New Years Eve.

Mr. Frederiches and I stayed home for New Year's Eve.  We received a few different invites, but with the craziness of the holidays the only place we wanted to be was home.  I took down Christmas and made dinner. We even had home-grown-straight-from-the-Hotel-Garden broccoli with our dinner.  It is so exciting to watch the Hotel Garden grow, but it is even more exciting when we can enjoy the fruits vegetables of our labor.  We enjoyed a couple of our favorite cupcakes for dessert and closed out the year together at the Hotel.

It's hard to believe another year has come and gone.  I'm not sure where it went.  Mr. Frederiches and I were busier this year than in years prior so it should come as no surprise at the rapid speed in which it all happened.    I never thought my Project 365, a challenge to myself to look for the good in the little things, would have come this far.  I never thought I would have been able to take a picture every day then blog about it.  Not all pictures or posts were great or came easily, but that was part of the challenge. I have come to enjoy my pictures and even more so enjoy looking back on what we have seen, done, and accomplished.  When days, weeks and years are flying by it is good for me to take a second and document the little things that end up being not so little.  I am excited to see what the next year has in store for the Hotel.  

Customized.

Mr. Frederiches was fixing a laptop that someone had customized with an apple logo and rhinestones. I loved it.  It was simple, yet fun.  I am terrible at customizing and personalizing objects.  I have always felt that they were supposed to stay in the condition they came in.  I didn't write or color on my shoes, backpack, shirts, notebooks or folders.  I tried to keep them in a like-new condition as possible.  However, I do admire the people that are able to step out of the box and make things their own.  I'll have to work on my own stepping-out-of-the-box-make-it-my-own talents in the new year.

Quick Fix.

Mr. Frederiches and I were hankering from some hot chocolate Christmas morning and my sister is in love with Circle K coffee so when we stopped to get her some Mr. Frederiches got a hot chocolate.  It was pretty good.  Convenience store coffee / hot chocolate has come a long way.  Mr. Frederiches brought me home a hot chocolate this evening after work.  What a nice surprise it was to come home to a nice hot drink waiting for me.  Maybe it will help get rid of this cold I have come across.

Fuzzy Slippers with Soles.

I've been wearing Mr. Frederiches slippers for awhile now.  Whenever I would need a quick pair of shoes to go outside I would put his on and march around.  Yes, march.  The shoes are way too big for me so there was no way I could walk. I had to march to keep them on.

Thankfully my sister bought me a pair of my very own for Christmas.  I am in LOVE.  They are so soft and warm and they FIT.  I no longer have to march around the house.  I can walk around without worry of tripping or looking silly.  I will miss marching around in Mr. Frederiches shoes and may have to every once in awhile for old time sake, but I will LOVE and enjoy my very own pair.

Popcornopolis.

Mr. Frederiches and I tried Popcornopolis popcorn at Costco a few months ago.  We bought a 3-pack while there was a display at our local store, as part of a road show.  The guy at Costco made up an unusual, but delicious pairing, it involved zebra popcorn and jalapeno cheddar.  Odd, yes, but oddly delicious at the same time.  If you get the opportunity to try Popcornopolis don't pass it up.  I don't think you will be disappointed.   Today more showed up on my desk as a Christmas gift. I was so excited, but I have to tell you, the Sour Cream & Onion is not a Hotel favorite.

Holiday Cheer.

The holiday season has brought us love, laughter, a few tears and a lot of cheers.  We have received Christmas cards from those near and dear and proudly displayed them on our book case with our stockings.  Now that the holiday season is winding down I wanted to take a picture before I took the display down.  Thank you to everyone that sent cards, they were cherished.

Merry Christmas.

Hotel Frederiches Tree

The Ranch Tree

My Mom's Tree

"The best of all gifts around any Christmas tree is the presence of a happy family all wrapped up in each other."

