Christmas Eve and Christmas 2011

Oh my!  It is almost halfway through January and I have yet to write about Clara's first Christmas!  I have been getting back into the swing of things, and I guess my blog is the last thing to go back into my routine.  I'm very sorry, again, for being MIA so much lately.  And, without further ado, let's see Christmas!

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As you may remember, we were in Florida for Christmas.  It definitely was not a white Christmas... unless you count the white sand.  On Christmas Eve, we went out to dinner at a place called Indian Pass Raw Bar.  Caleb had been research all week about where would be the best place to go out, and this place sounded the best.  It was also very close to where we stayed, but we went to go check out a different place first.  That place that we checked out ended up being a dud, so we drove all the way back to (almost) our rental house. 

Indian Pass Raw Bar was pretty much a hole-in-the-wall restaurant with great food.  If we would not have looking for it, we would have blinked and passed it.  Inside, there were two round plastic picnic tables and also five to six long rectangular ones set up for people to sit at.  Along the back wall, there was the beer tap and a large cooler with with anything that you wanted to drink.  The reason that Caleb wanted to come here all along was that it was self-serve drinks paid on the honor system.  You could walk up to the tap to get pitchers of beer for yourself (and they were only seven dollars each).  In the cooler, there were also bottles and cans of beer; bottles and cans of soda; bottles of water; margaritas, wine, and other mixed drinks in bottles; and (what Caleb thought was the coolest) Jack and Coke already mixed in a can!  (Unfortunately, I only have pictures of the outside... sorry!)

They had a limited menu of raw, steamed, or baked oysters; steamed or stuffed shrimp; steamed crab legs; seafood gumbo; hamburger/cheese burger; BBQ sandwich; hot dog/corn dog; sausage dog; or corn on the cob.  I got the seafood gumbo and stuffed shrimp.  They both were SO good!  If any of you are ever going to be in the area, I definitely recommend that you go.  And, while you are there, you can put a pin on the map that shows where you are from.  Caleb and I were the first to have visited from Fort Riley.  There were even some people on there who were from Sweden!!

After dinner, we went back to the house and changed to go to the beach to see the sunset (yes, I was WAY over dressed for the raw bar).  My mom and I "broke the law" by using a boardwalk right by a house and some property for sale instead of the public access.  It turned out well for us, though, because I found my first whole shell that way!  (Caleb decided to stay behind and watch the Eagles' football game.)  The sunset was so pretty.  We saw pelicans flying around, Clara got to play with sand and shells again, and Dolly (my parent's dog) had fun playing fetch with shells.  

That speck is a pelican.

Once it was dark outside, we went back to the house and opened presents (and everyone opened their stockings, too because Rachel and James would be leaving to go back to Georgia on Christmas morning).  I got an iTunes gift card, photography magazine, a book of things to do outside with Clara, candy, and a CRAZY stocking cap in my stocking.  And, I got a recipe for homemade playdough, a rolling pin, and number cookie cutters from my mom and dad.  (Caleb had already given me my present of a Canon 50mm f1.8 lens before he left.)  Caleb got similar things in his stocking plus a lot of books and two CDs.  Clara got four Raffi CDs and a teething toy from my mom and dad.  We gave her four soft blocks, a shape sorter bucket toy, and a stand-up toy table (the table was left at home and given to her later).  All she wanted to do was eat the paper and the bows!  (She got her stockings on Christmas morning.)  We also ate treats (peanut butter rice crispy treats with chocolate on time, little weenies wrapped in bacon, pinwheels, and guacamole) that Rachel made as her gift to all of us.

Aunt Boo and Clara

Clara can finally play with the presents she has been crawling to for a while now

The start of LOTS of present opening pictures... three photographers were taking pictures so some may be out of order.

 

 

 

  

 

Rachel and James making food

Licking the spoon

On Christmas morning, we got up and gave Clara her stockings.  She got a taggie blanket that I (well actually Kaarin) made for her and the shape blocks to go in the shape sorter bucket.  And, she got some organic blueberry Cheerio type things and a car seat toy that vibrates when you pull it.  She really enjoyed playing with her toys after that!

 

All in all, it was a great Christmas Eve and Christmas for all of us!