It's beginning to look a lot like...

Saturday night was our WaMu-Northwest Boulevard Christmas party (an ugly sweater theme). Everyone brought a dessert and a gift for our white elephant gift exchange. Jose and Amanda even brought their dog Chico, a Jack Russel Terrier, who did his best to coax Astro out of his crate and out to play. Eventually Astro made it as far as beneath the kitchen table, which was still a big step for him.

I made Ginger Chocolate-Chip Bars, Blueberry Pinwheels, and Glazed Lemon Cookies. The Ginger Chocolate-Chip bars were the easiest to make and the recipe made a bunch of them. The Blueberry Pinwheels proved to be the most time consuming, but they were yummy. My favorites were the Glazed Lemon Cookies which were basically a shortbread cookie with a lemony glaze on top which I could have poured over ice cream (or toast for that matter) and enjoyed. The best part is there are plenty left over to hand out to the neighbors!

Thanks to Tage, our house was festivly decorated for the holiday season. He surprised me the day after Thanksgiving by picking up AND decorating this adorable Christmas tree and having it set up when I got home from work. Thanks to my mom and Grandma Pete, there are already gifts under the tree just waiting for Christmas morning.

This was my view of the Christmas tree as I pulled into the driveway after a very long day at work. :)