Holiday 2005
Highlights of my holiday season 2005:
1- Spending extra time with matt. He had a few days off from work so we were able to do more things together than usual. Mostly this consisted of really nerdy things. I got him a Su Doku puzzle book for christmas and we spent a lot of our free time having sudoku challenges. I would photocopy a couple puzzles and then we would see who finished them first. Most of the time he beat me, but I still did pretty good.
2- Night out with friends. I planned a dinner night with some friends from college. We went to Macaroni Grill and then bowling. It was so much fun and felt so good to spend time with people I dont get to see very often anymore. And since we did something similar last year, I think we've established a pre-Christmas get together tradition. Also, if you ever go to Macaroni Grill, get their tiramisu... it's HUGE. And if you feel like trying tiramisu in liquid form, try a Tiratini, they are awesome!
3- Christmas Eve. I spent pretty much the whole day (at least the whole evening and night) at church singing and doing other music related things. I played bass for the band's performance of the Trans Siberian Orchestra's Christmas Eve song. And I think I did a really good job, especially considering the fact that I've never played bass before in my life. By the end of the night when I was past tired, Heather cracked me up by waving to me with a baby doll from the back of the church... haha good times.
4- Christmas Day. Went to church so I could just sit at church and take in the service for the first time since the day after my wedding. But ended up playing one completely improvised song at the end of the service with a few other music members... I hope the fact that I missed many many notes didnt ruin the spirit of the song. Spent the rest of the day either at my parents or in-laws, eating. Yay for all the good food during the holidays. And this was probably the first christmas in which presents were not a huge part of the day. I got my present from matt in mid-December (my new peacoat, yay) and a few small things from my parents, which was nice.
5- German traditions. One of my favorite things about living in Germany was being there at christmas time. And around christmas time now I always try to incorporate as many of the Germany-things as possible. One thing is lebkuchen (which could be misspelled)... it's like a cakey version of gingerbread. And I never even liked it when we lived in Germany, but my mom bought tons of it every year (in fact we made a special trip to Nurnberg just to get it) and she'd put it in our lunches for school. So at lunch time I'd be so hungry that I'd eat it just because I didnt really have any other options. For a while she was able to buy some stateside, but I think the commisary stopped carrying it a few years ago, so we've been without it. However, I managed to find some at the World Market this year, and of course I bought some for myself, and my dad. And it tasted so good. I think I like it now more for the memories than the taste. I was also able to buy some RitterSport chocolate bars at the World Market, which was another German candy we used to eat all the time, I forgot how good they were. Yum. The only thing I didnt have which I always look forward to was gluhwein, which is a spiced red wine that you heat up and drink warm and it's definitely a Christmas-time beverage. Again, at first I didnt really like it, but the taste grew on me, and now I absolutely love it. I can usually buy a bottle of it at the wine store, but they sold out early this year so I didnt have any. As small as that is in the grand scheme of christmas, it really disappointed me. Now I have to wait a whole year before the chance of having it again.
6- New Years Eve/Matt's Birthday. Pretty quiet day. We went to Ihop early for breakfast. And had family over for pizza and ice cream cake. Nothing too crazy, but it was a nice day. Also, I got matt a bottle of our favorite champagne for his birthday (and new years) which we really enjoyed that night.
That's pretty much how I spent the holidays. Time with family and friends.
1- Spending extra time with matt. He had a few days off from work so we were able to do more things together than usual. Mostly this consisted of really nerdy things. I got him a Su Doku puzzle book for christmas and we spent a lot of our free time having sudoku challenges. I would photocopy a couple puzzles and then we would see who finished them first. Most of the time he beat me, but I still did pretty good.
2- Night out with friends. I planned a dinner night with some friends from college. We went to Macaroni Grill and then bowling. It was so much fun and felt so good to spend time with people I dont get to see very often anymore. And since we did something similar last year, I think we've established a pre-Christmas get together tradition. Also, if you ever go to Macaroni Grill, get their tiramisu... it's HUGE. And if you feel like trying tiramisu in liquid form, try a Tiratini, they are awesome!
3- Christmas Eve. I spent pretty much the whole day (at least the whole evening and night) at church singing and doing other music related things. I played bass for the band's performance of the Trans Siberian Orchestra's Christmas Eve song. And I think I did a really good job, especially considering the fact that I've never played bass before in my life. By the end of the night when I was past tired, Heather cracked me up by waving to me with a baby doll from the back of the church... haha good times.
4- Christmas Day. Went to church so I could just sit at church and take in the service for the first time since the day after my wedding. But ended up playing one completely improvised song at the end of the service with a few other music members... I hope the fact that I missed many many notes didnt ruin the spirit of the song. Spent the rest of the day either at my parents or in-laws, eating. Yay for all the good food during the holidays. And this was probably the first christmas in which presents were not a huge part of the day. I got my present from matt in mid-December (my new peacoat, yay) and a few small things from my parents, which was nice.
5- German traditions. One of my favorite things about living in Germany was being there at christmas time. And around christmas time now I always try to incorporate as many of the Germany-things as possible. One thing is lebkuchen (which could be misspelled)... it's like a cakey version of gingerbread. And I never even liked it when we lived in Germany, but my mom bought tons of it every year (in fact we made a special trip to Nurnberg just to get it) and she'd put it in our lunches for school. So at lunch time I'd be so hungry that I'd eat it just because I didnt really have any other options. For a while she was able to buy some stateside, but I think the commisary stopped carrying it a few years ago, so we've been without it. However, I managed to find some at the World Market this year, and of course I bought some for myself, and my dad. And it tasted so good. I think I like it now more for the memories than the taste. I was also able to buy some RitterSport chocolate bars at the World Market, which was another German candy we used to eat all the time, I forgot how good they were. Yum. The only thing I didnt have which I always look forward to was gluhwein, which is a spiced red wine that you heat up and drink warm and it's definitely a Christmas-time beverage. Again, at first I didnt really like it, but the taste grew on me, and now I absolutely love it. I can usually buy a bottle of it at the wine store, but they sold out early this year so I didnt have any. As small as that is in the grand scheme of christmas, it really disappointed me. Now I have to wait a whole year before the chance of having it again.
6- New Years Eve/Matt's Birthday. Pretty quiet day. We went to Ihop early for breakfast. And had family over for pizza and ice cream cake. Nothing too crazy, but it was a nice day. Also, I got matt a bottle of our favorite champagne for his birthday (and new years) which we really enjoyed that night.
That's pretty much how I spent the holidays. Time with family and friends.
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