Christmas 2015...

 Our littlest princess, Roslin doing her best reindeer impersonation!!!

 Mahoney and Roslin dressed in their "gonna go see Santa" clothes.  I love that they are so impressed with the tree decorations.  They are very gentle with them...it also helps that they are wired on to the tree. 

 Roslin's word of the week is "Santa"...kinda sounds like "tanta"

 We all agthered on Christmas Eve for pizza and presents.  Roslin...and Mason, checking out the loot in their stockings!

 Roslin, shirtless because we just finished dinner...loved the flashlights in everyone's stockings!

 Mahoney and Roslin are getting a dress up closet for the play area at their house.  We got them a couple costumes on the Halloween clearance a couple months ago...here is the debut of the mermaid costume!

 ...and Cleopatra.  They also got a Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz dress.

Playing with puzzles...we tried real hard to get mind stimulating toys, like musical instruments, puzzles, coloring books...but, I am a grandma and there was a Barbie and a Mickey Mouse tossed in to the mix too.  Mahoney also got a helmet and a basket for her bike she has at out house.  She is pretty excited to ride that around, she has plans to fill the basket with toys.

Our tree, I never realized how much red there was on it until this year...but I adore it!

Need A Little Christmas, Right This Very Minute...

I love heading to Seattle at Christmastime! I only had one weekend day off all of December, so on the 13th Lee and I hopped on to the ferry and headed over.  We enjoyed some Starbucks and the Sunday paper during the ride over.

After pulling in, we figured out how to get to the taxi stand in front of the dock and headed to the Cheesecake Factory.  Since we got there around 10am, we opted for breakfast.  I swear it was the most delicious omelette I have ever had, and the potatoes...I cannot even begin to describe their goodness!

After breakfast,  a stop to see Santa and picking up a couple ornaments at Macy's, we wound our way down to the market.

The Christmas tree at the market.  The market was crowded with holiday shoppers and tourists.  I picked up a holiday bouquet of Christmas greenery.

They are putting in a new sea wall, which makes the water front pretty much a mess.  I was bummed to find out that the Starbucks I usually hit before the ferry ride home, was one of the businesses that had to close during construction.

The whole day was filled with live music, in the stores, streetcorners and even in the ferry building...it made it very easy to feel the Christmas spirit.

It was a very gray day, but no rain!  Thankfully the ride home was a lot less choppy than the ride over that morning!!!

Yup, I really made Lee take a picture with Santa.  Lee and I even wore  "Christmas Vacation" themed t-shirts!!

Merry Christmas!!!

For Christine...

Dear Christine, 

Over 32 years, can you believe it.  We survived breakups, divorces, the loss of your baby, the loss of my mom, raising our boys, and a million other things.  But, for some reason you left this earth...and my heart is feeling shattered.  Why were you taken away from us, unexpectedly and without explanation?

You knew me when I had different last names, shoot you knew me when I was thin!  You know my secrets, talked me through post partum depression, believed in me, when I could not believe in myself and you were my blog's biggest fan.  

The term "best friend" gives me anxiety, but you were the best friend a girl/woman could have asked for.  You would be annoyed by the amount of tears I have shed.  As I was about to go to sleep on Sunday, I told Lee I really needed to call you.  It will forever be a huge regret, that I didn't get on my phone and do just that. On Tuesday you died...I just want to text you one more time, tell you that I know you are smoking while we talk on the phone, I just want to hear your voice.  I wish I had saved your voicemails, now all I have is a voicemail from Jonathan telling me to call him...

Jonathan said you loved me so very much, and I did not realize how deep my love for you was until it was too late.  My heart has an ache, is it because I am holding you in there now?

I will miss you, but...I will forever cherish the friendship we have.  May you find peace in your heart and soul, my friend.