Christmas In The Northwest

If you haven't watched the video located below this post, I urge you to do so! It's AWESOME. My favorite part is when he says the "people you're supposed to love." HAHAHA! Perfect!

Anyway, Joe and I had a picture-perfect outing to downtown Seattle on Saturday night. It was SUPER cold, so we bundled up in our scarves and gloves, and headed over to the Cheesecake Factory for a delicious dinner. I was in the mood for Famous Dave's grilled salmon, however (I get these things stuck in my head sometimes) - but lo, and behold, the Cheesecake Factory presented their new menu with grilled salmon! They even had onion strings just like Famous Dave's! Mmmmmmmm......Joe and I shared a slice of heavenly Tiramisu cheesecake afterwards. Mmmmmmm again......

After dinner, we walked off some calories shopping a bit downtown. There were so many PEOPLE! And, there were lights everywhere, and a carousel, too. Inside one of the malls, there were choirs singing Christmas music and it was even snowing INSIDE. I got excited, because I bought a memory foam seat cushion at Brookstone. My rear end get so SORE sitting in class all day, and I've been looking for something to sit on. HA! The weird things that make me happy....

Finally, we walked up to the Fifth Avenue Theatre and saw "Seven Brides For Seven Brothers!" We had FANTASTIC seats, and WHAT an awesome show!! We LOVED it.

As we walked out of the theater, it was SNOWING - HUGE, slowly falling flakes. It was a true Christmasy moment, surrounded by all these people, coming out of the theatre, downtown amongst all the lights. So COOL.

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A couple of weeks ago, we attended Amanda's concert at the college. She joined the college orchestra this year, and was given a solo part. They performed with the choir, too. OH! It was SO good! They sang REAL, Christian-themed music, which was so wonderful. Some opera singers were invited to come as well, and blessed us with their beautiful voices. I was so pleased to be at a public college's community event, and listen to music with the true spirit of Christmas....

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The day after Amanda's concert, we went to our church's Christmas production. It was SO great! Ben was in the service with us, and I loved having my whole family together to worship and share in some more Christmas warmth.....

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It has been very cold since Saturday's snowfall, and it's supposed to stay this way for a while. Ben and Melanie played in the snow, and were hoping to get out of going to school today, but nope, it was on schedule. I was kind of hoping they got to stay home too. I'm kind of a kid when it comes to snow and Christmas, can you tell?

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I finally made out my Christmas letters and got a picture taken of the kids, so I'm going to be mailing those out today. I've been receiving cards and letters in the mail, and I read every one. We used to post each picture on our refrigerator, but this year, we have a stainless steel fridge, and magnets don't stick to it (and I don't want to stick tape to it, either). So, I put a pretty Christmas plate on my coffee table and put the pics and cards there. My Nana used to do that, and I think it's kind of fancy and special.....

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We're going to go to our church's Christmas Eve service, so I'm hoping to have some friends over for cookies afterwards. There's nothing like a Christmas Eve service. I am so moved by it, and enjoy the magic of the night. It's when my heart gets quite still and reflective about God and the awesomeness of His plan when He sent Jesus as that little baby. I don't really have the words, but the Lord and I connect on a special level at a Christmas Eve service...it's very special to me...

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I do hope we can make it to the Live Nativity again this year. That would be the icing on the cake......