The Boswell House had a couple of milestones this week, of course we celebrated
Christmas 2013, but also my 30th Birthday. Yes, I'm happy[ish] to admit declare that I am no longer
in my twenties. It was a great decade, and I'm standing at the dawn of a brand new decade eager to see what comes next. (.... was I convincing?) I could get really philosophical about youth and aging and all of that but who the heck wants to read that?! Lets just discuss how we celebrated another year older,
because it's certainly better than the alternative!
What's fun about having a Christmastime birthday, is that there's always something
festive going on to indulge in. My birthday has developed a bit of an annual tradition, which is
festive going on to indulge in. My birthday has developed a bit of an annual tradition, which is
Tucson's Winterhaven Festival of Lights. I can't remember a year where I haven't been there on my
actual birth date, but I only recognized it as a tradition this year. (Unless I mentioned it in previous blogs, which would mean I clearly forgot between years haha)
Take a few minutes to enjoy Winterhaven, in all of its lit up splendor!
Every year it draws huge crowds
I wonder why Winterhaven never gets featured on any of those "extreme Christmas lights"
shows you see every year. There's great gimmicks, for example this house who clearly knows
about Santa Claus surfing up onto Australian shores
And a Christmas Classic: Blue Christmas
(Which, if I've blogged about Winterhaven before, you've seen this before, but
I love it every year so seeing it again and again is just part of the tradition!)
This house was my personal favorite, they decorated with minions!!
I love them!!
This house set up a Cars/Planes movie theme, and that plane in front attached to the lines? Yep. It flew back and forth, back and forth. It was great! These people really put out something fantastic year after year
Another house has this beautiful southwestern scene
And we spent a little time with the only variety of snowman you'll find in Tucson (well, in the valley anyway)
Then it was full steam ahead to Christmas, and what's Christmas without a ton of extra calories?
How do we get those calories? Bake fests!
On the left we have a gingerbread loaf with a cinnamon honey butter glaze (oh yes.) And on the right,
2 varieties of pumpkin pie + the infamous almond butter cake with cream cheese frosting
But wait! There's more!
Don't forget about holiday takeout meals!
That was 2 [delicious] calzones and some fried zucchinis on a movie night with our good friend Jon
(PBR there for size comparison)
And did you forget about our yearly Christmas Eve dinner?
That's a porchetta, with tasty goat cheese brussles sprouts, two kinds of dessserts and
I didn't even take a picture of our delicious twice baked yukon gold potatoes!
(The little chimis there are mini apple pies omg om nom nom)
And NOW we've made it to recapping Christmas day (I know, aaaalllll of that was pre-Christmas!)
Dylan and I got great gifts this year (the first photo being all the
great stuff I found in my stocking from my husband <3)
Yaaay! Minions and video games!!
Plus, my grandparents got me these really awesome Halloween Barbies
That's right. I'm 30 years old now and still excited about dolls on Christmas.
After we opened our own gifts, we had to get gifts ready to give to the family!
This year we made everyone a bottle of tasty rib rub
Everything wrapped up and ready to go, add in a couple of holiday mishaps (like having to turn around midway to my grandparents because we forgot the toys we got for all the kids, and then Dylan wrapped them in the car on the way there, heh....) and it was over the river and - well you know the song
To Christmas dinner we went!
I loved these traditional Christmas treats my grandma put out
And this was a really cute decoration that warranted a photo:
Time for the star of the show, a plate of Christmas deliciousness!
And of course, cookies, so very many cookies
This would be a very natural place for an ending right? All stuffed with carbs, sugar coma sinking in, a full day of family, togetherness, giving, the whole nine. But no. It did not end there. We went over to our pal Jon's for a card game.
Merry Christmas to all
and to all a great night!
