A Much Belated Christmas Recap

I love Christmas.  Let's just get that out of the way.

This year it snuck up on me more than usual, so I was a bit unprepared for the festivities.  Nevertheless, I managed to watch some of my annual Christmas movies: Love Actually, Little Women, and It's a Wonderful Life, as well as a few made-for-Neflix cheesefests.

I also did some fun, not-so-typical things, like Nemesis Fighting Alliance's 'Twas the Fight Before Christmas!  It was my first MMA fight, and it turns out that Casa Loma Ballroom is a great venue for it (much to my surprise).  There were 16 fights on the card, including two girl fights (one kickboxing and one grappling), and all of them went.  Some were quick and unfortunate; some were really great fights!  It was a fun night, so thanks to S for finding it and to E for coming along for the fun.

S and I also repeated one of our Christmas activities from a couple of years ago: the Historic House Tour.  This year, there were different houses on the tour.  We saw the Chatillon-DeMenil House, the Eugene Field House and Museum, and the Old Courthouse.  All were decked out in their Christmas attire, which I love.  Also on the tour was the Campbell House Museum, but we have been there several years for Christmas, and we had limited time, so we skipped that one.

S, trapped in court

The decorated staircase

The view of the arch from inside the Courthouse

The arch from outside the Courthouse

We also tried to go see a giant train set, but there was a $2 admission fee and it was cash only (which we didn't have) so we were disappointed there.

We spent Christmas proper out in Colorado, along with T&D, K&J, and E&A.  It was a great week, and T had the great idea to do a cook-off.  Each couple was assigned one night to cook dinner for everyone.  It was a great discovery of new dishes and a festival of deliciousness and overeating.

Christmas Day Hike - S and K taking a bar break, and S and me enjoying the view

S took me skiing on my birthday, which despite the crowds, was a nice re-introduction to the slopes on a sunny and not-too-cold day.

There were also a couple of cross-country skiing adventures, lots of snow, and lots of pizza!
 

 This was after the first small snow (9")

 Our second cross-country skiing adventure, and lots more snow!

 

 Homeslice Pizza - yes, we ordered 3 large pizzas for 5 people.

That cross-country skiing is hard!

Our meal was Irish themed.  S was having dessert of Guinness cake,

Guinness, and some ice cream to wash it all down

 

 T and D's lovely Christmas tree