bits of the holidays. part one.

i'm going to attempt to get caught up on my holiday blogging complete with photos. since i blog primarily for myself because of my terrible memory, it needs to be done. :]

first up is thanksgiving.
james and i arrived in denver the day before thanksgiving and had an amazing dinner with my sister and jamie at brio. i still think about that meal frequently and crave the artichoke encrusted filet medallions that i had. i will definitely request that we eat there during my next visit. after dinner, i really wanted a photo with james because the setting of the restaurant was so cute. we took several, but my camera wouldn't cooperate. here are some of the results:



the next day, which was thanksgiving, was a very low key day. i mentioned that i found a family tree that my grandpa had made... here's a look at part of it:james and i ended up going for a walk to a nearby shopping center so that we could get out of the house for a bit. there was a noodle place that james really wanted to try, but none of the restaurants were open. the movie theater was open, and we're both still wishing we'd gone to a movie to pass the time. oh well. we got back to my grandparents' house as they were arriving from their thanksgiving party that was hosted by some of their old friends. my dad's cousin charlie was at the house too, so my grandma made us some really yummy potato soup. it's always fun to see charlie when i visit. he's an interesting guy. he lives alone up in the mountains and builds these amazing organs for churches all over the country. and sometimes he tells funny stories about my dad from when they were growing up. :]

that evening, we decided to venture out to a mall for some midnight madness shopping. katie and jamie were on their way back from their thanksgiving party in colorado springs, so we met them at the shopping center. there was a huge christmas tree and all kinds of pretty lights there, but not much else besides a two hour wait to go inside the coach store and various other long lines.
i'm not sure what we were expecting, but it was just so cold outside and so busy that we didn't buy much at all. james found some kitchen set thing for his mom, and that was basically it. i guess it was worth experiencing one time, but i don't think i need to participate in the day after thanksgiving shopping anymore. :]

on friday, it was time for our thanksgiving celebration at my uncle's house. i really wish i had a group photo. here's my sister and me after the feast though:
during the meal, there was lots of story sharing. i learned that my dad's nickname in high school was "stein" after einstein. i called him stein on christmas day, and he got a good laugh about me knowing that it used to be his nickname.

we went to see a christmas carol in imax 3D that night. it was the best movie experience i can remember! [well. aside from the rude popcorn guy. ha.] i always struggle with those 3D glasses over my glasses, but it was worth it for this experience. i'm definitely going to see alice in wonderland in imax 3D, even if i have to drive to sacramento to do it.

saturday was our last day in denver. we had breakfast at ihop, which was actually fantastic. they had seasonal pancakes, which were all pretty yummy. i was never much of a breakfast person until i met james. he loves breakfast. anyway. after breakfast, we did some shopping. it was james' and my three year anniversary, so we celebrated by spending a small fortune at teavana. we have since become total fans of loose leaf tea. i haven't purchased a tea from starbucks since the trip. i was a little bit shocked over how much we spent, but once i considered that i was paying two dollars nearly every day for an inferior starbucks tea, i felt much better. i'm pretty sure that i've already paid for my teavana investment with my starbucks savings, and i'm drinking better tea. :]

we had dinner at my grandparents' favorite chinese restaurant that evening. i was actually sad that i didn't get to spend very much time with my grandparents during this trip. my great aunt [who's not officially my aunt, but that's what we call her] came to denver on thanksgiving, and unfortunately she ended up in the hospital. so they were pretty occupied with that. it was nice to be able to have a dinner with them before leaving though.

at the airport, we had a gate change that we didn't know about, so we hurried to the new gate as they were beginning the boarding process. we got on the plane just in time for them to tell us to get off due to a mechanical error. so we had a pretty long delay waiting for a new plane to come. we managed to get some food about five minutes before the food court was closing.
i guess this is the happy anniversary photo. :]