New Year's Festivities and Such

Happy New Year!  Hoping 2013 brings more love, joy, and peace to everyone.

Mr. K and I had a lovely time celebrating with friends for Christmas Day (his boss invited us to his house where we were treated like family and played Jungle Speed- a cut throat game of matching and speed).  We were even given a fondue kit for two.  It was so cute, we had to try it out as soon as we could. Here is the fruit of our labor:

Clockwise from top left: french fries, beef tips, raclette and cheddar fondue with white wine, home-made bread, apples and carrots, and Hedgie the hedgehog.

 Mr. K's verdict of the dippings was that the apple won over all, and that the bavette beef paired with a chunk of bread was excellent as a dipping partner. Though the french fries came in as a pretty close third.

Mr. K had all the week off, so we made the most of it: relaxing and enjoying some days together. Walks, new food, two movies at the theater (Life of Pi and Anna Karenina), all the holiday movies we could watch (It Happened on 5th Avenue, Mickey's Christmas Carol, National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, Love Actually), and just enjoying being a married couple.

We also went to a music concert at the Palais Garnier:

If you think the outside is gorgeous, just wait until you see inside!

The famed stairs

This is taken from the top of the seats from another night, where we heard music by Rossini and Stravinsky (not our favorite)...in the nose bleed section; our seats for Schubert were the second set of box seats on the far right.

 They had a concert of Schubert/Strauss/Webern/Schoenberg. It was FANTASTIC! We heard waltzes and sweeping music from violins, violas, cellos, plus a piano, flute and clarinet.  They had 7 curtain calls. To top it all off, they played "Funiculi, Funicula" as an encore! Hah! We had the best time, even if we shared a baignoire with a grumpy elderly lady (she was not very nice and kept poking me with her program and pulling on the back of my chair...luckily I could just move the chair forward). We were in heaven and completely swept away with the music. Whoever said "classical music is boring" obviously has never experienced a concert at the Palais Garnier.

For New Year's Eve we were invited to the home of our new friends from church, The Paulussens.  They're Kiwis! :-) I made sugar cookies and brought some Champagne and 'Tit Boules (Champ'omy- sparkling apple juice). We had such a fun time with 6 adults, two 3-2 year olds, 1 toddler and a very cute little baby girl. We almost missed New Year's countdown, but we were able to toast just in time!

Our walk to the party.

The lovely ladies of the party (A, AP (hostess), and me) plus little E man (who wasn't quite enjoying the festivities as much as the rest of us, poor little fellow)

L (the host) and all the kiddos. The little one on the floor is his, as well as the one in his arms.  The other with the Dora balloon was the best dolphin balloon fighter I've ever seen and belonged to the lady in red in the photo above. Her husband was not photographed but he was present too.

 And so, that is the recap of our holiday week.  Oh and before I forget:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, K-GIRL! 

You are 26 today! Wooo hooo!