Neighbor's Decorations

You remember my blog about Christmas lights? My neighbor is one of the people who cannot get it together. Here is a picture of his house.

In addition to these lights, he also has one of those huge nylon blow up snowmen in his backyard.

Some of these lights blink, some do not. Nothing is even. Too many colors. Ugh. I can't wait for him to undecorate.

Colorado Christmas

Brian and I celebrated "our" Christmas last weekend on Dec. 20. We woke up early, made coffee, opened presents and then made breakfast together. FUN! I got lots of good loot - some pearl earrings, a Wii Fit, a Colorado Avalanche T-shirt and an iPod dock for my desk at work. I gave Brian a sports coat, a gorillapod, some Rainbows, and some other small things.

Riley got some bones and a Tug-A-Jug.

Our tree on "our" Christmas morning.
Our stockings all stuffed with goodies.

Only one or two more Christmas posts and then I'm done for another year!

Christmas 2008

Christmas at home with the family was so great! Good to be home, good to see the family and friends! Santa was good to us and I think Brian enjoyed his first Christmas morning with us.

Us at 7am....looking quite scruffy, but excited for Santa's surprises.
The stockings were hung.....

My parents' tree - so tall and pretty and look at all those gifts!

Christmas Memories A La Stefania

I polled my very good friend Stefania (aka Steffi, ha ha) on what her very favorite Christmas memory is....she couldn't narrow it down to 1....so here are her 2.

"I think that the year I got my tongue pierced and my father found out and didn't speak to me through all of Christmas was great."

"Or when Domenico was messing around as a kid and broke one of my Mom's family Christmas statues and when she asked us all what happened Domenico could only come up with "...a big wind came through and it fell over."

Holiday Party Rogers Style

My hard work over the last 2 days definitely paid off. Had a great time at our little holiday party - Tacky Christmas sweaters and White Elephant gifts! I baked 5 different types of cookies and had appetizers galore. Lots of our friends came and two of Riley's dog-friends.

Austin got the "Gold Digga" pimp cup
Matt, Jeff, Carrie

The gals - Austin, Katie, Lisa, Sara, Sienna

Mike, Brian, Charlie, Erik, Katie, Sara

Congrats to Josh & Kristen!

Four and a half years ago, at a college-style cocktail party, my cousin Josh and my friend Kristen hit it off!!! Last night, Josh popped the question and now they're engaged!!! Congrats to Josh and Kristen! Can't wait for their wedding - all of my family and a bunch of our friends!

Congrats to Erin & Todd!!

One of my OLDEST friends, Erin got engaged on Wednesday night! Todd is AWESOME and we are so happy to welcome him into our friendship circle!!!! WOOHOO!!!! Congrats to them!

Holiday Excitement

Yesterday, I listed off all the reasons I love Christmas oh so much.

Today, I want to share why I'm so excited for Christmas THIS year. Bri Bri and I have been together for TEN years (that's right, you read that correctly) and will the first time ever we've spent Christmas Eve and Christmas morning together.

Woohoo!

I can't wait Brian to wake up with us at 6am to get our stockings, and listen to my dad yell, "ho! ho! ho!" and my mom say "let me make coffee first!" and Bogey barking his head off to the "ho ho ho"-ing and dad telling him to shut up.

Cheers to a Newlywed Christmas!

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Christmas is BY FAR my favorite holiday. I cannot wait! I woke up this morning and MAN it is already only 1 week away! I'm not done shopping, either. Still a few more things to tie off the loose ends.

Why is Christmas my favorite holiday, you ask?

1. Giving gifts to those I love

2. The Tree!

3. The Music!

4. Family

5. Grandpa in the Santa hat

6. Dad yelling, "Ho! Ho! Ho!" Christmas morning

7. Waking up on Christmas morning before the sun is up (Sorry, Mom!)

8. Gorgeous wrapping paper and pretty ribbon

9. Riley's cute Christmas collar

10. The Lights!

11. Tacky sweaters

12. Singing "Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer" to Grandma

13. Stocking stuffers

Good Deed Part II

On Friday night, Brian and I volunteered to chaperone/help with a dance put on by the city of Denver for those with special needs. My friend Katie's little brother, Jordan, has Downs Syndrome and he was able to come, too. What a fun kid!!! He had a BLAST. Talk about a dancing machine! Here's a cute picture of Katie and Jordan getting their groove on.

