Holiday Magic

We're having my cousin Elise and her husband Gordon over for dinner tomorrow night, who split their time between  Seattle and upstate New York. For both Thanksgiving and Christmas they are in New York (with about a week back in Seattle in between). So, for the past several years, we've had them over for a holiday dinner in early December before they return to New York.

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Right after work today, I did shopping for the dinner in our little neighborhood, which I had forgotten was doing their annual "Holiday Magic" festival. The streets were jumping with people, music, lights, and... roasting chestnuts...

Chestnuts roasting...

While I was grocery shopping, Drake went over to the neighborhood tree lot and picked out our Christmas tree. Our place has 9" ceilings so we can go with a big tree. He picked out a beaut!