Merry Christmas! It's such a day for celebration. Yesterday we had a great day in Seattle with my family.

We started with homemade breakfast: fried egg and cheese sandwiches with hummus, roasted garlic sweet potatoes, and sautéed zucchini, spinach, and tomatoes.

We're so close now, friends! Yesterday we went shopping at Pike Place Market and to a show.

I'd never been to Pike Place so close to Christmas before and it's even more charming than usual. The market was heavily crowded with people, locals and tourists alike, from what I can tell. The holiday bouquets were beautiful!

Last night we threw an ugly sweater party. Most of guests heeded the dress code, a few didn't, and one dressed as Santa!

Yesterday we reunited with family! My parents arrived and we got right to the shopping, cooking, eating, and drinking. My friend Holly joined us for dinner and we had my Mom's Italian wedding soup, which I requested.

We've totally abandoned plucking the little cards from the Advent Calendar and looking forward to charming and heart warming activities. We've reached the point of doing-only-what-needs-to-be-done.

Yesterday a few Christmas Miracles took place in and around our house: the outdoor lights were hung (FINALLY! We didn't have outdoor electricity until Sunday, minor details...), the stockings were hung, and the house is finalllllllyyyyyyyy clean. We don't have a tree skirt under the tree, because our cat demands that we don't!

My family arrives today! We're as ready as we're going to be.