My 26th Birthday!

We recently celebrated my birthday (Dec. 27th, though we tend to spend at least 3 days on birthday stuff in this house) with a few presents, a wonderful meal out, and lots of simple, casual, happy-fun time.

Dan took me to Amor de Brazil, a Brazilian steakhouse. Now, for all my veggie-eating friends... you do NOT want to go to one of these. But, for us meat-a-tarians, it's a little slice of heaven. Served on a big Brazilian sword. By a gaucho. It was wonderful.

As for presents, I got an audible.com account and some ShamWOW's from Dan. (I wanted a ShamWOW soooooo badly... it's hilarious and amazing!!! "You'll say WOW every time!" And we do.) The audible account was so thoughtful, too! I have a lot of books to read for classes in my next (and LAST) semester, and now I can listen to them as audiobooks! Such a clever wonderful boy. :-) And my mom, the generous soul, got me the WHOLE Rosetta Stone set in Japanese! It's a wonderful present, since I can't take any more traditional language classes with my remaining schedule.

So, now I'm 26! It's not a nice, round number like 25, but I suppose it'll do. For a year, at least. Thanks to all those who made this year really special!

Holiday.

Here are some photos from Dan's and my "Christmas / Hanukkah One," celebrated with his sister and parents at our house, and the start of "Christmas Two."

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This is our tiny Wal-Mart special Christmas tree! Dan and I bought this 2 years ago. The tree, ornaments, lights, topper, and garland cost about 35 bucks. Cheap, but we love it.

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The bread-wreath on our front door! It's made of bread. Seriously.

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Some of the festive snacky-ness about the house. Here, you see Hanukkah and Christmas candy, mingling in the same bowl. I call it, "Peace on Earth, good luck on the diet."

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This is a picture of Rags, enjoying one of the MANY kitty presents brought by Dan's mom. This contraption is called the "Mystery Triangle." Honestly. I didn't make that up. That's the name. Anyway, they both love it.

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Rags isn't sure about this one. Oh, and don't think Puck didn't have a blast. I didn't get a picture of it, but he's throwing another toy around. And I think he ate a ribbon. So, yeah. He's enjoying himself, too.

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These are ornaments we all made out of Sculpey clay. It was a fun family project that turned out really well!

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Ta-da! The new, handmade ornaments on the tree, the second batch of presents wrapped and ready, lots of holiday food and fun! Though everyone I know is making the celebration a little smaller this year, I don't know a soul who's not enjoying the season just as much. I send holiday wishes to all and hope the season brings you nothing but joy and happiness!

Merry Lich-mas!