Merry Christmas, Part 2!

Hello Everyone! I thought I would fill you in on the rest of our Christmas Day (before and after the previously posted sing-a-long!). It was a terrific day! Great food and great fun with family. Christmas morning was great in our pajamas with mom's famous sticky buns.... they exploded overnight as usual, but that makes them so good. A funny moment happened when Dad and Bryan each got each other a bottle of Chivas!

When the rest of the family showed up around 2, we let the merry-making begin! Here are a few pics from present-opening time:

Grant got Mom and Blitzen a snuggie (WSU for Mom and blue for Blitzen), but Aunt Sue hijacked it:

What a great day! Merry Christmas! Here's a link to the rest of the pictures I took....

Christmas 2009

Merry Christmas!!

A quick Christmas video from us in Gig Harbor....

Here are the words (written by Kristen!!)

By now in Washington D.C., there's snow on the ground

And out in Arizona, the sunshine's falling down.

And maybe down in New Orleans, the Big Easy's all in lights.

And in Eugene Oregon, there's peace on earth tonight.

Christmas in the Harbor; it's sunning on the pines.

Merry Christmas from Gig Harbor, to everyone tonight.

You can visit Olympia, to see a shining tree.

Or travel north to Bellingham, where the snow might actually see.

And even up in Bellevue, is our family on a hill.

And in Clear Lake Washington, fried turkey's there to fill.

Christmas in the Harbor; it's sunning on the pines.

Merry Christmas from Gig Harbor, to everyone tonight.

It's windy in Yakima, everyone's out of school.

There's magic in Seattle, the city's on the move.

In Sand Point Idaho, to Charlotte Caroline',

And all across the nation, it's a peaceful Christmas time.

Christmas in the Harbor, it's sunning on the pines.

Merry Christmas from Gig Harbor, to everyone tonight.

Twas the weekend before Christmas

Hello! We had a wild and fun weekend this past weekend! Saturday, I went to a baking class/lunch at the Flying Fish Restaurant in downtown Seattle. Bryan got it for me for a Christmas present and I took Lauren Grote with me. It was so much fun! The pastry chef for the restaurant showed us how she makes five recipes (Truffles, coconut macaroons, french almond nougat, caramel pot de creme, and chocolate peppermint pudding cakes) and then we got to eat them! A great lunch with good wine followed- it was fantastic!

I then went up to Grandpa and Georgette's house to do a good bye visit with Brett, Georgette and Grace. Grace is sooo dang adorable and loves her feet tickled! So cute. Brett and I tried pretty hard to get her to roll from her back to her stomach- she's so close, but not quite there yet :-) An added bonus was some good old-fashioned hang out time with Grandpa, Georgette, Grant and Jill too.... So great to see everyone!

I then picked up Bryan from work and we went to a birthday party.... for Axel, the four year old son of one of Bryan's (old) co-worker, Maria. It was my first experience at a Mexican Fiesta, and I was absolutely amazed! The hospitality was out of this world. Once we walked in, Maria shooed her relatives off the dining room table, sat us down and began to put plate after plate of delicious food in front of us. Oh so good! I know Bryan really enjoyed seeing Maria and some other ex-coworkers who made it to the party.

We left the birthday party and headed to North Bend for the Mount Si High School class of 2001's annual Christmas Sweater Party (9th year.... woah). I got to catch up with some old friends, which was really nice. It was a late, late night, but good nonetheless!

Sunday, Kristen, Mom and Dad came over for a feast! Bryan cooked a yummy cioppino and we overindulged! It was great! Kristen helped me bake chocolate peppermint pudding cakes (recipe from the cooking class) and they were soooo good! MMMMM. Oh yeah and the Panthers beat the Vikings! WAHOO! (this means that Bryan was in a super mood!)

It was a packed weekend, but so good! I hope everyone is enjoying their holiday season- I know we are! Merry Christmas Eve Eve!!

Love, Lauren and Bryan

(PS- I'll post pictures later.... I wanted to get this up before I had the chance to do pics... sorry!)

The Christmas Spirit...

Lakewood police officer pens Christmas story

Another weekend update....

I left out some important weekend information....

- Sunday morning, Bryan and I went to brunch with part of the Venn clan! Thanks so much Uncle Mark and Aunt Sue for a fabulous brunch at Ettas! I meant to take a picture for the blog but totally forgot. We then went through Pike Place Market because Devin hadn't been there before (crazy, I know!)

- Saturday night, we went to a really fun holiday party down near Eastlake. A friend had rented out a space, had a band, holiday movies playing and an open bar.... very fun and festive!

- Oh yeah, and the weather was really, really cold. Then, the precipitation came, giving us hope for snow, but then the temperature jumped 15 degrees and all we've had is rain. Ugh! But, the cold weather was fun for awhile!

O' Christmas Tree, O' Christmas Tree....

Last Sunday, we went hunting and found the Hamilton Christmas Tree 2009! We found it down in Gig Harbor on a snowy afternoon, came home, and trimmed the tree! We then capped off the evening by watching Christmas Vacation- a perfect ending!

Happy Festivus 2009!

Happy Festivus everyone! Bryan and I had a great, great, great trip to the Carolinas for a festive Festivus. We really had an action-packed three and a half days! We flew the red-eye Thursday night, and arrived very early Friday morning. Linda with a dead car battery was waiting at the airport (had to say it, sorry!) and we headed back to the Hamilton household for a morning nap.

Friday was filled with much merry-making! Hanging around the house, wrapping presents, yummy butternut squash soup for lunch and a ridiculously good Bruce/Bryan/Garrett creation of Cioppino. Dinner was followed by a pound cake creation by the girls and gift giving time! Yes, we all got "Festivus for the rest of us" T-shirts! You really should be jealous!

Yes, that's a festivus pole in the backround.....

The whole point of the shirts was so we would get up and run a 5k with Linda in the morning, but Garrett was the only one who held up on his end of the bargain....

Saturday was a great day, too! We spent a lot of the day prepping ourselves for the big party to come that night! Erin and I got our makeup done at Nordstrom's by Chris.... Chris is possibly the coolest makeup lady you can imagine. She's really, really good (understands that "I don't usually wear much makeup and don't want to really look like it" look for makeup) and tells you how dang good you look. Erin and I then splurged a little with lemon cupcakes and champagne.... a perfect start to the evening!

Matt (Erin's boyfriend) picked us up and we headed to meet up with the others at the party. The rest of the night was wonderful! Lots of dancing and catching up with family and friends. AND, there's a drink called a John Daly (as opposed to an Arnold Palmer): Sweet Tea Vodka (no joke, really actually tastes like sweet tea) and Lemonade. Goes down quite easily and is super yummy! The band was awesome and we all had a great time dancing the night away!

Bryan, me, Garrett, Mackenzie, Linda, Bruce, Erin and Matt at the party waiting for guests to show!

Sunday, we got up and headed to the Panthers football game. The tailgate was awesome as usual with Carolina Blonde beer and leftover cake from the night before. Bryan and Garrett got a very special picture with a very special man. So, with that, on top of a Matt Moore Panthers win it was a blast :-)

Garrett and Bryan with Cat Man! A special moment, indeed...

Sunday night was Pizza-N-Wings (a Hamilton household tradition- the two always go together like it's one word...) and more football, of course! Monday, we had the morning to relax and recap a fabulous weekend!

Happy Festivus to all and to all a good night!

More Festivus Pics