The Best

Probably the BEST Ugly Christmas Sweater outfit I've ever seen....nuff said.

A New Tradition - Kinda

Brian and I spent yesterday afternoon and evening Christmas shopping. I told him it's our new tradition - to go shopping together and out to dinner! After all, this is the third year we've done it! Had a nice dinner at Cheesecake Factory and had three big bags of gifts - including 2 hilarious White Elephant gifts. I am 90% done shopping.

We finally have presents under our tree, too. I told Brian he had to wrap my presents in different wrapping paper than I wrapped his in....sooooooo he got some Maker's Mark holiday wrap in the mail the other day and now my gifts are festively decorated with paper that has little bottles of bourbon in the shape of snowflakes with matching bourbon bottle gift tags. Thanks, honey.

Freaking Cold

As I type up this blog entry, it's -9 degrees outside. Brrrrrr!!!!! I ran errands and Christmas shopped today and everytime I was outside it hurt to breathe! I like the cold, but this is too much!!!! Please - can we be back in the 20s??

Glitter Trees & More

Thanks to Mom, I've added two awesome decorations to my Christmas collection. I love the wreath (above) with the berries, even if it is square. The sparkle trees below are so pretty! I love sparkles and glitter on my holiday decor.....kinda like a 13 year old girl.

Top 5

The Top 5 Things I Learned at my office Holiday Party

5. If you are drunk and have inferiors, they will tell you they're going to take pictures of you drunk

4. Extra drink tickets being passed out towards the end of the night is not a good thing

3. Thinking of starting a Conga line might sound like a good idea, but it's not

2. Twirling around and trying to swing dance causes people to drop their drinks when bodies collide from said swinging

1. When your husband tells you that you've had enough, he's probably right

Pet Peeve

Now that the holiday season has officially started, lights are sprouting on peoples' houses left and right. So, that means it's time that I share my views on said Christmas lights.


PEOPLE - if you are going to spend hours upon hours putting lights on your house and dollar after dollar buying these strands, for GOD'S SAKE do a good job!

There are three Christmas light "faux pas" in my opinion - too much, just plain shitty, the uneven blinkers.

Example: Too Much

No words are necessary.

Example: Just Plain Shitty

No straight lines, no patterns, no consistency, too many characters - maybe I have a small case of OCD, but this is unreal.

Example: Uneven Blinkers

I do not have a picture for this.....however, put on your imagination cap.....picture a house with 5 strands of lights strapped to the gutters - and only 1 strand is blinking. Picture a tree with 3 strands of lights wrapped around it - and 2 are blinking faster than the 1. I have no problem with blinking lights in general, but pull it together and have the blinking make sense...or move into a trailer.

HILARIOUS!

This blot is a must follow:

http://cakewrecks.blogspot.com/

It's so funny, I laugh out loud and forward to friends.

Fantastic Friends

It was brought to my attention today by my dear friend Stefania that on my "thankful" list from my T-day post, I didn't mention that I was thankful for my friends. Whoops! Total oversight - my fault - OF COURSE I AM THANKFUL FOR MY FANTASTIC FRIENDS!!! As a tribute, here are some fun pictures.

Baking for Friends

Unfortunately, today we learned sad, sad news that our friend, Katie's dad passed away last night after a long battle with cancer and other ailments. We asked Katie what we could do to help and she said nothing now, but she'd let us know. She called back a while later and said she thought of something - her Step Mom wants SWEETS, so we're baking! Brian and I have spent the evening making banana bread, spice cake cup cakes with cream cheese frosting and brownies. Here are are some samples of what it's like to bake with Brian.....

Brian: What's a "t"?
Gina: Is it big or little?

Brian: It says 1 t.

Gina: Move, let me look....it's a little t, that's a teaspoon. A big T is a tablespoon.

Brian: I'm ready to stir it. What should I use?

Gina: Doesn't matter, but I like to use a wooden spoon?

