Whew! The last half of November was a whirl of activity, hence no posting. Fear not, dear readers, it was also productive. On to the bullets, if you please.
- I finished unpacking the home set-up and hosting essentials and got everything in order for our guests. I even found my recipe box! The place has never looked so clean and put together. Yes, I took photos. A lived-in house never looks this way for longer than five minutes, you know.
- It snowed. And then it snowed again! All before Thanksgiving! In all we received about 2″-3″ of beautifully light snow. Just enough to make the house and yard look wonderful. This is a very rare occurrence, we are told, since it hardly snows at this elevation at all much less before Thanksgiving. The city came to a standstill, but my car made it to the airport and back twice to pick up our guests anyway. It’s causing everyone to forecast more snow than usual for the rest of the winter too. Yay! Snowballs all around!
- Fiancé’s mother and I spent an enjoyably quiet day together while Fiancé was at work and before his brother arrived. We talked, walked, baked, and prepared. I’m very glad we got this time to get to know each other better, since I am much more relaxed around her now. Mothers-in-law don’t have to be scary.
- Thanksgiving dinner was a success! (Whew!) The turkey came out golden brown and juicy, and the cornbread dressing, cranberry salad, mashed potatoes, and roasted veggies kept disappearing off of everyone’s plates. We also enjoyed the pumpkin pie (the only thing I didn’t make) and apple cake for dessert. Happy bellies all around!
- Fiancé’s mom took us to lunch at the rotating restaurant in the top of the Space Needle. This was his brother’s first visit to the city, so of course we had to take him there. It was cloudy but not really raining, so he had a good view. We were treated to a circular rainbow (doubled at one spot too) just as we were finishing up lunch. Never seen one? Well, it seems that you have to be up high enough to see where both ends touch the ground and continue along the pavement to connect to each other. Very neat!
- We also took them to the Pike Place Market and on Bill Speidel’s Underground Tour. The underground tour was a fun education in Seattle’s early history and the blunders some cities make when correcting the mistakes of early growth.
- We attended the Christmas tree lighting in downtown Kirkland. There were jingle bells, hot chocolate and cider, and street fires for everyone to enjoy while waiting in the freezing cold for the event folks to hurry up and flip the switch already.
- The ski resorts are now open and I’m in possession of a helmet and goggles to finish out my snowboarding gear. Fiancé also added tire chains to my car’s arsenal of safety equipment. We have plans for snowboarding outings this week, for which all of this equipment will be required. I’ll try not to break anything important – I still need both hands to finish making Christmas gifts!
- Our friends who were planning to visit this weekend had to reschedule. It seems they went and got engaged, so they have family things to do before they can travel for pleasure. I’m thrilled for them and can happily wait for our turn to congratulate them in person.
- I have now completed six gifts and am halfway through another large one. Knit friends can see photos on my Ravelry projects pages, family and others will have to wait until after the unwrapping at the end of December. Only a few more gifts to go! See, I told you I would make the deadline.
- I have also completed my very first examples of crocheted snowflakes. I’m very excited at how they’ve turned out and will probably be gifting them to some special folks as well.
Not bad for two weeks’ worth of activity.