The Bemilie Blog

Now that Christmas is over, I can’t help but feel a little nostalgic. I was thinking the other night as I gazed at out sparkling little tree, all of five foot three in it’s splendor – which has quite a bit more in the way of “dressings” than when we first put it up a month ago – and remembering back to all of those Christmases that I’ve spent with my various family members. Honestly this is something I’ve done every year since moving out of my parents home, the big difference this year is that it would be just me and Ben enjoying the holiday at home this year. This was a difficult but necessary choice for us to make considering the cost of travel and a myriad of other reasons.

Ben’s dad gave us a call not too far in to December with news that he had a free ticket for Southwest that he had to use by the end of the year and what a better way to use it that to come up to Portland for a brief visit. What a nice little treat. During his visit the three of us took a trip to the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI) to catch the Star Wars exhibit before it left. Afterwards we enjoyed a nice dinner in down town Portland, all the while enjoying the extra little sparkle the city gets around the holidays. When we got back home, Ben and his dad lit candles for the third night of Hanukkah – a new but exciting experience for me.

On the 23rd Ben and I attended a fun little holiday gathering across the river in Vancouver and got to meet some new people as well as reconnect with some friends we hadn’t seen in a little while.

Christmas Eve and Day were both relatively uneventful. We spent them both at home, enjoying each other’s company and a little time off together. We exchanged presents Christmas morning and ate a nice ham dinner that evening. We watched on of my holiday favorites, “A Christmas Story”, and Ben worked feverishly on his new Knex roller coaster set which had been a gift from his family. Hopefully we will build family traditions over the coming years to enjoy.

That’s it from the newlywed home for now. Until next time,

Emilie

My parents drove up from Sacramento for a nice weekend visit November 18 & 19. It was nice to be able to spend time with them in our home and just relax and chat. We spent a good part of Sunday driving around Portland trying to find open houses to look at. Ben and I are trying to figure out what kind of house we can get for our budget in this area. What we found is that we’re going to have to definitely save up for a while before really looking in earnest for a place to call our own.

Ben had to work the day before and the day after Thanksgiving so we decided that it would be best if we just stayed home and celebrated the holiday with just the two of us. I found a recipe for turkey breast with corn bread stuffing. With green beans, mashed potatoes, and cranberry sauce, it was the perfect amount of food for just the two of us, if not still a little too much. We enjoyed the food and the day off together.