Merry Christmas from Gig Harbor

Merry Christmas!!!

I hope everyone had a wonderful day as I did. A day filled with TONS of amazing food and lots of family time. The food ranged from homemade bruschetta (thanks Bryan) to great turkey and scalloped potatoes... yumm. Desserts were not few and far between and ranged from pumpkin pie, peppermint cheesecake and some AMAZING peppermint fudge that tasted like it was made by a pastry chef (cough cough - or made by yours truly). We missed Sarah, Devin, Brett, Georgette and Grace, but still had some wonderful family time (except when Scott beat me in ping pong) :-)

Below I'm adding a song that I wrote to the tune of Christmas in Dixie called "Christmas in the Harbor"

Enjoy!

Enjoy the shout-outs to each of the family members in the song!

Here are the lyrics:

By now in Washington D.C., there's snow on the ground

And out in Arizona, the sunshine's falling down.

And maybe down in New Orleans, the Big Easy's all in lights.

And in Eugene Oregon, there's peace on earth tonight.

Christmas in the Harbor; it's sunning on the pines.

Merry Christmas from Gig Harbor, to everyone tonight.

You can visit Olympia, to see a shining tree.

Or travel north to Bellingham, where the snow might actually see.

And even up in Bellevue, is our family on a hill.

And in Clear Lake Washington, fried turkey's there to fill.

Christmas in the Harbor; it's sunning on the pines.

Merry Christmas from Gig Harbor, to everyone tonight.

It's windy in Yakima, everyone's out of school.

There's magic in Seattle, the city's on the move.

In Sand Point Idaho, to Charlotte Caroline',

And all across the nation, it's a peaceful Christmas time.

Christmas in the Harbor, it's sunning on the pines.

Merry Christmas from Gig Harbor, to everyone tonight.

Merry Christmas Eve

Merry Christmas Eve!

Our Christmas Eve was spent watching Blindside - amazing movie - eating way too much at the Melting Pot - amazing food - and singing Christmas carols to Lauren's piano playing

- amazing playing!

I would like to say amazing singing, but Bryan wonderfully belted out a favorite Christmas carol to teach us all a thing or two about singing.

Lauren so beautifully played the piano! Mom, Blitzen and Bryan decided to join in this harmony!

We ended the night with Dad reading us 'Twas the Night Before Christmas and the infamous Santa Cows before putting on White Christmas to fall asleep to!

Nothing like Christmas in the Berndt household! Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

In Case You're Wondering...

This is what the BEAST looks like now. He is getting quite big, but loved his Christmas present of a squeaky santa and a giant red and white bone candy cane.

The Winter Months

I know that from the repetitive hackling of my sister, a new blog updated is definitely in order. I apologize for the haphazard entering of updates, and will try to be more consistent in the posts. The last two months has had lots of ups and very few (if any) downs. The fall season came to a close with a trip to flagstaff... a friend who was in much need of visiting. My friends and I had a wonderful time frequenting the local eateries and pubs and enjoying the traditional "train shots" that one was "required" to take every time the train passed the local "Altitudes" bar.

Along with the plethora of trains frequenting Flagstaff, there were lots of TFA-ers learning to become better teachers... or at least that's why we tell ourselves we go to Flagstaff (although the trip away from the big city is very welcomed). Our trip to Northern Arizona was not complete without a flurry of snow during the day on Saturday and a VERY cold trek around the incredibly mountain city at night.

The weekend would not be complete without a wonderful trip to Cardinals stadium. ALthough the game started out in our honor (go Seahawks), it ended with me painfully walking out of the stadium with my hawk-tail between my legs. As I have learned, it is bad to gloat to a section full of Cardinal fans about the Seahawks 1st half lead...

You would think that the month of November would be over with such events, but alas, it was not. This was just one full weekend of many in the speedy month. The month was also filled with Mad-Mud Runs (a 4 mile run with obstacles) done in the honor of Christmas trees. Although we may have had ornaments painted on our shirts and stars topping our "happy birthday" hats, many at the race though we looked nothing like Christmas trees. Maybe next year we will try to be a Menorah. See for yourselves...

As if this weren't enough for the last two months, the month of December had lots to offer as well. From the Teach for America Christmas Party to my Second Annual Holiday Extravaganza... the festive cheer was all around us. The semester ended with two big projects in my 7th and 8th grade classes (volcanoes and egg drops) which luckily made me have to do very little teaching (hooray)!

As for now, we just finished watching Julie and Julia (which has subsequently inspired me to blog) and I'm at my parent's house in the Gig. My poor puppy ESPY is at a kennel in Phoenix (which I will be calling upon his well-being probably tomorrow). I look forward to lots of sleeping in, watching television and wonderful times with the family. Looking forward to a family Christmas but will miss Sarah and Devin as well as Brett, Georgette and Grace. Excited for a trip to Yakima to visit Sarah and a New Year's with my sis!

Looking into the new year, I was quite inspired by the movie tonight and trying to think of a way to move that concept into my own life. I am contemplating trying to make my own wine and try a "new bottle a week" type blog... but we'll see.

As for now, I'll sign off this blog and look forward to the days to come. Happy Holidays!