Everything about Christmas is perfect. Lights strung up, festive music playing, Christmas trees stuffed with ornaments, delicious cakes and breads, and of course spending time with friends and family. This year Josh and I over indulged in Christmas and enjoyed every minute of it.
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| November 26: This was our first annual Thanks-mas (Thanksgiving and Christmas) celebration. Per Wesling tradition Josh and I made pumpkin pancakes and egg bakes. Per Thompson tradition our simple little celebration took to the streets of Kinsale and didn't end until 1am. |
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| December 3: You may recognize this picture from our Christmas card. This was taken at the beginning of our ugly sweater pub crawl, which started with delicious food at our friends Mike and Maire's and ended with the lot of us singing "When the Saint Come Marching In" at the Grey Hound. |
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| You may notice we are the only ones dressed up:) |
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| December 10: Christmas in Killarney National Park. Loving Bing Crosby's "Christmas in Killarney", Josh and I have made a Christmas tradition of visiting this beautiful area. |
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| When Josh and I first were married, we were given good advice to establish our own traditions. Christmas in Killarney has quickly become one of our favorites. You can probably see why we love it here so much. The scenery is beyond breathtaking. We had a perfect day of hiking, eating amazing food, and wandering the decorated streets. |
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| December 16: Christmas Markets in Germany. This year I visited the Frankfurt Christmas Market with my friend Carrie. The streets were lined with stalls packed with either aromatic local delicacies, treats, handmade crafts, or mulled wine! Mulled wine is a hot spiced red wine and was the perfect libation for keeping us warm. |
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| The Frankfurt Christmas Market is among the oldest dating back to 1393. Local artisans offer only the finest handicrafts, carved toys, and sweets. While there we also tried schnitzel and bratwurst, everything was so delicious. |
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| One of my favorite stalls. If you look closely you will notice that mushrooms are used as decorations. The mushroom symbolizes luck in Germany. |
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| The Christmas Market by day. |
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| This was a Jewish Holocaust memorial. Ann Frank and her family have stones honoring their memory here. I was told that the Germans believe flowers are for the living and so when they visit these memorial pieces, they place rocks on top of them. |
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| Carrie and I relishing in our last night in Frankfurt. We had an amazing time and I was very thankful for the opportunity to have this experience. |
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| December 24: Christmas Eve. Brooklynn and Chandler love playing with their uncle Josh. Christmas Eve was filled with a church service at Flatirons, a delicious meal made by my parents, and PRESENTS! |
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| The next generations Christmas enthusiast |
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| We got the girls cameras for Christmas! I never imagined how entertaining this would be. They snapped shots of the tree, the oversized Santa, each other, all of us, the table, their feet, the ground ... you get the picture (pun intend). |
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Say Cheese Santa.
On Christmas we spent time with the Thompson's (unfortunately my camera died Christmas Eve). While in Colorado we spent time with friends over cocktails, cigars, and Mexican food. Loving our time in Colorado made it hard to say goodbye. Josh and I are very lucky to have two families that love us so much and we miss them terribly.
Next up: Scott and Lindsey visit! |
