Christmas: The American part

As I mentioned before we had a big drive down from Vancouver, BC to Eugene, OR in Paul’s Dad’s truck. It was me, Paul and Katie’s boyfriend Joel. Katie was already down in Oregon. 

We left bright and early. We picked Joel up at 6:30am and then headed for the border. Thank goodness we were early. We arrived at 7:10 and didn’t cross over until 8am. Apparently the lines only got longer as the day progressed. Aside from that delay though, we made great time. We stopped only for food (McDonald’s for breakfast…mmm and Taco Bell for lunch – crunchwrap supreme!), diesel and bathroom breaks. We made it to Eugene by 3:30. We were excited to see the family. For Paul and I it was fun to have seen them so recently in August, it’s a good year for visiting!

We immediately set off with Katie and Nancy to Trader Joe’s to grab wine to contribute to the upcoming Christmas dinner. I found a great Gewürztraminer  that I loved. And then we headed back to the house to have wine and make up a new drink called, “Hot Bobby’s bad ass baboon” involving Pineapple juice and Vodka infused with hot peppers (Hot Monkey). There was much celebration, talking, picture taking and eating. We were joined by Grandpa Bob’s brother and his wife, and by Uncle Jon and  Aunt Barb and their kids, Jonathan and Trish. 

Nancy, Grammie, me and Katie

Katie, Nancy and Grammie

Joel and Nancy and the making of Hot Bobby's

Tablescape

Then it was time for the White Elephant gift exchange. It was fun, not too vicious and I ended up with one of the gifts I brought, to my delight, a slate board for cheese.

Me and my gift, Jonathan and his

Paul, Katie and I gave Nancy a necklace with their initials on it. It was a hit.

Katie, Cris, Nancy, me and Paul. 

I'm so short.

Group shot!

Paul put a bow on Grandpa's head.

We had to redo the shot

Also as a proud Oregon Ducks family, please note the dead beaver hanging from Jonathan in honor of Aunt Jamie, graduate of Oregon State and a proud Beaver.

Paul and his mom.

He looks like a scene from Gullivers travels.

He is a giant.

We ended the evening with a rousing game of Tri-bond, where Nancy and Cris were the secret weapons on both teams and amazed us young'uns.

Saturday started with breakfast at the traditional "Original Pancake House" and then continued with shopping, shopping and more shopping. I found some great deals and Paul's mom took him out to get him some belts and blazers for his birthday. Successful trip. 

We stopped by Nike, and I couldn't agree with these shirts more. 

Then it was out to "The Vintage" for dinner all as a group. 

Paul was dressed up and I was in my new $3.50 scarf.

And in a joy filled turn of events we ended the evening at DQ - blizzards for all!

After dinner we headed back to the house and played "Apples to Apples" with Joel, Katie, paul and me and Trish and Jonathan. Super fun. I won for the first time ever. I now don't hate that game quite as much.I still think it's far too subjective though. 

Also this was a week filled with good outfits. I was feeling it. But I couldn't find a mirror to take photos until the last day, so you just get the one look - but oh I love it. 

New cardigan from Target $20

New striped T from H&M $11.50

Necklace, Pick your Plum $5.50

Leggings from Reitman $15

Boots, Steve Madden, from Famous Footwear $90

Oh and though the boots are the single most expensive footwear item I've ever bought Paul LOVES them. I mean, so do as, as is proven by the fact that I have worn them every day over Christmas, today included, but Oh man for both Paul and I to like a fashion item, that's huge. 

We also hit up Burrito Boy for lunch on Friday and man, I am in love!

Grammie's Door

Friday afternoon we packed up and said our goodbye's to the Chapman's and the Morgan's and headed on the road with Katie, Joel and Nancy to Portland. We had a great thai dinner and then we said our sad goodbye's to Nancy and Cris and Katie, Joel, Paul and I headed to Gresham to see Steve and Louanne.

We had a great time with Steve and Louanne. Louanne is Paul's Dad's cousin. We stayed with them in August and it was great to be back again. Joel and the Miles' hadn't met yet and Katie hadn't had a chance to meet Steve yet, so it was a good visit for first meetings! On top of that Louanne made some phenomenal fresh cut salsa and Steve made us play progressive Rummy - not only did this cause much hilarity but we also stayed up until almost 1am we were having so much fun!

In the am we met up with friends of our, Rachelle and Adam at a Starbucks near by. It was great to see them, Rachelle is someone I enjoy so much. After that I had 10 minutes to stop into Craft Warehouse. I got the things I needed and it was the saddest thing ever to leave without browsing for more - that place is my heaven. Then we headed to La Carreta for lunch with the Boardmans - good conversation, great mexican and one adorable kid. It was a good lunch visit! 

And again with my boots, I really like them.

We still had to do the big Costco shop (we'd done WinCo the night before) and wanted to make sure we did that in Oregon since there's no tax in Oregon. We quickly hit up Walmart and Starbucks and then were finally on our way. We left Vancouver, WA at 4pm and arrived at the border crossing by 9:45pm. We crossed quickly, made good time to Vancouver, dropped Katie and Joel off, checked into our old suite to see how much cleaning was left to do the following day and then headed home. We were unloaded and about to rest by 11:30. Phew!