Christmas 2022--The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

A few interesting kinks in our Christmas this year, but always much more good than bad:)  I am so grateful for this magical time of year!  I cherish these memories so so much.   

The Good

Kya home:  

Mike picked Kya up at 9:30am, then we met Jordan at Maltby cafe.  So fun to be together for breakfast (while Summer was at school haha)

Jordan home (and brought Mikel):

Jordan had to work for most of Christmas break.  Luckily she was able to spend the night on Christmas Eve and then Mikel joined us for Christmas dinner.  I love having a house full.

Presents:

Everyone is always thrilled with their presents, and this year was no exception.  All the kids bought for each other this year, which made the sibling gift exchange on Christmas Eve that much more exciting.

On Christmas morning, somehow Dad ended up with the most gifts--first time ever.

Turkey:

I was so stressed about the turkey this year because it was huge (20+lbs) and it thawed out super quick.  But it cooked up absolutely perfect, and it fit in the pan--yay.

Pulla/Sugar Cookies:

We waiting for Kya to get home before making cookies!  And the pulla almost didn't get made because of my injury (see the bad/ugly section) but I powered through on Christmas Eve. for that sweet smell of pulla.

Stanley:

Only forgot to move a time or two, but showed up on the last day with this adorable bathrobe and slippers.

Snow:

Snow makes Christmas magical right?  Well, it came a few days early and Christmas morning was actually green, but I'm not complaining.  The kids had some solid snow play during the holidays, so we are all good.

Christmas Jammies were a hit (kind of):

Love when the jammies match...and fit!  Summer didn't love hers as much as last year, but she wore them for the picture, so that's a win.

Christmas Sunday:

Christmas Sunday was actually on Christmas this year (which made dinner a little late), so we were all able to go enjoy worshiping together, which is always lovely.

The Bad and the Ugly

Wisdom Teeth:

Kya got her wisdom teeth out 4 days before Christmas.  It put a damper on the festivities because she often felt too sick to do anything and she couldn't open her mouth very wide or eat anything crunchier than mashed potatoes.

Skating:

Kya was nauseous and white as a ghost after one lap around the rink (from all the medication she was on from her recent surgery)...not to mention car sick the entire drive there.  Mike had unbearably sore feet as soon as he put on his skates, and Summer was less than thrilled with the whole experience.  Tyson and I seemed to be the only ones enjoying ourselves until I fell and bruised my tailbone:(   After the rest of us took off our skates, Summer and Tyson went back in for a few more laps...it wasn't too long before Summer came hobbling out saying she was bleeding.  Not sure if we'll go sating next year.

(she fell and her skate hit her leg)

Ice storm:

A couple days before Christmas we got hit with the ice.  It made it impossible to do any last minute errands including running to the store to get pickles for the pickle tray.  We even missed Evergreen lights this year, which was super disappointing.  

I had to watch my favorite Christmas movie alone:

For some reason my family is the only one who doesn't like "It's a Wonderful Life", but I must watch it every year, so I watched it all alone again this year.

Despite the bad/ugly, it was an amazing, wonderful, beautiful, very merry Christmas.

Bainbridge Island

This year I booked a night away for our anniversary.  I tried for somewhere we had never been, within a 2 hour drive, and preferably not colder than Bothell.  Brainbridge Island was a great choice!

Quaint little town, right on the water, little shops and cute restaurants, and an adorable hotel in the middle of a little Christmas village.  

We strolled around the little shops (found the cutest toy store, high end antique shop, used book/music store) and stopped at the Blackbird Bakery for hot cocoa (with toast and jam?)

I couldn't get over how cute our room was!  The pictures don't do it justice.  

Complete with matching bathrobes:)

And an ocean view

At night, the whole area lit up with Christmas lights.  

So grateful for Mike and the life we've build together.  

Did we miss Fall?

We had warm weather (and smoke from forest fires) all through October this year, which was very strange.  It really felt like we missed fall...until I found these beautiful fall photos on my camera roll.  Fall in the Pacific Northwest is so beautiful, even if it's short!

Then, all of a sudden, winter was upon us. Our first snow fall was at the end of November, and we got another dumping before Christmas. 

Thanksgiving Weekend 2022

I have spent two Thanksgivings with a child missing, and I didn't like it one bit!  This year, I wasn't going to make that mistake again...we flew Kya home:)  Having the whole family together is getting more and more rare, which makes me extra grateful each time we are able to make it happen.

We took Kya to Jordan's house and Summer was excited to check it out (she had never been inside!)

Then everyone was together for Thanksgiving dinner 

(that turned out wonderfully--there's always a risk)

We ate too much, played some games, had dessert by candlelight, some of us (dad) had naps, watched some Friends, and just enjoyed being together.

The next morning Jordan headed to work and we headed up to Canada!

We got to see Jill's play (Sleeping Beauty), which was so fun.

We got to hang out with Grandma and Peeta...and even get lunch at White Spot (per Summer's request)

And of course, play in Grandma's chair:)

And we were thrilled to get to watch Eric play soccer!  Although it was COLD.

We dropped Kya off at the airport on Sunday after church.  It was the perfect weekend surrounded by those we love:)

What do you have to wait 9 months for?

Apparently that's how long it takes to build a hot tub...the same amount of time it takes to grow a human!!  Just like when the baby arrives, you kind of forget how long you had to wait and you just enjoy the gift;)  And bonus it came just before the weather shifted to cold and rainy.  Now we are just waiting for the girls to come home and enjoy it:)

Rainy Weekend in Portland

Missing Ginny & Ashton's wedding will always be one of my biggest regrets...but this year they invited us along to celebrate their anniversary (haha) with a quick getaway to Portland!

I don't think it stopped raining for more than a couple hours the entire weekend, but luckily it was during our hike.

I've always wanted to go to Multnomah Falls!  So happy to finally get there.

Top of the falls!!

We had lots of yummy food...possibly TOO much...actually WAY TOO much!  Salt & Straw Ice Cream Modd Pizza, Little Big Burger, VooDoo Donuts and Duck House

Salt and Straw had their "Thanksgiving Flavors" in! Most of them were yuck!  I got the "last chance" Candycopia--YUM

VooDoo was crazy!  So many wacky flavors:)

Modd is always delicious

We stopped at the outlet mall, John Fluevog and of course Powell's Books for some shopping.  And spent hours talking, reminiscing and just enjoying being together.  What a treasure to have old friends:)   

Hard to get a good picture of how enormous Powell's Books is...here's the boys waiting for us in the children's section.