Well the holiday season came and went by in a whirlwind and now it’s back to the new/old routine for 2015. Luke has been back at work for a week now and I have meetings to prep for the new semester starting this week. But before we move onto the new-year goals I thought I’d share about our first married Christmas out on the West Coast.

We flew out  and got to the Portland airport late. We were greeted by Luke’s parents who we hadn’t seen in more than a year and a half and Luke’s brother who we had last seen before we go married in July of 2012. We got to the Greene house and ended up staying up late talking and trying to wear off the jet lag.

In the next few days we decorated the Greene Christmas tree and enjoyed spending time with the niece (4) and nephew (2) while listening to old Christmas tapes.

We took the time to sneak off for a date to see the Hobbit: Five Armies and get some northwest teriyaki chicken. Then also ran errands and went Christmas shopping. After a day of shopping we ended up at Bob’s Red Mill where we got dinner and goodies to make gluten free organic versions of my chocolate baker’s cookies.

At the end of the week L and I did an early Christmas present for the Greene family: a homemade dinner for 10. We decided on a menu of our grilled tilapia fish tacos with all the fixings. We also made a large bowl of guacamole and a side of re-fried black beans . For dessert we had lime brownies.

Not at all the traditional Christmas dinner but everyone seemed to like it pretty well.

The next day we took family pictures then packed and headed to the coast for Christmas with the Halvorson side of the family.

Halvorson Christmas is up next post.