Be Merry

Just completed a nice Christmas week of celebrating with our family home.  The fun included:

• A welcome dinner of comfort food, homemade lasagna and salad.
• Lively night at the microbrewery with friends followed by dinner for 6 at Enzo's.
• Hosted my traditional Christmas Eve candlelight dinner for 8, including appetizers and Kir Royales, roasted pear salad, pepper-crusted pork loin roast, potato gratin, brussel sprouts, and Chocolate Avalanche cake for dessert.
• Traditional Christmas morning brunch: cinnamon rolls with gifts, followed by soft-boiled eggs with toast sticks, fruit salad, and sausages. Peach Bellini's.
• Christmas caroling with cousins, followed by dinner at T&R's. Then dance competitions with Michael Jackson's Wii game.
• 6 course Italian dinner for 6 with wine pairings, inspired by our trip to Italy last fall. A 3 1/2 hour affair.
• Fun night out with friends & family at Chase's gig downtown.
• Hosted appetizers & cocktails at our house for a mixed group of 6, followed by dinner at Walker's Grill downtown. 
• Another night with friends at microbrewery with our adults kids along, followed by sushi at NaRa and Mission Impossible movie.
• Tonight will cap it off with MidLife Chryslers New Year's Eve show. Should be fun.

In between all these nighttime events there were some daytime activities as well as many trips to the gym (and lots and lots of dish-washing!). A very good week that we'll cherish all year. The only glitch was the absence of snow activities we had planned like snow-shoeing, cross-country skiing, and sledding. The white stuff forgot to show up to the party this year. 

I did notice a theme in our family gift-giving this year...lots of tech  and lots of art/design related gifts. There were books, hand-crafted artwork, purchased artwork, and books about art/design, music-related gifts, and computer-related gadgets. Not sure every family across the country would have appreciated all these culture-rich gifts, but that's how we roll around here. It was clear to me that our family of 6 enjoys a shared aesthetic. 

Photos coming later...