Holiday High Lights

It was our year to spend Christmas with my family. Once you couple up, and unless you're lucky enough to have both families within driving distance, chances are you're doing Christmas at various families alternate years. Last December, we spent the last week of the month in Albuquerque, New Mexico with ES' family. NM is beautiful in December and the tradition of putting out lumenarias all over the central plaza in the old part of town (in other towns such as Santa Fe too) is really beautiful. This year, we headed to Vancouver, WA for Christmas with my family. The Portland/Vancouver area is also really pretty during the holidays. The gorge was beautiful as we headed down.



It was so sweet seeing Christmas through the eyes of child. My little nephew, MB is over 3 now. He told me all about Santa and being a good boy and how Santa had "big boots" and "white beard."



We had fun opening our gifts from "Santa". Amazingly, Santa took on many identities that night. We had cold poached salmon, green beans, and cheesy potatoes. Topped off with my mother's famous peanut butter balls and other yummy confections.



We ended the night (and the next few nights) playing Scrabble. I'd gotten ES "Super Scrabble," which is a jumbo board with 2x the tiles. Lots of premium letter spots. ES noted that Scrabble is a blood sport in my family. Very true. Lots of challenges, bluffing, and a little luck. Usually my dad wins, but every now and then someone else wins (what he calls "even a blind squirrel finds a nut sometimes).



We visited the Grotto the next day, a Shrine in Portland. It was a wickedly cold day, so we all bundled up. As much as we teased my dad about his hat, we were all secretly jealous, as we knew it was keeping him very warm.



We spent our final day down visiting with my brother and his family. ES and I played with their 2 little boys and had a ball. KB made a really yummy lasagne for dinner and cobbler for dessert. We drove back to my parents for our final night. We drove back through snow, reminding us that although the weather may look good 4 days out before you go, you should take the train. December is too fickle in the Gorge.