Disneyland at Christmas

Since I have an annual pass to Disneyland this year I was really wanting to get down there to see the Christmas decorations.  This past weekend my mom and I took a little trip to do just that. Warning: this post may contain picture overload!

I, of course, couldn't go without wearing some of my fun Disney hair accessories.  I don't get to wear them anywhere else so I try to take advantage of my opportunities.

Disney definitely takes its holiday decorating seriously and I am always impressed at all the small details.  Apparently this has been done at Disneyworld for a few years but this is the first time I have seen the Jungle Cruise turned into the Jingle Cruise at Disneyland.  The premise of the ride is that all the holiday decorations and supplies that had been ordered never arrived at the way-station.  They are instead found all over the ride and put the various uses.

The elephants are enjoying some Christmas wreaths and colored balls.

There are all kinds Christmas decorations scattered throughout the ride but I had to laugh when I saw fruitcake floating in the water.  My dad loves fruitcake but of course Disney took the opportunity to make traditional fruitcake jokes.  Almost all the jokes on the ride are actually new and holiday related.

After going on the Jingle Cruise my mom and I made our way over to Holiday Haunted Mansion stopping to ride other rides on the way.  Not the best picture of us but still fun.

After riding lots of rides and admiring the decorations my mom and I hopped on the train to ride around the park before heading to California Adventure to eat lunch.  Riding the train is always a nice way to see the park and rest your feet at the same time.  The train station at Main Street was all decorated for Christmas with blue 60th anniversary accents too.

We discovered that our best kept secret of eating lunch in the lounge of Carthay Circle is no longer a secret at all.  There were lots of people there but that didn't stop us from having a fun lunch.  We sat at a table with a group of guys who were definitely have a good time.  I didn't manage to take a picture of our food but I did capture our pretty drinks before we slurped them up.

After going back to our hotel for a little rest during the hottest, busiest part of the afternoon we returned to a magical sparkly wonderland.  Your really can't beat the beauty of Disneyland all lit up with Christmas decorations.  

We wanted to spend the evening in Disneyland (we only had one night in the parks) but we went into California Adventure for a just a bit to see it all lit up.  The big tree was gorgeous and there were so many fun ornaments. There was even a train set going around the bottom.  I wish we had more time to go further into the park to see the rest the decorations all lit up but we had to make do with what we saw.

It was too crowded to ride It's a Small World that night but we watched the clock show and admired the lights.  Don't worry we went back the next day to see the inside all done up for Christmas but the  outside is by far best at night.

There is a special 60th anniversary parade called Paint the Night that I had been hearing wonderful things about so we braved the crowds and watched the parade.  The braving part didn't happen during the parade but the hour or so we had to stand around waiting for the parade to start.  The parade was indeed fantastic complete with Belle all lit up.

We stopped to admire the huge ginormous Christmas tree on Main Street before heading back to our hotel.  After all day on our feet I can say we both slept well and we were up bright and early the next day to head back to the park.

We only had until the early afternoon in the parks on Sunday but we managed to ride just about everything we had missed on Saturday in Disneyland.  We missed a few fun rides in California Adventure but I have a pass so I know I will be back soon.

More Christmas Decorations...

Our condo is definitely decked out for Christmas.  I tried not to go too crazy with decorations in our small space but I am not sure how successful I was this year.

I was born on Christmas so every year for my birthday (until I was 18) my grandparents gave me a Santa Claus of some sort.  Sometimes they were statues, sometimes they were ornaments and sometimes they were something else completely.  Needless to say I have quite a collection of Santa Clauses.  Many of them are still at my parents house (thanks parents) but quite a few of them have made it into my collection of decorations.  This wooden Santa is one of my many Santas.

This little guy is one of my early childhood Santas so he is not in the best of shape anymore.  His bag is no longer attached to his hand but it just means he is well loved.

This Santa actually has an armless friend (twin) at my parents house somewhere.  My grandmother (and grandfather) had a matching Santa and after my grandmother died a few years ago this Santas friend came with me.  I always called this Santa the toothpaste Santa because the buckle on his belt looked like toothpaste to my eight year old self.  Well, it made sense at the time.

I am loving the combination of silver, red and green in my wooden bowl this year.  

I have a few more decorations and a tree to talk about but I didn't want to totally overwhelm people with pictures so the tree gets its own post later in the week.

It is Starting to Look a Lot Like Christmas

Tuesday night my husband got tired of me talking about getting our tree and said let's just go get a tree.  He doesn't have any strong need for a real tree but he humors me. Another reason why I love him.

