Christmas 2011

We stayed home for Christmas this year, and it was just the two of us. We went to the 4pm Christmas Eve service at church.  It was uplifting and awesome, the singing was my favorite.  :) 


Todd made Jamaican Jerk Chicken for dinner… so yummy!


On Christmas morning, there were a few gifts to open.




Noodle got a new mouse.


There was opening of gifts.








Todd called his family and they opened gifts while on the phone.  Then at 10am we went over to our next door neighbors Fred and Annie’s house.  They invited us over for Christmas brunch!  Annie prepared a truly amazing spread.  There was corned beef hash, french toast, ham & bacon, orange crepes, and scrambled eggs.


We brought over some home baked blueberry muffins.


Some of Annie’s french toast.


Fred is my neighbor who roasts his own coffee beans.  He made Todd a latte.  It was so smooth that there was no sugar needed!


Annie the hostess decked out in red.  Our other neighbors Marisa, Frank, and Celeste were there as well. 


We got to see the exercise wheel that Fred built for their cat Cebu.  Look at Cebu go!


Fred showed our other neighbors the coffee-roasting shack he built in his backyard.  We’d seen it before.  It is awesome and cool!


The coffee bean roasting machine that Fred got off eBay.  Every Sunday our house smells of wonderful roasting coffee beans from Fred’s yard!


Annie is quite the crafting wizard.  She made all these polymer clay mugs, in which she put her cacti.


She also made these birdhouses.




And these stepping stones.


Cookies for Santa on a tree.


We trekked the long way home (next door) around 1pm.  We rested a bit, then it was time to go for a run to burn off all the Christmas calories!  We combined that with our annual tradition of “Christmas At The Beach”.  The tide was extremely low and we got to see the reefs that are close to shore!


Even though we’re not in Hawaii anymore, I’m thankful that I can still spend Christmas on the beach, with spectacular views.  :)




Sending a Facebook merry Christmas Blackberry photo from the beach…


Jumping for joy at the reason for the season… the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ!  (We brought our tripod to the beach and put our camera on a continuous shot timer.)

Then we changed into our running clothes and ran.  So good to get some fresh air and run a few miles on Christmas!  I ran 3.14 miles (my pi running route! heh).  Took at short break at Swami’s in the middle and took a few photos with my Blackberry.  Look how low the tide was, and look at all the reef!


The view in the middle of my run, and my running path.


We finished and drove home just as the sun was setting. 


Then we cleaned ourselves up and made some homemade flank steak tacos for dinner.  So yummy!


I hope that you and yours had a great Christmas and that you enjoyed the holiday together with loved ones. 

Oh yea, I posted a blog post last week at The Lilypad about the best camera being the one that you have with you, so that you can capture little snippets of life that you wouldn’t otherwise have captured.  I don’t particularly think my Blackberry phone camera takes good pictures at all, but it’s the only camera I have with me when I go for runs, and sometimes the only camera I have with me, period.  So I still like to use it to capture the moments.  You can read my blog post here.

Hawaii posts will resume tomorrow.  :)