Brian: Can I use my hands?

Gina:.....I guess, wash them first.

(Brian used a wooden spoon)

Brian: We only have this orange box - baking soda

Gina: No, there's baking powder, too. It's in a white canister

Brian: What is this shit?

Gina: I think they make the bread rise?

Brian: I bet they taste like shit.

Oh, Christmas Tree, Oh, Christmas Tree!

It's finally that time of year (officially)! We went and got a beautiful Christmas tree on Saturday night. Here's my precious in front of the tree.

We had a big pile of reject ornaments that need to be replaced this year. Perhaps it's time to get a "Just Married" ornament? I want a new topper, too.
And now a quote from one of my favorite movies....
"'Tis the season to be merry"
"Well, that's my name"
"No shit"

BAHHH HUMBUG!

On Friday night, we had plans to head downtown and have a steak dinner at The Keg followed by "A Christmas Carol" at the Denver Center for Performing Arts. The snow started just as we were heading home from dinner and was so pretty. By the time we got back from our evening downtown, we had a nice covering on our lawn. FUN!

The Feast!

Around mid morning, I took the bird out of the brine bucket and herbed him all up and put him in his roaster, ready for the oven.








Riley got an early Christmas present from his Grandma since he's not coming home for Christmas!



















A wiggly jiggly ball!!!!




















I set the table while everything was cooking.















The green beans with shallots and garlic!













The rue for the gravy...mmmmmmm














Tom is done!!!!!! Juicy and golden, mmmmm....













The spread - kept it simple, but had all the essentials. Brian carved the turkey and did a fantastic job.








The finished product - YUM!!!! I ate every morsel (and Riley got a bite, too!).

Thanksgiving was a success! More pictures coming of US on T-day along with Brian's mom and her boyfriend. We were able to enjoy the day in our own home cooking, chatting, drinking wine, walking Riley, watching football, playing dominoes, watching Fred Claus and National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation.

Thanksgiving 2008, I was most thankful for my supportive family, my loving husband, my steady job, my strong health and my cuddly pooch!!

Paula Deen's Pumpkin Pie

So today was a day of preparation for tomorrow's feast. I went to Whole Foods and got the rest of my veggies, chopped everything for stuffing and green beans, and of course baked my pie. I usually use the recipe on the back of the Libby's pumpkin for my pie, but this time I was sure I needed a little Paula Deen. I found this recipe on http://www.foodnetwork.com/ and my pie looks great - let's hope it tastes as good as it looks tomorrow.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paula-deen/pumpkin-pie-recipe/index.html

I saw this idea online and thought I'd try it out - I used a maple leaf cookie cutter to add little leaves to the crust.

Here's what my pie crust looked like before baking.

The filling was tasty! Kinda hard to get really smooth.

I covered my edges with foil so they wouldn't burn because pumpkin pie takes longer to bake here so far above sea level.

My leaf cut outs bent over and looked like stars when the pie was done...probably won't do that again, but other than that my pie looks great!

Now we're off to the airport!

2 Surprises

The first surprise of the night was a call from Hobby Lobby, "Hello Gina, I'm just calling to let you know your picture is ready to be picked up". SWEET!!!! 4 days early and just in time for Debbie and Mitch's visit!















The second surprise of the night occurred when I got home from Hobby Lobby...my mom sent us a pretty little flower arrangement for Thanksgiving - this will look so great on my table. Thanks, Mom! Wish you were here for T-day!

T Minus 2 Days

I am so excited to cook our Thanksgiving feast in 2 days! There will only be four of us, but it will still be fun. I picked up all of dry goods on Sunday and tomorrow morning I'll head to Whole Foods for the veggies!

MENU

- Roasted Turkey brined in salt, sugar, orange peel, spices, juniper berries, shallots and pink peppercorns with an herb rub of salt, thyme, savory, sugar, onion, lemon pepper, peppercorns, garlic, rosemary, parsley flakes and marjoram

- Sausage and Sage Stuffing

- Turkey White Wine Gravy

- Fluffy Mashed Potatoes

- Fresh Cornbread

- Roasted Green Beans with shallots