Wow. I really couldn’t be bothered to blog at all in the last TWO WEEKS, huh?? I have a good excuse, though. I caught some dastardly bug that left me essentially incapable of doing anything beyond dragging myself out of bed to work and back, with a whole lot of coughing my head off in between. Two weeks and three boxes of tissues later, I am finally feeling better! Woohoo!
So, quickly, the highlights:
Friday, November 25~ You Light Up My Life
After driving back from the east side of the mitten, we decided to take advantage of the fairly decent weather and get the outdoor Christmas decorations—lights, garland, and wreath—up. Actually, a more accurate description would be that Kevin put up the outdoor Christmas decorations. I was starting to feel the first strains of awful and collapsed on the couch under three blankets. Pictures of the decorations to come once it snows a bunch and looks more Christmasy out!
Later that evening, Matt and Allison stopped over to meet Bailey. They were in town for Thanksgiving and for the event of the evening: Kevin and Matt’s 10-year HS reunion. Pre-reunion, the four of us went out to a fabulously delicious dinner at the Derby Station in Gaslight Village. We couldn’t have timed our dinner more perfectly. Our reservations were for 6:30—exactly the same time as the Gaslight Village Tree Lighting Ceremony. Read: live Christmas music, a festive atmosphere, a newly lit tree, warm cookies as we waited for our entrees, and, and, AND a visit with reindeer after the meal. Awesomeness!
The newly lit tree!
Photo courtesy of The Grand Rapids Press
Some pics from the reunion:
Saturday and Sunday, December 3 and 4~ Christmas Tree Hunt: 2011 Edition
There was a decided lack of freshly fallen snow for our tree hunt this year. Good for the work-week commute; not so good for the Yuletide cheer. Instead, there was nothing but rain, rain, and more rain in the weekend forecast. But, no matter! The three of us piled into the car on Saturday and headed off for the Vormittag Tree Farm.
Just a little muddy…
Upon arriving, being welcomed, and declining the proffered saw (Kevin comes prepared with his own!), we made a quick loop of the farm, figuring out where all the different types of spruces, pines, and firs were located this year.
This was to be our quickest trip to the tree farm yet… (To be fair, last year’s tree was obtained with even greater speed, but it was a pre-cut variety.) There was no wandering up and down the aisles, naming and subsequently forgetting the locations of various contenders. Nope. This year, I kid you not, we found our perfect tree: From. The. Car. As we were driving past, "How ’bout that one?" became "Must have that one!" After narrowly avoiding mowing down a small tree in our haste to turn around, we disembarked and circled the tree to see if it was as pretty all the way around. It was! In no time, Kevin had cut the tree down and loaded it onto the roof of the car, while I convinced Bailey to leave the Bailey-size trees and get back in the car. After a quick shake, the tree was bagged and secured to the roof and we were on our way home.
Our tree!
Timmmmbbbbeeerrrrrr!!
The whole weekend was very Christmasy. Getting, lighting, and decorating the tree. Drinking hot chocolate with giant marshmallows. Attending the annual Jubal Brass Christmas concert at Cascade Christian. Heading to the mall after church and leaving with zero Christmas presents. Bailey got some food, and we found gingerbread house cookie cutters for the next weekend’s fun. That is the sum-total of our shopping success. Womp, womp.
Bailey enjoyed carrying around the star!
Tuesday, December 6 through Sunday, December 11~ It’s Beginning to Look/Seem a Lot like Christmas
Annual reviews at work always happen during early- to mid-December. This year, they happened last Tuesday. That (end of the year bonus—woot!) and the office Christmas lunch on Friday, made the work week seem to go by quickly, setting the stage for a truly wonderful weekend.
Oh, and on Thursday, our Christmas cards arrived! We’ll be addressing and mailing them in the next few days, so be sure to look for one in a mailbox near you soon!* And, following that, I’ll be posting about our 2011 cards here after they’ve had a chance to reach their recipients.
*If we have your current address, that is. If we don’t have your current address, whose fault is that?!
This past weekend was full of big-time fun. On Saturday, we needed time to digest after our big weekend-style breakfast before heading out on our run. Enter: the perfect opportunity to put make Bailey’s paw print ornament! We I, as Kevin is sure to say "This wasn’t my idea!", started with a kit from Michaels, and in about 45 minutes, Bailey had been immortalized Hollywood Walk of Ornament of Fame style!
Super cute, no??
Post-ornament-baking, Kevin, Bailey, and I went out for a five mile run. Holy tiredness. The sun was out, but it was COLD. To add to the chill thrill, the sidewalks were covered in ice, which turned the run into very hard work. Bailey seemed to take a different approach to running on ice. As soon as he set one paw on it, he’d speed up as if to say "Get me off of this cold stuff!" I, for one, was whooped when we got home—like more tired than after a 10-miler. Kevin and Bailey seemed unaffected.
Next up on the list was gingerbread house baking. Kevin had whipped up the dough while I was making breakfast. After its time to chill, it was ready to roll, cut, and bake. After a minor freak-out that we’d be a few bricks short of a load errr, wall panels short of a house, Kevin managed to make enough wall and roof pieces… with dough to spare for star and Mickey Mouse cutouts. Awesome.
So much gingerbread!
While Kevin headed out to an Ironman World Championship viewing party, I turned on the Christmas music and went nuts decorating the house. What started as me gathering up plastic bins filled with excess decorations to go back into basement storage lead to, "This is cute, why isn’t this on display?" Decorations that hadn’t emerged from their neatly labeled storage bins in years were soon decking our halls! Stay tuned for pictures of our decorated tree and the rest of our maison soon as this is already basically the longest post ever.
Once Kevin returned, we whipped up a batch of royal icing, otherwise known as gingerbread house cement, and assembled the gingerbread houses. It was decided that it’s so named because it’s a royal pain in the butt. But! The houses are still standing. So, mission accomplished!
Gingerbread houses: assembled!
Sunday was gingerbread house decorating day! Matt, Jenn, and Maglee Smith came to join in the festivities. First on the agenda was some playtime for the pups. It was a pretty even match. The pups are about the same size and seemed to share a you-bite-me-I’ll-bite-you-back mindset. So all was well in the land of happy puppies.
Here’s Bailey and his girlfriend Maglee. He has a thing for older women, it would seem…
Post-puppy-playtime, we made another batch of icing, ripped open many bags and boxes of candy, and started decorating our gingerbread houses. We might have eaten as much candy as went on the houses, but… I’d say enough made it unto the houses.
Wouldn’t you say?
Here are the finished masterpieces:
Beaucoup fabulous, no??
Oh, and here’s a video narrated by Matt for "judging purposes". Thanks to the previous night’s gingerbread cookie contest held by the Oravecs on FB, things had quickly turned into a good-natured contest. Personally, I think they’re both great. 
After decorating the houses, we leashed up the pups and went for a walk down to Reeds Lake and a bit around Gaslight Village. We scoped out our dinner destination, too. After dropping off the pups, we were
soon back in Gaslight Village for a very delicious dinner of pizza, salad, and breadsticks at Big Bob’s Pizza.
Post-dinner pic: The pups couldn’t be bothered to pose.
All too soon it seems, it was time for the Smiths to head home. We had a blast! Yay for fun weekends and fantastic friends!!
