Christmas in the Northwest

Say what you will.  I love that song in all its cheesiness.  This year we really tried to do our part to participate in everything the Northwest had to offer.

There was a trip to zoolights with our friends, the Reillys.

A trip to the top of the Space Needle.

During the Space Needle trip we also checked out the winter trains and village at the Seattle Center House, rode the monorail, and took a spin on the Winterfest Carousel in downtown Seattle.

There was also a trip to visit the reindeer, camel, and donkey at Swanson's nursery.

We drove around and looked at Christmas lights one night. And finally, a trip with Bryan and Sally to the Teddy Bear Suite at the Olympic Fairmount Hotel and the Gingerbread Villages at the Sheraton.

Conquering a pile of teddy bears.

Waiting in line to see all the gingerbread houses.

Lots of cookies were baked and eaten.  Unfortunately, in the week leading up to Christmas, both Linus and Eileen came down with nasty colds.  Linus also got a viral pinkeye infection.   I did everything I could to try to keep anyone else from getting pinkeye.  Just as Linus appeared to be on the mend, Eileen got sicker.  Being an exceptionally special family, Eileen managed to develop a bacterial pinkeye infection and ear infection to compliment her cold.

We celebrated Christmas Eve at my parents' house in Tacoma.  It was really lovely.  My sister, Beth, played the piano while we all sang Christmas carols.  Since we do a present exchange with everyone, I decided to try my hand at homemade Christmas using my new found sewing skills.  I made everyone coffee cup cozies, pajama pants for the men, a reversible super hero cape for my nephew,  and retro kitchen aprons.

Christmas morning was simple and sweet.

We are all grateful Santa brought Eileen her own chair.  Fights were beginning to ensue over Linus'.  Santa also has a sense of humor when it comes to binkies.

Building a pirate ship while modeling the sea turtle jammies I made for him.

We managed to make it to mass in the morning (I strongly prefer Christmas Eve mass but it is too hard to do when we are do my family's Christmas get together in Tacoma) and then came home and put back on our jammies.  We feasted on egg nog muffins and cocoa.   There were long naps and lots of playing with new toys.

We were supposed to celebrate Christmas with the Dimock side the day after Christmas, but Eileen and I stayed home since she was still sick and highly contagious.  Dave and Linus went, and apparently had a great time.  It was a little sad not being there, but what can you do?

Despite all the sickness, it was a festive holiday season.  Luckily, Eileen loves her "special milk", warm milk mixed with a little sugar and a teaspoon of amoxicillan.  She is not a big fan of the eye drops.  I look forward to no longer having sick children (Eileen has given up sleeping at night) and a return to normal.