The Most Wonderful Time of the Year Part II (Wino Christmas)

Aside from the lights and decorations, another part of the holiday season that I love are the parties!  Our group of friends started getting together 5 or 6 years ago now for an annual holiday party to exchange gifts and drink the customary cocktails but last year the party evolved into something new.  It was decided that instead of picking names and bringing gifts for Secret Santa that instead everyone should bring designated varietals of wine, we would cover up the labels, score the wines and crown a champion.  Last year the Colemans hosted our first ever Wino Christmas party and it was so much fun we decided to make it a tradition.  This year Jeff and I took on the hosting duties and we kicked off the evening by having a glass of last years champion wine submitted by one Nate Chance, Rombauer Chardonnay.  We then went on to sample and score 5 different varietals crowning a champ for each one and then calculating the scorecards to determine the overall champ.  This year it was the Colemans with their Cherry Pie Pinot Noir.  Can't wait to start of next year's Wino Christmas with a glass of that, the best Pinot I ever tasted! 



Varietal Champs, yes the Two Buck Chuck Pinot Grigio won!



The official scorecards

Wino Christmas 2010 hosts Jeff and Katy Boeder

Mel, Tubman, Becs, Lyndsay and Dave enjoying a sample of Pinot Grigio

Last years Champ Nate Chance aka Ladies Man

This years Grand Champions Jamey and Andrea Coleman with their Cherry Pie Pinot Noir.  I believe these are now the official Champion hat wear for Wino Christmas

It's not a Wino Christmas without a viewing of Frosty.  This is our favorite part of the movie

Varietal winners got to partake in a white elephant prize gift exchange

As parties with my crowd typically go, after the sophisticated part was over we drank an additional 12 bottles of wine, played the new Michael Jackson dance game on the Wii, watched Frosty the Snowman and paused it on our favorite part (over and over) and partied until the wee hours of the morning.  I love that we always start off acting like grownups but can end the night being as silly as we want because we know we are with good company and close friends.  I can't wait to see how Wino Christmas 2011 turns out....

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year! Part I

My most favorite part of Christmas is the decorations and lights.  When I was a little girl my mom put me in charge of decorating the tree and the house and by the time I was in high school I was precariously climbing the roof and hanging icicle lights all over the whole roof because I wanted our house to be the most festive in the neighborhood.  I always took great care when setting up the manger scene making sure that everyone was in their correct spot and that the baby Jesus wasn't put out until late Christmas Eve (because he wasn't born yet!).  Decorating the tree was the most fun as each ornament was unwrapped or unboxed it would bring to mind a memory of the person who gave it to us or the Christmas that we received it.  When I moved away for College my mom picked out ornaments that she knew were sentimental  to me and let me take them and they now have a place on my tree.  This year was extra special as it was the first Christmas in our house.  I knew months ago exactly where the tree would go and calculated just how tall a tree we could fit in that space (8' 3" if you want to know).  I was a little worried that we wouldn't have enough ornaments as we used to get a 5 ft tree at the condo, but we had more than plenty and even though Jeff said that we were only getting a ginourmous tree this Christmas because it was our first, I have a feeling that next year he won't be opposed to strapping another 8 foot tree on his car and hauling it home because we both know that we can never go back to a smaller tree.  I am no Martha Stewart but I do enjoy reading several blogs of people who are way more creative than me and incorporating some of their ideas as well as coming up with some of my own.  I took a few pictures of our beautiful Christmas to share with you all and as tradition goes, it will get grander and more creative as years go on! 



Our fireplace by day




Fireplace at night, all lit up



Closeup of our tree, how about that topper?



All lit up with the fire going




Our wine console became a perfect spot for poinsettias, candles and all our Christmas cards (this pic was taken before we got any cards though)




Various sized gold and silver ornaments helped fill out the lighted garland




I made this centerpiece for the dining room table using a gold charger, leftover ornaments and two red candles.  Not bad!




Ready for company!




The wine console lit up at night.  Oops, left my wine glass there for the pic!



Paradise Part II (Off Campus)

We had grand plans of venturing out of the resort two days over the course of the week. Jeff's coworker set up a tee time for us on that Tuesday in the morning so we planned to head to Waikiki afterwards since we wouldn't be too far away after golf. We also had plans to hike Diamond Head and drive over to the North Shore with stops at Lanikai, Waimaia, Sunset Beach etc on another day...but we had all done that before and just decided to nix that one this trip and spend another day lounging at the resort. I am glad we ventured out for golf and Waikiki because golf was a lot of fun and you can't go to Oahu and not stop by Waikiki.

Andrea and I are still very much beginners at golf but we are slowly improving and the game gets more fun the more you play and the more you improve. Plus, we got to golf in Hawaii! That is an opportunity you just can't pass up and it was so awesome of Jeff's coworker to hook us up. The course was beautiful and next to Hickam AFB and Pearl Harbor. The palm trees were planted in clusters of seven to commemorate the December 7th, 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor and each hole was dedicated to a medal recipient from WWII. After a picnic lunch at the course we headed to my favorite place on the whole island, Dukes. We sat at the bar with the famous view of Waikiki Beach and Diamond Head off in the distance watching surfers, paddle boarders and sunbathers play in the turquoise blue water.

