Christmas Parties #1 - E & C's Christmakkah

Ah, the holidays. It's probably my favorite time of year, all that feel-good happiness with friends and family, and all the shopping that's involved. Woo! It's also the time of many parties and gift exchanging. So far, I've got two parties down and three more to go (as of today, that is).

Em & Charles's Christmakkah party was last Saturday and thank goodness Dem and I were able to make it down, what with all the snow, rain, hail, ice and flooding. First it snowed - almost blizzard-like by our West Coast standards - then it rained for two days straight. All the snow melted and coupled with two days of solid rain, our region flooded. Lovely. The flooding was massive and wreaked havoc everywhere: houses were destroyed, roads wiped out, livestock died and holidays ruined. I overheard one of my coworkers saying that some streets up north were flooded so badly that the salmon were crossing the road. See the salmon in the picture behind the truck? Madness.

The people here are amazing, really banding together to help those who are victims of last week's storm, not to mention all the men and women who worked a minor miracle and reopened I-5 so that Dem and I (and a whole truckload of other people far more important than us, such as emergency suppliers and emergency food crews) could get through. My sincerest thanks goes out to everyone who worked to reopen I-5. (In case you don't know, Interstate 5 is the major freeway here and a 20-mile stretch of it in Chehalis was overtaken by about 10 feet of water. Right smack in the middle of our road trip to Portland.)

Anyway, the E & C's party was a blast. We met a lot of Charles' friends, some familiar faces and some new. Mel was there, too, and I'm totally in love with her hair. She's a hairdresser and I think I may have to make an appointment with her next time I'm down in Portland. And there was tons of food. Fabulous. Hummus, roast beef finger sandwiches, sugar cookies, salmon on rye, yum! My only regret was missing out on Meg's amazing cupcakes *tear* because of the peppermint and Charles's deliciously sounding homemade apple sauce. Next time Charles!