New Year's Resolution / Christmas 2014

This was the first year I've ever been legitimately late taking care of Christmas presents. I mean, it all got done before December 24 (my family does Christmas Eve night) but still... I didn't like that one bit, being that far behind. (I do, however, appreciate that Amazon is not joking around with their shipping guarantees... everything got here on time or early, thank goodness.)

So for next year, I have a plan. I'm making one present per month (skipping March because of the wedding) and I've already started on the first one. Here is Georgie, being a big help:

As it turns out, he's an excellent cross-stitcher! Which is good, because we're going to be doing a lot of that. (And I'll still be doing a lot of that after he leaves.)

Wedding Dress!

Georgie accompanied me on a very important errand yesterday... picking up my wedding dress!!!

I'm a few sizes bigger than him...

So that's taken care of! We also got the card box and the book-turned-into-a-ring-box for the mistress of ceremonies to hold from my mom for Christmas, so things are really moving along nicely (considering I took the month off from wedding stuff to take care of my new job and Christmas).

Christmas!

Well, I forgot to take photos at my family's Christmas on Christmas Eve (we don't usually take any photos, so my camera stayed in my purse) but I did take some Christmas evening with Fiance's family...

Waiting patiently at the table, behind the Buche de Noel (French chocolate cake or "Yule log")

Closeup with the beautiful Buche de Noel

We didn't eat the Buddha's hand, but it looks too cool to go unphotographed

Cheese, bread, wine, blood-orange-prosecco punch... this is an appetizer.

Frying latkes! (Yes, we had Hanukkah dinner on Christmas... it was a scheduling thing)

We hope everybody else had a wonderful Christmas!

The Hobbit

Seeing the installations of The Hobbit and Hunger Games at midnight premieres is apparently a thing we do, so Georgie got to go with us to the The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug premiere... in IMAX 3D!

As you can see, the glasses are a bit of a difficult fit for Georgie...

Office Potluck

Just in time for the food photo challenge in the discussion thread, I needed to make something for the work potluck! There's another one tomorrow, but I get the day off, so I won't be making anything for that one. This is apple pie dip with cinnamon-sugar tortilla chips:

...after everyone had a go at it. If I don't get sick (fingers crossed, because I already feel like I'm on my way there) I'll be making this again to take to a party out of town on Saturday!

I adapted the recipe from here: http://www.thepeachkitchen.com/2011/09/apple-pie-party-dip-cinnamon-sugar-tortilla-chips/

(I used Vietnamese cinnamon, which is sweeter and stronger than regular cinnamon. I used flour tortillas instead of wheat. I had to add more cornstarch to thicken it - which is probably because I used slightly more than 2 cups of apple.) And the recipe doesn't specify a type of apple; I used Granny Smith (it's what my stepmom uses in apple pie, so it made sense to me).

MacArthur Mall

Since we had to park at MacArthur Mall (a huge, upscale mall in Norfolk) in order to go do my new employee orientation for my new job, we stopped really quickly to snap a photo with the winter globe that Santa sits inside:

It's the hap-happiest season of all!

JOB

GUESS WHAT?!? I was offered the full-time job I've been waiting for!!! Which is basically my current job (which I adore) except full-time (which means benefits and more time doing the job I love!) so YAY!!!!!!!! Here we are expressing our joy:

This also means I'll have WEEKENDS! I haven't had weekends in two years. I mean, during school breaks I have, but it's still a big deal. And it means Georgie and I can have more adventures!

And here's a bonus photo of Georgie with our jingle bell wreath on the front door, because it's cheery and makes me happy: