Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

I've just finished baking one apple and one pumpkin pie (recipes and photos coming soon). We opened the presents, a tradition stemming from my mother's complete impatience in waiting to see what she got, my cousin was surprised and delighted by our family's zany Christmas goodness, and now I'm sitting in bed, winding down from a day of work, my mom's delicious Korean seafood stew, and unwrapping tons of gifts.

I feel like it's the first time I've really sat and just breathed in weeks. Though I wasn't quite prepared for Christmas, I'm glad that it's here. I'll be working on Saturday, but at least for Christmas, I can stay completely away from my computer and my e-mail and work in general.

Lots of photos to come, I'm sure. Meanwhile, some images of the house, inside and out:

Decor of the window in the living room. I know, Venetian blinds are hideous, but they're very functional. I love the windows all around with the house when they have their Christmas clothes on.

The tree. I forgot (oops!) who gave me back in the day, but I've had that heavy red glass ornament for years. I love it. Most of the ornaments on our tree are from different people and have a story.

My sister, the Hello Kitty fiend, received these ornaments during past Christmases. They're too heavy for the tree, even our fake tree with sturdy metal branches, so they're decorations to pretty up the TV in the living room.

More gifts from people. I love the idea of this Winnie the Pooh stocking holder for all those people that don't have fireplaces. I didn't have a fireplace for years but did have a stocking, this would have been very useful then.

My parents bought these awesome LED lights for their house this year. The old lights were getting a bit worn, the color was rubbing off, and they weren't energy efficient. These are brighter and much more ... LED-looking, but they're very energy efficient and work well.

At dusk, with the lights on. They're brighter in real life than they are in pictures.

My dad's insane orange Suburban Blazer (my dad came and said to me today, "It's a K5 Blazer, not a Suburban!" Oops!) and the house during sunset. I love the rosy cast over this photo, which I did not add in with Photoshop or anything.

I can't wait for tomorrow and for Christmas lunch! It will pretty much be like Thanksgiving, just with a few swap-outs.

Merry Christmas to all!