It has been a very good christmas. I woke up around 8:30 and fed the cats and showered. Made the coffee, the last coffee of the year for me. Brian and I went to the living room in our jammies and opened the gifts. He got:

+ suede/shearling slippers, wool hat, boxer briefs from me
+ $300 from his mom toward the digital camera we’re getting together
+ silk shirt from my mom
+ best buy card from his family’s “secret” santa (cousin T.J.)
+ charm snap bracelet from my brother and his gfriend

I got:

+ cashmere sweater knit by my mom, absolutely lovely and I love it and I wore it all day
+ white button down shirt and black v-neck cable sweater from Nordy’s from my mom
+ hand mixer! from the “secret” santa (actually from a baby!)
+ charm snap bracelet from my brother and his gfriend
+ Nordstrom Spa gift card aw yeah from Brian
+ and finally… a brand new Singer sewing machine from my Brian, which I LOOOVE and have already played with!! I will never pay to get clothing hemmed again! And I am going to teach myself to make a clutch purse for my wedding day.

After we played with our presents and talked to my mom on the phone, we watched “A Christmas Story” and ate some cereal. Then we went over to visit with Ert and her mom at her apartment in the Mission. I gave her a set of cool post cards and “the Bridesmaid Guide.” We had some chocolate-walnut banana bread that she made. I was super happy to see her on christmas! She gave us banana bread and a nice bottle of vino.

Then we went over to the AMC 1000 for the sold-out showing of “Life Aquatic” which opened today. I thought it was good. Much better than the movie we saw Thursday, “Meet the Fockers” which was very eh. Hard to enjoy a movie where you dislike the central characters so much.

Post-movie, took the train home and started dinner. Brian made the most excellent and perfect mashed potatoes. I made steaks rubbed with sage and salt and pepper, and then tried and failed to make a Bearnaise sauce. Oh well. Also made a cucumber radish salad. Everything was great. We popped open a couple root beers and watched “I Love the 80s,” then set to playing with the sewing machine. I am more stoked than ever to assemble our wedding invites; they are going to be bound by thread. wooooo!

The rest of the night will be spent cleaning up after dinner, and cuddling on the couch in our jammies, drinking pumpkin ale.

I hope that all of you had a nice day today, whether it was a big traditional family get together or just spending some time with cats or friends or etc. I just love the chance to talk to my family and future family and think about them today. Wish I could have gotten my dad on the phone, but he called during the movie and left a voicemail and isn’t at home today. I’ll just try again in a couple days.

So not only am I going to learn to sew, I also want to knit. My mom, the master knitter, is hopefully going to put together a starter kit for me with her extra old needles and yarns.

CRAFTY CHRISTMAS!!!!