fa-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-laaaaaaaaa

we had a caroling party! it took me away from everything for a few days. i was cleaning, cooking, and creating these - our caroling books! actually, pete created, printed, bound, and poked the holes - i just added curly ribbon and a scrapbooking sticker ;).

we had a great time with family & friends:


laura, eric, and jd decided to make it an ugly sweater party. i think laura and eric just wanted an excuse to buy these amazing turtleneck/vest combos ;). i didn't snap a pic of jd, he was partying outside all night, but he looked equally as great in his $3 goodwill find!


newly engaged heidi (no pic - boo) and wilson surprised us with a tagged bottle of vino and their presence! wilson didn't respond to our punchbowl (loving more than evite these days) e-invite, but ended up having to call us for directions when he got lost in the valley! still a surprise, but not the coupe he was hoping for ;)

also engaged becca & mike we here! they were SHOCKED to learn that donner is donder, not donner. it was quite fun proving them wrong with all SEVEN of our 'night before christmas' books on the mantel.

to keep the chill away, we mulled wine (i added nutmeg, allspice), made a huge crockpot of our famous chili (you have to click even if you don't like chili), provided all the toppings - cheese, sour cream, onions, tortilla chips, and made the most amazing brownie ever created. ghirardelli brownie mix from costco, milk chocolate frosting with peppermint flavoring, and crushed candy canes - so simple, but i was a HERO at one o'clock!! i can't believe i didn't take a picture of our food! another tidbit about the night..................

WE DIDN'T GO CAROLING!!!!!

it was a scheduling thing. we wanted people to have a couple drinks first, but we didn't start the party until 5:30, which means people didn't get here until 6. a couple drinks, and everyone's hungry! you can't go caroling immediately after eating (like swimming, you need to wait), and by then the couple drinks turned into too-many-to-sound-coherent (we live around a TON of older folks, who would've really enjoyed the singing provided we didn't carry around a keg and themos of mulled wine - that's where things were heading by the time we realized we should carol). next year we're starting earlier and may even spring the caroling on unsuspecting guests - i think the singing deterred a couple people from coming ;).

jack was a super-kid all night! he ate well, chatted, and played outside. he really didn't want to go to bed, the little party animal:
apple doesn't fall far from the tree. i wish we had (maybe not really ;)) digital cameras in college because i have an excellent photo of pete just sleeping where he was (two words: house boats) that i would LOVE to insert here... if my scanner behaved, you would have a treat!