We went to our local Home Depot and I picked out the prettiest Douglas Fir tree.  I debated between a Noble Fir and a Douglas Fir but decided to go with the Douglas Fir this year.  Can't beat a nice fluffy Christmas tree.

There were those fun cutout characters at the tree lot.  I tried to get my husband to be in a picture but he only humors me so much.  He agreed to take my picture instead.

We brought our tree home and I set it up in the living room.  I have one of those fancy tree stands that lets you use a foot petal to adjust your tree.  You just put the tree in the stand and you can adjust it in all directions to make sure it is straight.  Notice how straight my tree is? Such a good invention! 

My tree was a little wet so I decided to let it hang out in my condo overnight before I started to put lights and ornaments on it. I am still not done decorating (life happens) so in the meantime here are a few photos of some of my other decorations that I was able to put up.  

Next week I will have a full post on all my various Christmas decorations and if you know me you will know I don't take Christmas decorating lightly so there will be many decorations.  

Favorite Stocking Stuffers

Now that I have throughly enjoyed my Thanksgiving my brain is in full Christmas mode.  My birthday is on Christmas and I think that just adds to my love of Christmas but it also means that everyone is asking me what I want for Christmas and for my birthday.

While I try to think of things that I want here are a few things I am thinking of getting for other people.

Growing up my sisters and I could always count on getting socks and underwear in our stockings on Christmas morning.  Now as an adult I love to give (and receive) Hanky Panky to my favorite girls.  I have lots of other pairs of underwear but my Hanky Panky are the ones I wear almost everyday so I know whoever I give them to will gets lots of use out of them.







Another thing I am planning to get multiple people on my list is this cute little power outlet cube.  It has regular power outlets and spots for USB cables.  There are other versions of this power cube but the thing I like about this one is that it comes with outlet adapters so it can be used in multiple other countries.  I can think of many people in my life who will take full advantage of this feature. An added bonus is that this product is purple and we all know how I feel about purple things.





Another great easy thing to put in someone's stocking is cute little notepads.  I am a huge list maker both at home and at work so I know I can never have too many notepads so I give them to others too. These Kate Spade notepads look perfect for stockings.



All this talk about stocking stuffers has helped me think of a few things that I would like in my stocking but knowing my loved ones I am going to have to come up with a few more things to put on my list for Santa.  Happy beginning of the Christmas season!

What's Up Wednesday!

I had fun doing this the last few months so I am linking up with What's Up Wednesday again.

What we're eating this week:  Well obviously tomorrow we are eating turkey but I also made a Quiche Loraine this week. Last month we were down at my parent's house and my mom had made quiche to take to an event.  She had a leftover one so we took it home with us and my husband fell in love with it.  He apparently thought all quiches were boring and gross because the only one had ever had was some kind of spinach one.  Ever since he tried my mom's quiche he has been asking me to make another one so I finally got around to asking my mom for the recipe and making it.

What I'm reminiscing about: I am of course still (and will continue to be) thinking about my California wedding.  I had so much fun and I love seeing all the pictures everyone took. Many more posts and pictures to come but read the first few posts here, here and here.

What I'm loving: I am loving that while I am having another wedding in June I am officially and legally married to my husband.  I love calling him my husband and get butterflies every time I say it.

What we've been up to: Well, if getting married wasn't enough excitement for the month of November I also got a promotion at work.  I have a brand new position in my department at work.  I had to take a test and do two interviews to get the position so needless to say I worked hard to get the new position and am very happy about it.

What I'm dreading: I am trying to keep a positive attitude at the moment.  There are some things happening around me that I have no control over so I am just trying to focus my energy on the positive and not dwell on what I can't change.

What I'm working on: I am currently working on sending out thank you notes to all the people who came to my little shower and also thank you notes to all the fabulous people who came came to my California wedding.  I want to get the notes sent out this weekend before the time gets away from me.

What I'm excited about: I am totally a Christmas girl so I can hardly contain my excitement about the upcoming season.  I love everything from decorating a tree, to buying presents to going to look at all the pretty lights in the park near our house.  Last year my husband and I went to see the lights/display at Christmas in the Park and then went and had hot chocolate in a nearby hotel lobby.  I can't wait to do it again this year.

What I'm watching/reading: I am still watching Grimm, The Blacklist and Agents of Shield with my husband but over the weekend I watched the first couple of episodes How to Get Away with Murder and I think I like it.  The first season is on Nexflix but not all the second season is on Hulu so I am not sure what I will do when I get through the first season.