~Burton Hillis

This Christmas was one of the best I have had in quite some time.  It was filled with a love and warmth and sense of family that has been lacking in the recent years.  Even complete strangers were genuine and lovely.   

The morning started out with Mr. Frederiches and I opening gifts around the Hotel tree.  Much to my surprise, Mr. Frederiches fixed my necklace that broke earlier this year.  A necklace he gave me on our first Christmas, ten years ago.  I can't believe he did so much research and found the perfect chain.  I will wear it every day until it is time to replace the chain once again.  

We celebrated twice more and enjoyed every minute of it.  Thanks to my loving family this was definitely a Christmas for the memory books.

Love you all and thank you for making my life and holiday merry.

Christmas Eve and Family Feud.

No, not a real family feud.  Family feud the game show.  Last year my step-mom bought us Michael Jackson for the Wii for some Christmas Eve entertainment.  We played and had a blast, so my sisters and I decided that it needed to be a yearly tradition.  Keeping with the tradition, Mr. Frederiches and I went to my dad's house for dinner, ate pizza and Stromboli, had cherry pie and played a family game on the Wii.  The game she chose this year was Family Feud.  She wanted to make sure the boys were involved.  Fun game.  It was a little tricky to answer the questions because they had to be typed in, but still fun.  We broke into teams and I was on the losing team of the 3-2 record.  Mr. Frederiches, on the other hand, was on the winning side with my sisters. 

I want a hippopotamus for Christmas.

"I want a hippopotamus for Christmas

Only a hippopotamus will do

Don't want a doll, no dinky Tinker Toy

I want a hippopotamus to play with and enjoy."

~Gayla Peevey 

I have always found this song amusing and a couple years ago when I couldn't come up with anything for Christmas I would sing it to Mr. Frederiches each time he asked the question.  That Christmas I got a hippo stuffed animal and a musical button that sings the song.  Ever since then I have had a fondness for hippos.  Last year the stores were selling these lit hippo yard decorations.  I hmmed and hawed over it, but couldn't justify spending the money and if I could then where would I store it.  When I was starting to decorate for Christmas this year I was having a bit of remorse that I didn't spend the money to get this hippo yard ornament and much to my dismay it cannot be found anywhere.  I even searched online and didn't have any luck.

So I told you that story to tell you this story.  When Mr. Frederiches and I drove around looking at Christmas lights this evening we came across the hippo in someones yard.  I wanted to leave a note that said all I wanted for Christmas was a hippo and thank them kindly.  I, however, knew that the homeowner would be disappointed to find the hippo missing so I left it where it belongs and took a picture instead.  It was a spur of the moment trip to look at lights, but there were some beautifully decorated houses. Here are a couple of my favorites:

 

Cauliflower and Broccoli.

I haven't updated about the Hotel Garden in awhile, but today when I went to check on it I was pleasantly surprised to see all the goodies that are growing.  I have many tomatoes, like breaking the plant many, onions, broccoli AND cauliflower.  My favorite part of the garden is watching it grow.  This is my second cauliflower plant and it is just now producing a head of cauliflower, things were looking iffy for awhile.  It looks like there are two heads of both the broccoli and cauliflower growing.  I can't wait!

Spilled Milk.

This morning started off a bit rough when I dumped my freshly made bowl of cheerios all over my desk. I wanted to cry over my spilled milk, especially when it was early and I had to try and figure out how to clean it up.  Everything survived the spill unharmed, although my mouse and keyboard are still a little sticky.  Thankfully the evening ended on a more positive note.  A project I have been working on at work for a couple of years finally works for the second go-around.  Let's hope that it continues.

As a side note Santa sent Mr. Frederiches a video today. It appears Santa has been watching. So you better be good and you better not pout.

From the Tree - Homemade.

Made by my mom and given to my grandma, now mine - A little worn and well Loved.

Handmade by me for Mr. Frederiches in honor of his love for  the University of Michigan. - Mr. Frederiches  Loves.

 

Drawn by my sister and put on an ornament - Love.

