Reflections of December

I have a small collection of photos from different holiday adventures during December. I apologize for the lack in quality of my photography but most were taken with a camera phone since my regular camera passed away. Luckily I was a good girl this year so Santa brought me a new very fancy camera so future snapshots should be much higher quality...in theory...

December 12th - Melissa and Mathias' Goat Party: This is a Swedish shortbread cookie - you traditionally break it with your finger and it is considered good luck when you have at least four pieces.


December 12th - Melissa and Mathias' Goat Party: "Creamed Cod"...in a tube no less...Swedes are strange indeed and REALLY like their fish...


December 12th - On our way home from the Goat Party we dropped by Micheal's Craft Store to pick up some Yule time crafting supplies when we noticed this bear who has a surprize inside...notice the center of the jar has a dark spot...


...this VERY large spider was rather angry that someone had locked him in the festive bear.


December 17th - MGC Holiday Party dinner at Chez Machin on Hawthorne.
Brie en Croute - Brie baked in pastry with roasted garlic and sliced apples, sliced baguette, and berry compote.


December 17th - MGC Holiday Party dinner at Chez Machin on Hawthorne.
Moules et Bouquet Provencal - Linguini with mussels, Tiger shrimp, capers, Roma tomatoes, basil, scallions, parsley, kalamata olives and feta in a white wine and garlic sauce.


December 17th - MGC Holiday Party dinner at Chez Machin on Hawthorne.
Homemade Chocolate Mousse with fruit compote and fresh cream. This was one of the tastiest things I have EVER eaten in my life.


December 18th - Sugar Plum Potluck at our home. These were taken after all the candles were lit and a few friends were starting to trickle in.








December 21st We took a stroll down Peacock Lane to see the lights.

Project 365: December 20th through December 26th

December 20th: Dinner...gotta love crab season...


December 21st: A dozen gorgeous roses my husband sent me at work because he is that sweet.


December 21st: Peacock Lane


December 22nd: Pet food drive at work. This is just the donations for the PAW Team - there were other piles for the Columbia Humane Society and also Bonnie L Hayes.


December 22nd: I brought in some stuff for the PAW Team like old antibiotics, flea treatments, anti arthritis stuff for kitties and a head cone.


December 23rd: That's a lot of potatoes! I finally tried Five Guys Burgers and Fries...that was tasty...


December 24th: Yuki loves packages arriving...and this was a huge package from my sister.


December 24th: French oak...my sister sent me a lazy susan made from a wine barrel top.


December 25th: ...presents under the tree.


December 26th: Dinner to go at Baja Fresh...and I am not quite sure why there is a HUGE need for hand sanitizer in their salsa section. And I really wish people would seriously stop with all the anti bacterial crap...you are killing your immune systems.

Project 365: December 13th through December 19th

December 13th: Girl's Night at Dim Sum Yum Yum at Pix Patisserie with Jen, Lauriel, Shannon, M and Chris. What a fun night!


They brought us drinking chocolate with candycanes! Yum...


December 14th: Dinner at Christina and Spencer's and my opportunity to hang out with the poof...Poofer is very demanding though you would be wise not let him fool you. Stay clear of this cat's belly no matter how inviting it looks.


December 15th: All the gift bag filling stuff is finished and we are just waiting for the bags and tissue to arrive...


December 16th: Patrick's Spirit One Christmas work gathering at Hobos downtown...yum! And their decore is always stellar this time of year.


December 17th: Patrick's MGC Consulting Christmas work gathering at Chez Machen on Hawthorne. And this is me...enjoying one of my favorite things on the planet...escargot :)


December 18th: Our home hosting the Sugar Plum Potluck. A huge thank you to Jenna for showing up early and being our resident pyro running around the house lighting an insane amount of candles and the fire in the fireplace.


December 19th: Epic shopping day with Jen where we started the day off going to sushi at Benihana where Jen asked for more wasabi and they brought her this golf ball. Then we ended the day meeting Wendy, Erin and Danelle for sushi at Yoko's in SE...it was a good day indeed!

The Grotto's Festival of Lights

I have lived in Portland a very long time and every year I find a few things I am amazed I either never heard of prior or just never made it to. A lot of these things are considered Portland "traditions". I love friends who move here and give me a whole new lease on the city doing tons of things considered "tourist traps" yet it encourages me to finally go check out whatever they went to see.

One of these traditions is the Grotto. Located in NE Portland off of Sandy, The Grotto is 62 acres of botanical gardens, cliff faces, and Catholic church buildings. http://www.thegrotto.org/ Each year they decorate for the holidays with over 500000 lights and over 140 different choir concerts throughout the month.













We had a really great time and intend to go back to visit the gardens in the Spring time. This night though I had a nice cup of hot chocolate to sip while watching two amazing choirs. The first were called Cloud 9 and wow, all high school boys and they really were great - even doing a take on Straight No Chaser's huge hit the 12 Days of Christmas. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Fe11OlMiz8 If you have never actually seen the song - you really should watch it because it is awesome. The high school guys did an amazing job with the piece of music. Next up we watched the Vancouver Madrigal Singers http://www.madrigalsingers.net/ who are quite amazing as well. They were straight out of another time with old world carols and everything - it really was great and I was so happy we had the two completely different choirs to enjoy. The Grotto is open for the Festival of Lights through Thursday, December 30
and is open 5pm-930pm with gates closing at 10pm...and I highly recommend enjoying your walk around with a cup of their tasty hot chocolate.

Project 365: December 6th through December 12th

December 6th: American Red Cross at my work and giving my pint while celebrating an official year since I got over my fear and became a blood donor!


December 7th: The kittens get annoyed when I camera stalk them.


December 8th: I erected the tree Patrick bought me when we bought were working together at my work a long time ago.


December 9th: I made a pork roast for dinner with Jenna, Heidi and Robert marinated with my lemon ginger marmalade, low sodium soy sauce, garlic and pepper. It was as good as it looked!


December 10th: Dinner at Le Happy with Ms Jen.


December 10th: The Bagdad with Ms Jen and my sister in law Jill to see the lovely Ms Virginia for some comedy and support the Smile Train which is an awesome cause!


December 11th: The Grotto with Julie, Brent and their friend Jackie.


December 11th: Riyadh's for dinner date with the husband...mmmmm Gyro...


December 11th: Walking to the B Side to meet Vincent, Grant, Shannon, Amanda and Scott I see this artist's window which is very festive...


December 12th: Picking up our tree with Jen!


December 12th: Bring on the goat! Melissa and Mathias' annual goat party...the little one's name is Margo.


December 12th: Ginger cookies with love bearing good tidings in Swedish