I turned in my final grades last Friday and almost immediately started to prepare--really prepare--for the holidays. It included the following:
Shopping
My bags were heavy with wares from a trip to the outlet malls with my friend Kate
Wrapping
Baking
Yes, that's butter. Lots of butter.
And yes, those are dinosaur sprinkles. Merry Christmasaurus.
Eating
The Bûche de Noël at La Petite Creperie in Woodstock
The remains of Wyatt, the turkey, from our Friendsgiving (Trevor and I did not participate in the Wyatt consumption)
Crepes from Iguana Cafe
And hanging out with some fantastic people
Like some of my coworkers for our end-of-semester holiday feast...
This is where that log cake de noel came in.
Our Friendsgiving friends...
Cristen, mixing up some egg whites for homemade egg nog
Jayson, taking a picture before we sat down to eat
My awesome mentee Angelica...
Angelica with her presents before we hunkered down for some crepes
And family...
On Friday, I went with Mom and Bosco to check out the model train display at the Hancock Center.
Taking it all in...
Still taking it in..
We walked home from the Hancock and had some lunch before playing with some cool blocks. It was the perfect day.
Applesauce: the snack you eat right after lunch
Blocks!
On Saturday the Power clan got together. Rae was able to fly in from Florida, but we missed Letty, who's been helping out in Atlanta for the last few weeks and only got back to FL yesterday. She'll stay at home for the holidays, but then go back to the TSA office in Atlanta until they can find a replacement (a replacement for Letty? impossible, so good luck, suckers).
Sadie ripping open her Ugg boots from Destiny
Sadie showing off her Girl PoWEr tee shirt from Auntie Rae and Auntie Letty
The cousins Sadie and Destiny--Sadie is in her final of four costume changes for the night
Angi with her new loud eyed baby Dora
Tonight we'll go over to Mom and Dad Bork's place to do some gift exchanges, and then to Sean and Angi Power's to hang out with them and Rae before she has to leave tomorrow. There will be more eating, drinking, and hanging out with our favorite people, and we'll be sure to take some pictures. But until then, Merry Christmas!
Wednesday night was the closing party for the VWrite program this semester. There was a lot of food, fun, and maybe a few tears shed as the mentors and mentees recapped an excellent semester together.
Mentors and mentees, at the pot-luck VWrite party
Angelica, mentee extraordinaire
Angelica and her mentor and mentee buddies with their VWrite diplomas
At the end of the party, Angelica wanted to know: did we think that some of the Gage Park High School students would ever be back to volunteer as mentors themselves for the VWrite program? I thought that was a terrific question and I really hope that the answer is a resounding yes!
