Monday, December 26, 2011

Joyeuses fêtes!

Happy Holidays from the Stench! I’m going to ignore the fact that I’ve totally failed to keep this thing up to date over the past several months. One of my New Year’s resolutions is to write more, so let’s just forgive, forget, and dive into the new year together!

During Christmas Eve dinner, I made everyone share their favorite part of this holiday season. Mom and Dad were both happy to have everyone together; Jessica enjoyed wrapping all of her presents (you should have seen them, each present meticulously crafted into a piece of art!); Seth liked putting lights on the house and tree with Ashley, whose favorite part was decorating the tree as a family (Ashley always gets sentimental as we dig through the boxes of ornaments collected over the years); Blake had fun making and eating hors d'oeuvres for the usual Christmas Eve finger-food feast. As for me, my favorite part was getting to experience the season in two countries. Lannion was enchanting, even if rainy, before Christmas: twinkling lights strung across every street, carols playing through the town speakers, mulled wine being served on street corners, the Christmas market in the town center. And of course there’s nothing like Christmas at home: baking cookies and cupcakes, fighting crowds of last-minute Christmas shoppers at Barrack’s Road and the mall, sitting around the game table with family and friends. It was all truly perfect.

Here are some photos taken with the Canon Digital Rebel I got for Christmas! Can’t wait to use it to document new adventures in France, Belgium, and Lithuania in the foreseeable future (who knows where it'll follow me after that!):


(Excited about the new camera...wearing Ashley's new giraffe hat)

(Day-after-Christmas donuts, made with new donut maker!)


Again, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Tyler