PLUS, this is the first year that we HAVE A BABY (who isnt in utero!) and a pretty awesome one at that. she made the season all that more fun. and our city really stepped it up for the christmas here too. complete with a santa's village, a train ride around the city, a carousel, night showings of christmas movies, light displays, market stalls, a giant christmas slide and much more. (none of which we actually did....whoops! but it was nice to know it was there? aw dangit, we will try harder next year...)
anyway, here are some pictures of our christmas season.
picking our tree from the tree nursery right up the hill. it didn't take long, considering it was an old farmer man, with a grand selection of about ten trees...but we did find the best of the lot, and proceeded to fork over way too much money. (live christmas trees around here are just plain silly expensive. we had a fake one for the first year but i just couldn't do without that smell....you know the one? its something that a even a yankee candle cant replicate!)
here are some outtakes form our annual christmas photo. we always have the camera on a timer and tripod, and i say that we do pretty great considering! do you know how hard it is to get four individuals looking somewhat decent for those ten consecutive clicks of the shutter? and even with all that, the picture still turns out pretty goofy. but i think that kind of captures us as a family anyway.
now, onto christmas day!
willow likes to eat her presents as she is opening them, and she does get alot done, in her intense tearing of the packages, if only to just eat it. but still! i had to re-wrap a few of the presents under the tree in the week leading up to christmas, because as soon as i was gone she would be eating them again. she would have been happy as a clam if her christmas presents were letting her eat wrapping paper...this girl and her hunger for paper, im telling you!
her and i both did really well this christmas. she got some great wooden toys, and i got some cookbooks and other kitchen needs. hooray for us!
after all that excitement and before i became chained to the kitchen to prepare the christmas dinner, we went for a nice walk on the beach. right out our front door! it was an amazingly beautiful day, for irish winter standards. (heck, for any standards!)
and here is our spread!
it was only us three this year, but come on, if im going to make christmas dinner, I'm going to make a proper one! none of this two (and a half!) portion nonsense. but seriously, this could have fed a dozen, its just that ridiculous! leftovers for days!
includes: a large homestyle turkey, honey and rosemary leg of lamb, baked garlic and butter brussel sprouts, roast parsely parsnips, roast salted carrots, sweet potato classic with pecans, garlic and cream mashed potatoes, all of which was swimming in gravy (well, at least on clays plate it was.)
ask my husband how it tasted, he is the truth teller! and willow too, she enjoyed some sliced carrots, parsnips, and a few strips of turkey. she will tell you!
after that dinner, we were pretty much done for. we just lazied around. i mean, really, could you move? (BONUS, clay cleaned the kitchen!)
and finally, ill leave you with some incredibly cute pictures of our babe, dressed up as a little christmas pudding. and also, a naked one by the tree. because it just isn't christmas without a naked baby being poked by pine needles, now is it?