Moments from Christmas 2021

 It's the day after Christmas and it's a snow day. The weather in Seattle in only 23 degrees and it snowed a few inches overnight. So it seemed like a good time to work on my photos from Christmas. In this post I wanted to include some photos I took of various Christmas eats, decorations, and local holiday attractions that didn't make it into my previous posts from this month. 

This Christmas ended up being a sad one for my family. On December 22nd, my dad lost his battle with cancer. He was diagnosed in January of this year with a Brain Tumer. He was given a year to live. Eleven months later, he went into hospice and didn't come home. I flew over to MT to see him several times this year. When the doctor at hospice gave him several days left, I jumped on a plane and got there in time to say goodbye. I flew back to Seattle the next day, and he passed away the next morning. It was such a blessing that I got there in time to see him one last time. But even more a blessing getting to be his daughter. My dad was one of the greatest people, and we are really going to miss him. 

Can't have the holidays without some eggnog. There is an eggnog made with coconut milk and it was a much lighter version of the drink. But it was still so yummy. 

I bought these super cute gingerbread mug hangers from Trader Joe's on Amazon. Unfortunately, they were all broken when they arrived. I glued two pieces together with Nutella and fixed the rest in photoshop. Ta da! Still fun.   

I used my Mickey and Minnie Mouse cookie cutters I bought last year and made Gingerbread cookies. So good! 

My son got to make Gingerbread Houses at school. He had so much fun! 

We went to Seattle Center and walked around, taking in the festive lights of the season. 

Inside the Seattle Center Armory, they have the train and village display again. We always love going and seeing it. 

 

I had to get some shots of the Space Needle and night with the fountain. Such a classic view! 

We grabbed some seasonal doughnuts at Krispy Kreme. I got this adorable penguin doughnut. It was really sweet and I almost couldn't finish it! 

My son made a really neat Gingerbread Man ornament at school. I love it!  

When I flew over to MT to see my dad, my aunt was so sweet and made candy for me to take home. Every year, she makes Bon Bons and Buckeyes! They really hit the spot. I took this in the Kalispell, MT airport while waiting to come back to Seattle. 

One of my husbands' co-workers made these amazing homemade Almond Roca's. They were so much better than the store-bought kind. Every bite was like, wow! 

There's so many new canned cocktail products on the market. This month we tried Crown Royal's Washington Apple. It tasted kind of like a Seabreeze or a Whiskey Sour. 

This year for Christmas breakfast I baked some Cinnamon Roll coffee cake. I made this a few years ago for Thanksgiving. You can see the post here for the recipe. 

On Christmas Eve, our family had dinner at home with a cheese board, chips and dip, and mac and cheese bites. 

After a light dinner of appetizers, we headed to the movies to see Sing 2. We had popcorn and candy while we watched. We all loved the movie so much! 

My sons and I still have two Harry Potter movies to watch. We are on the 7th movie and there are eight total. This week between Christmas and New Year's will be a nice time to watch them. I found these cute frog chocolates on Amazon. Perfect for eating while watching the movie! For Christmas dinner we had Corned Beef, which we simmered on the stove, scalloped potatoes, rolls, Caeser salad, and Strawberry Cheesecake.  

I bought some Hot Cocoa Bombs on Amazon so my sons could try them. So today during our snow day, we made ourselves some hot cocoa. These didn't work as well as the one I tried in MT at the start of December. When I poured in the hot milk, the ball just floated to the top and didn't melt right away like they're supposed to. So I added more hot milk and they very slowly melted. The hot cocoa was so rich and chocolaty! 

I hope everyone reading this had a wonderful holiday. Life is really short and we should try and live in the moment. Tell your loved ones how much you love them everyday. Enjoy your time with them and don't take it for granted. And make all the memories you can with them! I hope 2022 brings lots of joy and wonderful times to you.