This year, Courtney came for Christmas almost a week early, so we were able to do some activities together. First up was the ice sculpture display at the Gaylord Hotel. Most of the sculptures were life-size and very elaborate, but it was really cold walking through the display area. They keep the temperature down in the teens. Brrrr!
One of the highlights of the display was a giant ice slide (all those trees, presents, and elves are carved out of ice). They gave everyone special blue coats to wear that were supposed to keep you warm and help you go down the slide. I put mine on over my regular coat and I was still cold.
We watched the people slide down for a while, but most of them were getting stuck halfway down. I'm not sure if the walls of the slide were too narrow or the coats weren't really helping, but we decided to skip going down ourselves.
I made a special holiday-themed dinner (this was not our Christmas dinner; this was just Wednesday night dinner). That's a snowman made out of mashed potatoes. It's not nearly as creative as Melissa's reindeer breakfast pancakes, but I thought it was clever. The only bad thing was that it was stone cold by the time we got the snowmen made.
That night our neighborhood had a candlelighting happy hour. My next door neighbors put out paper bags with little coin lights inside. I thought they'd only put out 1 or 2 per house, but as you can see, they totally lined the street with them. I really got my steps that night helping to pick them all up when the party was over.
The next day I took Courtney sketching to the crazy Christmas house. I was trying to sketch the characters under that bay window, but it got really boring since there are about 30 snowmen in that spot. I didn't realize how many duplicate characters there were until we started scrutinizing the display.
When we got back, we took advantage of the warm day and went out for a bike ride around the neighborhood. Courtney got to ride Bruce's eBike and test out his new brakes.
Good thing we didn't wait to go on a ride, because the next day it snowed. Courtney and I tried taking Charlie for a walk while Bruce shoveled the driveway, but Charlie just went nuts in the snow - jumping into the drifts and getting totally covered. I had to hand the leash to Courtney, because I was afraid he was going to pull me into the ice.
On Christmas Eve Eve, Bruce and Courtney made a traditional turkey dinner. I forgot to take photos of that, but it was delicious. The next day, Courtney and I made pierogi for dinner. I've never made pierogi before, but my grandmother used to make it all the time for us. It didn't seem that difficult to make, but then I had Courtney with me to do all the pastry rolling.
Courtney went home Christmas day. She thought it would be a lighter day to travel, and you can tell by the non-existent TSA lines that it certainly was. That's probably the only day of the year when the airport isn't packed. It was a good thing she left on Christmas day, however, because that night we got 3 inches of snow, and it kept on snowing all the next day. I bet the airport was a madhouse.
Charlie had his half-birthday the day after Christmas, and along with that, he had to go to the vet for his "Junior" check-up. Little did he know that it was also his pre-appointment for getting neutered in a couple weeks.
Charlie absolutely loves people, but he isn't that comfortable yet around other dogs. One of my neighbors has a goldendoodle that looks like Charlie's twin. He tried to get Charlie to play with his toys, but I think Charlie needs to get a little older (and a little braver).
