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:

Thanksgivukkah

It's Thanksgiving... AND Hanukkah! So Happy Thanksgivukkah!

We had two meals like always: one with my family, one with Fiance's family.

Challah! With cranberry-orange butter. Fiance's mom makes a balla challah...

The spread chez my grandparents

On my grandparents' table

Fiance's parents' table (the plates are Paris-themed because we went there this summer)

Mighty turkey, fresh out of the oven!

So now we are stuffed full of food and we've slept in and it's time to test our abilities against the Black Friday crowd. I definitely was looking forward to the food more than to this shopping trip...

Yummy Things

We've been staying pretty close to home, but we're eating delicious things while we're at it!

Mochi candy from future-mother-in-law's trip to Japan!

Georgie mixed up a hot chocolate for me while I wrote for NaNoWriMo!

We'll go on some kind of fun adventure soon! If nothing else, Thanksgivukkah is coming up next week, and we'll have lots more yummy food to explore!