Cheers to a Happy 2014

This year we didn't send out holiday cards, make ten different types of cookies or go to many parties - Aaron and I tried very, very hard to have a less stressful holiday than normal (something Anner is just not good at).  Our efforts paid off!  Here is Chrismanukah and New Year's in a nutshell:

Thanksgiving/Hanukah started with not shopping, a lot of eating and running the Turkey Trot (see our last blog).

To kick-off the Christmas Season we took Adam and Hannah to see the holiday Cirque du Soleil show (Cirque Dreams Holidaze).  It was a pint-sized mystery date because they didn't know where we were taking them.  Adam wanted to know if we were taking him to the Maclemore show (a rapper; and 'no').  We are happy to report the kids seemed to be really impressed with the show and we had a fantastic time.

We decorated our tree and put presents under it.

I made a hellebore basket for the front yard.  Really nice to have some color and life out front.  Aaron can plant the hellebore this spring and we'll have it for years to come.

Then on Monday, the 30th, a box arrived from Alaska.  It was a crazy cool wooden bear puzzle.  At first we were both skeptical.  A puzzle?  Hmm.

I went to bed and then around 2:00am I woke up to a half-empty bed and found Hubs at the table clicking little pieces into place.  I nudged him to come to bed.  When I left for work in the morning he yelled from the bed, "I like puzzling!"  Good to know.

This isn't any regular puzzle.  The pieces are made of wood and many of the pieces are carved to look like things you recognize: a frog, an eagle, a cowgirl...

Close up.  They are about 1/4 inch thick.  The colors are rich and beautiful.  I came home from work and decided I should at least try to work on the puzzle.  A few hours later I could have also declared, "I like puzzling!"

On New Year's Eve we did a bit more.

Finally on New Year's Day I was in the middle of breakfast when Aaron asked if he could puzzle without me?  "What?! Absolutely not!! I'm half an egg from finishing...you can just wait for me, can't you?" He did wait.  I don't think it took us an hour to finish as all the pieces clicked into place.

Ta-Da!!!  Happy New Year's!  It really is just so cool!  Wish we had a coffee table to glue it to, a frame to display it...something.  It seems wrong to put it back in the box but I'm not sure what else we will do with it.

 

On Friday we go to a Shrimp and Grits party and the following weekend is my company holiday party.  With that, holiday season will be complete and Birthday Month will be half-gone.  Time flies when you're having fun and not totally stressed out!!

 

Cheers everyone!