Oh, Derek......

I'm coming for you, Tom Jones!

Merry Christmas for us

We had the sweetest, jolliest Christmas - all 7 of us at my parents' house for 3 days of wonderful family togetherness. I'm hesitant to say a lot about it because I'm afraid that too much description will somehow diminish my memories of it, if that makes any kind of sense. For now, I'll keep our time close to my heart and just give a small glimpse into our days:

Merry and bright

One of our holiday treats this year was a trip to Seattle to see 'White Christmas' at the 5th Avenue Theater. We began our fun with lunch at Elephant & Castle (thanks, Dad & Mom!) and then meandered down the street for the matinee (thanks again, Dad & Mom!) We laughed & sang along & oohed and ahhed as snow fell over the audience in the final scene. After that, everyone made their way back to our house and we had a slumber party, which involved pizza and gabbing, and lots of cookies & coffee & lying around in our jammies. I love these memory-making family times; they're the very best presents ever.
Adam was with us, too, of course, but is lurking around in the background somewhere. I may have mentioned once or twice that my family can be....pills, for lack of a better word, about having their picture taken. Ryan even suggested that I go on a picture-taking hiatus until he turns 30, which is about 4 years away, and which is also completely preposterous. Sorry, little brother! :)

Date #3

I'm so tardy in showing off our third date, it's almost time to talk about #4! But first, last week we decided to decorate gingerbread houses. Then, because I'm cheap and the already-baked-just-needs-to-be-assembled-and-decorated kits at the grocery store were not, I bought just one and we shared. (Sharing is more fun anyway!) We had some structural difficulties because we couldn't be bothered to let the icing dry before slapping on the roof, and then I grew impatient about placing the gumdrops just so, and so.... we hurriedly tossed some candy around the bottom... and then the poor house met it's demise....
because....
we ate it.

Date #2

For this week's date, we took our annual trip to the Garden d'Lights, which grows bigger and more lovely every year. Then we ate oatmeal. Then we wrapped ourselves in Christmas blankets and played Super Mario Brothers on the Wii. Splendid, from start to finish.

December dates

Just recently we've decided that we will go on one date each week for the whole month of December, and each date will have something to do with Christmas. Tonight was dinner and meandering around Fred Meyer (we're fancy around here, remember), looking at aisles and aisles of holiday everything. I even managed to sweet-talk my way into an early present [Jan Michael didn't take much convincing :)] - another Christmas moose (or two!) to add to my prized collection. Hooray for December dates!

Pink Glove Dance

As the kids of a Mom who has survived a fierce battle with breast cancer, this is the kind of thing Jan Michael and I really appreciate. Right this second is the perfect time to cut a rug in honor of such an important cause, don't you think?

Oh, and click in the middle of the video just after you push play. That will take you straight to youtube so that you can watch it from there and see the entire thing. For some reason when I post it here, the right side of the screen is cropped out and you miss seeing some of the dancers. And a big thank you to Anne for sending the video and text!

"Emily (MacInnes) Somers, created, directed and choreographed this in Portland last week for her Medline glove division as a fundraiser for breast cancer awareness. When the video gets 1 million hits, Medline will be making a huge contribution to the hospital, as well as offering free mammograms for the community. Please check it out. It's an easy and great way to donate to a wonderful cause, and who hasn't been touched by breast cancer?"