What I'm listening to: Mostly whatever comes on my Pandora which is usually a mix of country and a random mix of 90s-00s pop music.  Everyone needs some Britney in their life every once in a while. I have been working on a project at work that is a bit repudiative so my headphones have been on a lot this week.

What I'm wearing: I had a gift card to The Loft so I bought myself two new shirts.  This lace blouse came last week and when I wore it with my jeans on Friday I got so many complements.

It looked great with my jeans but I know it will also looked good tucked into one of my many pencil skirts.  As part of my new position I have a feeling I am going to be attending more meetings so my many pencils skirts are going to be getting lots of use.

The other shirt didn't arrive until last night so I am wearing it today. This pretty floral blouse also looks great with my jeans but can be worn tucked into a pencil skirt on the days I have to be a little more dressed up.

What I'm doing this weekend: Well I, like most of the county, will be doing some combination of eating, shopping, relaxing and hanging out with family.  I am having Thanksgiving dinner with my husband's family and went to his mother's house last weekend to decorate her house.  I took most of the decorations down at my condo and put them up at her place so it would feel all festive. I have a partial list of what I want to buy our friends and family for Christmas so I am hoping to at least finish making the list if not also buy many of the presents.

What's Your Favorite Christmas Tradition?: I am a huge fan of pretty much everything Christmas so to pick just one favorite tradition is really hard.  I love buying presents for people and watching them open them but I guess I have to say my favorite tradition is decorating my Christmas tree.  Even when I lived alone I always made sure I had a real tree to decorate and admire during the Christmas season.

Quiche Loraine

A few weeks ago my husband (it is so fun to say that) and I were at my parent's house.  While we were there my mom gave us a quiche loraine to take home and my husband fell in love with it.  I got the recipe from my mom so I could make it again and here it is.

1 9 inch pre-made pie crust (I use the kind in a red box)

1/2 lb bacon

5 eggs

2 cups cream

3/4 cup shredded swiss cheese

a dash of salt

a good sized dash of pepper

a dash of nutmeg

Preheat oven to 300 degrees

Put the bacon in a skillet and cook it until crispy and then drain the excess fat

While the bacon is cooking grate the cheese. You can also mix the eggs, cream, salt, pepper and nutmeg in a bowl and mix with a wire whisk while the bacon is cooking.

Carefully put the pie crust into a 9 inch pie pan and then place the bacon in the bottom of the crust

Put the cheese on top of the bacon and then carefully pour the liquid into the shell

Bake for 1 hour to 1.25 hours or until the top is light brown and cracking.  You will be able to put a knife into the middle and have it come out clean when the quiche is done.

I recommend putting a foil lined cookie sheet under quiche when cooking it in case the quiche overflows a bit.

I am taking this quiche to my mother in law's house on Thanksgiving morning so we have something to brunch on while cooking our Thanksgiving dinner.  Not quite a traditional Thanksgiving food but my husband loves this quiche so he is looking forward to eating it again.

Enjoy!

The Party Before the Wedding Parties

The Thursday before my California wedding my parents hosted a little dinner party at their house for the out of California family and my cousin who couldn't come to the wedding ceremony. 

I threw together this California wedding with only about 6 weeks notice so my cousin (who is also one of my bridesmaid) already had plans for the weekend but I was very happy she was able to come to this little dinner party.  

I wore my comfy grey dress, a belt, a big necklace and because we are finally having a bit of fall weather one my many cardigans.  

Two of my aunts flew in from the Seattle area to help celebrate.  Two of my uncles flew in too but they did not end up in any pictures.  I think they were hiding from the camera!  I was so fortunate that so many people made the time to come to this wedding but are also planning to come to Hawaii to help us celebrate again.

We were also having the wedding reception at my parents house so it was very convenient that earlier this year my parents bought a dinner party at an auction.  The item they bought was a dinner at their house where a chef and waiters came in and did the whole thing start to finish.  They brought everything from the food to the decorations to the dishes and then at the end they did all the clean up and took it all away.  It made the evening really easy and low stress for everyone and my goodness the food was delicious.

There was a spread of cheese and crackers before dinner, butternut squash soup and a delicious bread pudding that didn't get photographed but here is a shot of the main course.  There was also plenty of wine flowing throughout the evening. I had to drive home that night so I couldn't have too much of the wine

The evening ended with a little bit of piano music courtesy of my dad.