View of Waikiki and Diamond Head from Duke's

Sunset at Waikiki Beach

Jeff and Jamey at Navy Marine Golf Course

The Boeders at Navy Marine Golf Course

Katy and Jeff Kalakaua Ave, Waikiki

Watching the sunset in Waikiki

Close up of The Black Pearl

Katy and Jeff in front of The Black Pearl

Humpback whales as seen from The Ko Olina Cat

The elevators in our building overlooked the Ko Olina Marina and everyday we would see this big beautiful ship and all make jokes that it was the Black Pearl from the Pirates of the Caribbean movies. Jeff and I had seen the BP anchored in Redondo Beach a few years back after filming of POTC 2 and it did really look familiar. Finally I googled it and found out it was indeed The Black Pearl! POTC 4 had just wrapped up filming on Oahu and they docked it at Ko Olina. They are building a Disney Resort on the property so maybe it will become a permanent fixture or attraction there. We had booked a Catamaran cruise that left from the Marina and once everyone was on board the crew asked us if we wanted to get closer and cruised us up right next to the ship. It was really beautiful and we were within 10-15 feet of it and could see all the detailing and carvings (and also all their coast guard mandatory electrical lighting). After a few minutes of ooohing and aaahing it was time to head out for some snorkeling. The crew whipped up a tasty cocktail for everyone called a Catatonic, we all set up shop on the net and enjoyed cruising out into the ocean. The crew was telling us that in late November and early December you could usually see Humpback whales. Not five minutes later another passenger spotted a group of two female Humpbacks and a baby! The crew was amazed as it was the first whale sighting of the season and much earlier than usual. We followed the whales for probably 45 minutes watching them dive and come up and wave their flukes at us. The baby couldn't dive very deep so it would hang out at the surface while the adults dove down deep for food. It was amazing to watch and the entire boat was silent for the whole 45 minutes while we watched these 50 foot creatures swim right by us. After Mother Natures brilliant performance we headed out to Turtle Rock to do some snorkeling. The crew told us there would be lots of fish to look at and if we were lucky maybe a turtle. I was a little nervous about snorkeling because last time I was in Hawaii and tried snorkeling in Haunama Bay I had a panic attack....I was the second person off the boat and decided I wouldn't look down until Jeff got in the water but the crew kept yelling at me to "look down, look down!" and so I did and I was surrounded by hundreds of colorful fish and I was so amazed that I couldn't believe I was ever scared to do this. The fish were beautiful and not afraid at all, they would come right up to you and investigate you to see if you had any food and as if the day couldn't get better we saw not one, but two sea turtles that let us swim with them while they foraged the sea floor for food. That Cat cruise was by far my favorite experience of the whole trip.

Paradise Part I (The Resort)

Saturday, November 13th started out with the car service picking us up from the Coleman's bright and early at 7 am. After killing some time with trashy mags and bloody marys at the airport we boarded our flight and just 5 hours later landed in Paradise. We rented a large SUV for the week and began the 30 minute drive to the resort, enjoying the warm and humid air and chatting excitedly about everything we wanted to do during the week. We made a pit stop at Safeway to stock up on essentials (like vodka) and then pulled into the resort. This place was amazingly beautiful (see more here. ). We were on the 9th floor with an ocean view. It was a 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom villa with 2 lanais looking out over the pools and the water. We had a full kitchen and washer and dryer...it was the nicest diggs I've ever stayed in while on vacation! The best part of a vacation is that first day when you think of all the time you have ahead of you to relax and enjoy and going home seems so far away. You realize that you get to sleep in for the next 7 days and eat good food and enjoy tropical cocktails any time of the day (in fact it is encouraged to drink before noon while on vacation). We unpacked, whirled up a few cocktails and emptied our heads of any thoughts of home or work.

Jeff coming out of the water slide

The Colemans and The Boeders dressed up for dinner at Chuck's

Enjoying a key lime colada by one of the pools

Beautiful sunsets were seen every night from our Lanai

The Colemans enjoying the lagoon which was perfect for swimming

A view of our kitchen, living room and lanai

Daytime view of the pools, lagoon and ocean from the villa

The resort had several restaurants on site, a running path, several swimming pools, 4 lagoons, a golf course and a market. There really was no need to ever leave the place except for occasional trips to Safeway. We ended up making all our breakfast and lunches at the villa which was convenient and saved quite a bit of money and then would go out for dinner at night. At the beginning of the week we were ambitious and would get up and run or walk the 3 mile loop that wrapped around the lagoons along the resorts edge. By the end of the week as the cocktails and full bellies caught up to us we weren't so ambitious. Because of the 2 hour time difference we were pretty much up at 7 am most days and in bed by 10 most nights. The weather was a perfect 83 degrees everyday and the clear, blue water and sandy beach was most inviting. The main pool had a water slide which was our preferred method of getting in the water. More often than not we were the only grown ups in line for the slide but the kids in line took to us once Jamey started giving them tips on how to get down the slide more quickly (cross your legs and arch your back!). Because of the time of year and probably the economy the resort was pretty quiet. We never had a problem finding a lounge chair by the pool or the lagoon and never needed a reservation at any of the restaurants. The Colemans found a gem of a place to purchase a timeshare and we are eternally grateful that they let us join them. More to come next post!