Christmas Time Was Here

So, Christmas happened. This was the first year GP and I spent the holiday together and it was fantastic. I had a little trouble (like I always do) reconciling my love for Christmas and my disdain for the Christian theft of Pagan traditions, but I said fuck it and I let myself enjoy the company, food, and most importantly, presents. We went to GP's mum's on Christmas Eve for an enormous and delicious dinner and a metric ton of presents. Then we came home and had Christmas morning here, which was great. I won't get all sappy or nothin', but Christmas with someone you love more than most things is pretty fucking special.
Isn't our tree adorable? I took it (and all other Christmas paraphernalia) down yesterday, which made me feel like such an adult. I no longer innocently come home from school on a January afternoon to find the tree has disappeared. Anyhow... Even Friskies got into the Christmas spirit! And by "got into the Christmas spirit" I mean was forced to wear a scarf I made for her out of the leftover yarn from the stockings I made for GP and myself. I don't care how much it looks like abuse, she loved it.
Here she is, in her Christmas scarf, posing with one of my favourite gifts from GP: The Flavour Thesaurus. It's not a recipe book, it's even better: it's an inspiration book! I barely ever follow recipes anyway, so it's perfect for me. It gives ideas for flavour combinations you might not normally try. One that I'd like to do sometime (probably in the spring) is rose petals and chicken. Sounds so exotic! Other favourite gifts, you ask? There are so many, but the easiest to show you pictures of are my Nigella Christmas cookbook and the bamboo stand on which it sits:

GP's dad, brother and girlfriend-in-law (or whatever a sister-in-law is when they're not married yet) came over for waffles and more gifts on Christmas morning. Then we went to my dad's in Victoria in the evening and had even more presents from him and his girlfriend and another huge meal. We tied up the visiting with a trip over to see my mum. GP was supposed to come to the Nutcracker Ballet in Vancouver with us, but we got the dates mixed up and he had a meeting with a client on the day we were supposed to go. All was not lost, however. My long-time chum Caitlin ended up joining us and we had a fabulous time. She even helped me carry my Christmas gifts home!
Face is blanked out to protect the not-so-innocent. Is it bad that I sang "not-so-innocent" to the Britney Spears tune?

That's my "holiday" in a nutshell. Although now that school is over (wheeee!!!) and I'm unemployed (hm...), every day is kind of a holiday. If you know of employment that pays $17.50+/hour 9-5 Monday-Friday, let me know! And please send positive job thoughts my way.