Christmas Dinner

Saurabh made a delicious meal of buttered scallops and peas risotto for Christmas. The shopping expedition a couple of days ago yielded delicious scallops. The meal capped a lovely Christmas day. :)

Christmas Eve Hot Chocolate

A perfect cup of hot chocolate brewed by Saurabh for a snug Christmas eve at home. 

Christmas Eve Dinner

After a wet and cold day at the coast, where we hiked around the dunes of Baker Beach, we found ourselves at trusty old High Street McMenamins. We were still wet from the hike, but a toasty fireplace and a delicious burger, made everything better. 

 

We love how snug their bar is. 

2017 Ornaments

 

I have really tried to limit the ornaments I buy now, and I am proud of myself for just buying one this year. However, gifts! So I still add a total of 5 new ornaments to my collection this year. 

This one is from Sohini, from her trip to Alaska this summer.

This one we got from the Mushroom Festival this year. I got a matching one for Sohini. The artist is local to Eugene and does a bunch of work with wood. 

This is from Smita, when she visited us in October. :) An NYC ornament. 

I got these two from Kristina. They are from her trip to Japan. The fan, is technically a bookmark, but I will be using it as an ornament.

I love the jingling bell. Kristina has a matching one.

Technically a bookmark

And these are some of the ornaments I gifted.

To Sohini:

Mushroom/Acorn Bird House (Eugene, OR)

The Wood-Metal Tree (Edinburgh, Scotland)

To Kristina:

Wooden Lighthouse (Eugene, OR)

The "Naila Section" of Kristina's Tree

Shopping for Christmas Dinner

Saurabh will cook his famous Buttered Scallops and Peas Risotto. We picked up the scallops at Newman's Fish Market on Willamette. We heard they are really good, and apparently better than Fisherman's Market that we usually go to. However, Fisherman's Market seems to have more local fish, and at Newman's more seemed from further away and less local. We didn't pick up shrimp from Newman's for precisely that reason, it was from Mexico. 

Anyway, this post is mostly because I loved the little scene that was set up at Newman's and took photo, and needed a place to post it. :)

Jingle Bell-ing Our Kitchen

The coloured jingle bells are from Pewter Rabbit, an antique store in Eugene, which is now closing down. These bells were made in Japan. Apparently there was a time when a lot of Christmas decorations were made in Japan. 

I can't remember where the single jingle bell with the red and white ribbon is from. I had it in DC too, and hung it on the door knob of my closet that was in the living room. I think it was on some gift I was given. Wish I remembered...

2017 Christmas Windows in Eugene

Christmas windows in Eugene, obviously, aren't as grand as one will see in NYC or other big cities. But some of them are still really nice, and makes you feel the warmth and magic of the season. 

In '5th Street Market'

In '5th Street Market'

At 'Out on a Limb'

At 'Goldworks Jewelry Art Studio'

I have noticed a lot of windows painted for the season, here in Eugene. Cafe Soriah's window is my favourite, so far. But, Amadeus Salon's window is pretty good too! 

Cafe Soriah

Amadeus Salon

Christmas Mug

I wanted a mug fitting of the season. And I found this at St. Vinnies. :)

Christmas 2016

Our first Christmas in Eugene! Nicole (Ngo) invited us over to her mother in law's (Rena) place for Christmas 'dinner'. Rena has a 52 acre farm in Pleasant Hill. She lives in a lovely blue home on the farm that begins at the end of the road. As you turn right to enter her drive way, the view of the corn flower blue house against the blue skies and open farmland that seems to stretch out to the mountains is grand. We rolled up to the house, parked, and Nicole came out to meet us and show us around the land a little. 

After that we went in, and were greeted by a friendly, warm family. We hung around the kitchen, talking, drinking, snacking, and getting the meal ready. Rena has made almost everything at home - turkey, stuffing (that was actually in the turkey), mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, steamed broccoli, sweet pepper jelly, rolls, and finally pumpkin and pecan pies. We ate this delicious meal in the sun room that looked out to the fields. 

After the meal, we went with April and Tony and their boys (Quinn, Colin and Kiki[Keaton]), along with Nicole and Alex and their dogs River and Spencer, to the next farm to feed their horses and goat. It seemed like a Christmas out of a book :)

Starting A Tradition - Birch Boxes

Sohini and I started a Birch Box Tradition this year. We will exchange gifts in 2 birch boxes, writing something on the box each time we send something. Hopefully, in time, these boxes will become some sort of time capsule. :)

Notes and ornaments - December, 2016

Our Christmas Packages :)

Finally, Christmas Windows in DC!

While walking from Chinatown metro to Warner Theatre for Sherlock Holmes today, we saw that the Macy's had done up their windows for Christmas. I was excited! DC has the lamest decorations for Christmas, which is rather unfortunate being the capital and everything. 

The windows were done really well, and maybe the Macy's here does it every year, but I was glad to finally see something that looked really nice for Christmas :)

It's a Charlie Brown Christmas! 

I love Snoopy sitting on his house and reading a newspaper! :)

Awwww, the little, thin tree Charlie Brown wants to pick

Charlie Brown doesn't get the point of Christmas and is rather unenthusiastic about it. Susie tells him he should get involved in so Christmas activities. He wants to pick a teeny little shriveled tree as his Christmas tree. He eventually does a great job and is excited to celebrate the season! :)