The past 10 days have been a whirlwind of holiday cheer – we’ve fondued and light-gazed and made all kinds of cookies. Â Baking has become my go-to Mama-Jules activity, as this girl seems to love the kitchen more than any other room in the house. Â We really milked the whole sugar cookie experience – Day 1 was spent mixing dough:
Day 2 was spent rolling and cutting:
Day 3: Â FROSTING!
Having a steady supply of sweets on the counter necessitates extra doses of veggies and exercise.  Cue the Fondue 5k, where we brave the cold with the gang to do a loop around Seward Park.
And then, of course, the post-run gluttony! Â We gathered with friends last Saturday to chow down on cheese and chocolate and exchange White Elephant gifts.
La Verne lucked out with these perpetually full beer mugs, huh?
Jess barely had time to pull someone’s liquor cabinet remnants out of the gift bag before…
Shane exercised his right to swipe her pick.
We ended the night with our traditional charade of The Twelve Days of Christmas. Â Jules and I fluttered across the room as the French hens.
I can’t tell here if Shane’s a maid-a-milking or a drummer drumming…it was all a bit hazy by this point.  I think Brian’s back there as the pregnant goose-a-laying?
And I thought La V’s beer mugs were a special gift…
Cheers, gang!
The next night we met up with the Chen clan to take in the lights at the Bellevue Botanical Gardens.  The place was kind of a mob scene, but the lights were pretty and the kids were amused.
(photo by La Verne)
Juliette’s school was closed a couple of days last week, and as I was in deadline-mode at work, Shane took some time off to hold down the fort.  I admit, when he told me he wanted to taking Juliette skiing on Thursday, I raised my eyebrows and asked, “Are you sure?”  I envisioned all the falling and the whining and the likely tears, reminding Shane that the toddlers he’d watched zipping down the slopes on YouTube were probably only the best and the brightest.  Around 10 am that morning, this pic popped up on my phone:
And then this:
She rocked it. Â Kudos, Shane – you’re a braver parent than I.
That evening we convened at Chez Rust for dinner and gifts, feeling all kinds of gratitude for our Seattle family…
And then, on Friday, Juliette and I conquered Seattle’s downtown holiday scene. Â We met up with a few buddies at the Sheraton’s Gingerbread Village, which was full of absurdly elaborate edible creations (Mama, can I lick that?).
We then walked over to the Fairmont Hotel to check out the Teddy Bear Suite, a room on the second floor decorated in Christmas bling and packed with teddy bears of all shapes and sizes.  It was precisely as weird as it sounds.  And right up a three-year old’s alley.
That tree in the lobby, though!
I wondered as we left the Fairmont if we should just call it a day, as the weather was increasingly cold and wet, but I’d told Juliette earlier that we were going to ride the carousel, and rain or shine (rain, it turns out), that kid was going to hold me to my word.  We made our way to Westlake Plaza and she picked out a horse with a checkered handkerchief around its neck, looking back at me with equal parts nervousness and excitement as we waited for the ride to start.
Once we got going, though, JOY. Â Pure joy.
Ain’t no rain gonna keep us down!
We made one final stop for hot chocolate by the Westlake Christmas tree…
And then both decided we were done.
We zipped home, spread out the camping pads and blankets by the tree, and slept off that morning’s excitement.
Post-nap, inspired by the gingerbread castle we’d seen earlier, we decked out one last gingerbread man.
Such could hardly believe how delicious it all looked.  I could hardly believe how much sugar had been packed into a single cookie.  ‘Tis the season, I guess…
Next up: Â onto Portland for the main event!