, ready to take it on … and here’s Ruby, carb-loading before the big race … :)
 

After the race, it was time to get home and get cookin’. We were responsible for the vegetable sides this year, so we decided on roasted vegetables and a yummy, healthy take on a green bean casserole. Everybody liked my green beans so much that we decided to put them in the annual rotation! Here are my loves keeping me company in the kitchen:

After getting to my parents house, we had our proper feast (Mom never disappoints) and Ruby even tasted her first bite of Pumpkin Pie!

We couldn’t be more thankful for an amazing daughter, our lovely families, our fabulous friends and our happy little home! Happy Thanksgiving!