Hand painted by my Grandma - Love.

As Mr. Frederiches and I looked at my post from last night, we had a case of the What about's.  What about this ornament and what about that ornament.  So we are doing Round 2 - From the Tree - Homemade.  I can't make any promises there won't be a Round 3.  We have truly fallen in love with our Christmas tree and all the ornaments on it.  Each one was bought or handmade with a lot of thought and care.  We may eventually need a second tree to display them all, but how would I choose which ones don't get to go on a tree in a given year?

From the Tree.

I saw a post on another blog where they posted some ornament pictures from their tree so I thought I would follow suite.  Here are some of our favorite ornaments from the tree.  We actually have many more, but I thought I would highlight just a few.

Delivery.

I wasn't sure when we were going to be able to see Mr. Frederiches family before Christmas to deliver cookies so we made a plan to go today.  We stopped by my mom's for the sugar cookies, packed up our plates and made the rounds.  I think everyone was pleased with this years selection.

The snowball cookies have yet to make their appearance, but that's okay I don't like to share them anyway.  They are my favorite Christmas cookie and Mr. Frederiches doesn't like them.  Lucky for me I don't have to worry about competition.

Cookie Time.

It's cookie time in the hotel.  I give out a plate of cookies to all the uncles and to my dad for Christmas. So today I spent the majority of it baking.  The final cookie list included:

1. Gingersnaps (pictured above)
2. Snickerdoodles
3. Kiss cookies (peanut blossoms)
4. White chocolate cranberry
5. Chocolate chunk macadamia nut
6. Cream cheese cookies

My mom is making sugar cookies and snowballs to add to the mix.  After all the baking and mess was cleaned up Mr. Frederiches and I went to a Coyotes game.  We thought we were on our way to over time when the other team scored a goal with 0.1 seconds left.  You definitely can't get any closer than that.  Tomorrow cookie delivery.

TV Repair Man.

Thank goodness for Mr. Frederiches and his technical abilities.  My dad called him to set-up his TVs after he had his floors redone.  There had already been two attempts by two different people.  His final resort was to call Mr. Frederiches.  We went out tonight after work and dinner to see if Mr. Frederiches could work his magic.  We had to take the wires apart and start from scratch, but finally found success.  I realize now I should have taken a picture of all the wires to give you a better idea of what we were up against.  Take my word for it it was a mess.

Festive Holiday Attire.

Mr. Frederiches had his company Christmas party tonight, the first in quite a few years.  We were going to dinner at the bosses favorite Italian restaurant and he asked that we dress in festive holiday attire.  As you can see the shoes did arrive, so that was one less worry.  I'm not sure I like them with the all black attire, but it did make me feel a little more festive.  Doesn't Mr. Frederiches look handsome in his attire?  We had a very nice dinner and it turns out we were dressed possibly a little on the nicer side than the rest of the crew, but not overly dressed. All in all I would say it was a success.  Picture courtesy of the guard dogs.

Truffle Pops.

A Co-worker made these adorable cupcake decorated truffle pops. I brought one home for Mr. Frederiches to try.  He wasn't nearly as fond of them as I, so I suffered through the other half of his.  We had our holiday work lunch today complete with pizza, salad, desserts, cubicle decorating judging and secret Santa reveal. It was a good way to end my week.

Stockings.

"The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,

In hopes that St Nicholas soon would be there."

We are having a cubicle decorating contest at work and one of the administrative support personnel created this adorable fireplace to keep her warm in her gingerbread cubicle.  People are so creative.  I didn't participate as I'm trying to simplify this holiday season and decorating my cubicle just wasn't in the plan.  I am, however, enjoying everyone else's creations, especially this homemade fireplace complete with stockings.

Signed and Sealed.

Christmas cards are signed and sealed.  Mr. Frederiches helped so the process went quickly.  He printed envelopes, stuffed, stamped and sealed while I wrote out the cards.  I don't know what I'd do without him!