Santa's Workshop

This year we decided to make our Christmas Presents. We made them all except for what I sent to Brittany, which I'm not sure if she's gotten yet, so I will not mention it here. I had to wait patiently until after Christmas to post this so as not to spoil the surprise. I don't think my parents have gotten theirs yet, but I'm pretty sure they don't really check our blog so I don't think I'm spoiling their surprise. Anyway, I took a couple days off in mid December to solely focus on this project. I made books for our family members. In total, I made 10 books, which is quite the feat. I worked from well before sun-up to late in the night 2 days straight, barely finishing in time for mutual on day 2. It was a blast. And I was really happy with how they turned out. I think Peter's was my favorite. The red floral design on his is raised and very fuzzy. Good times.




We also hosted a crepe party at our house for the Mia Maids. It was a lovely Christmas feast and I think they had a great time. No need to provide entertainment, just get them together and let them talk and talk and talk. It was great. There was definitely no shortage of choices of fillings for our crepes. We put in the extra leaf of our table and covered the whole thing. Janelle came later after we had taken pictures already, but that's Jamie, Lily and Mary. They're WONDERFUL!




Paul's parents sent us some elk meat. Needless to say, Paul's pretty stoked in this picture.


Paul took me out for my very first sushi for my birthday, among many other incredibly fun activities. (Including a death defying sledding trip that left us too sore to try it again the next day. We drove up a road 3 miles, then sledded down in the middle of the road, in the middle of the night. Since it was so dark, there was no way to tell how fast we were going, aside from the wind in our face. We kept a sharp eye out for oncoming traffic, bailing out of the road whenever they approached. We both had bruises as big as grapefruit from that stunt. Laughed pretty hard.) We spent the night in a condo in Girdwood, a nearby ski town. It was nice to get out of town and have a little mini vacation. He's so good to me. He got me a button-maker for my birthday that I've been wanting since I was 14. (A good 14 years ago!) That's me with my new flannel shirt from Heidi and a towel warming rack from Paul's parents. Something they always wanted when they lived up here.






I had my very first successful venture with the sewing maching Heidi gave me last year for my birthday. I made these fetching headbands. Then I gave them to Heidi for her Christmas present.


Our Christmas Eve meal was a tribute to the Shugart tradition of snacky foods on Christmas Eve. Delicious. Then for Christmas Day Paul made an absolutely scrumptious meal of scallops, shrimp and salmon. I think it's the best meal ever made in our house. And that's saying something.



For the grand finale...
We made a deal to make each others Christmas presents this year. Paul made me a beautiful birdhouse. I made him a chess set. We're both really happy with how they turned out. I was most excited for him to open his present Chrismtas morning. That's a nice feeling. Thanks to everyone for the wonderful, thoughtful gifts. We've had a lovely Christmas season and look forward to starting a brand new year. Especially glad that we are gaining more and more light every day.