we had an awesome tree decorating/ fondue party on Saturday night - I mean how can you beat, cheese, chocolate, wine, and good friends all in one place...
we had sliced beef and prawns with a beef broth in one fondue dish and then a swiss & gorgonzola cheese sauce in the other. Bryce and I realised later that we should have put sauces like tartare, bbq, teryaki etc in the little white dishes around the fondue container to dip the meats in... so next time it will be even better :)
I was not happy about the prawns and meat swimming in the same dish (hate icky prawns), but I just pretended it wasn't happening...
after filling up on bread, meat and vegies dipped in cheese it was time to decorate
Hannah helped with the lights
as did Cody
Bryce hung them perfectly on our perfect tree
Melita and Cody brought some cool ornaments for us
Hannah didn't believe it was a real tree and had to do the sniff test
time to get the chocolate melting, we mixed toblerones, cream, milk and some other Belgian chocolate together (loosely based on Nigella's recipe here) 
these are the pretty angel ornaments Hannah gave us
silliness
hanging the ornaments
Hannah and McKenzie (caught with her tongue sticking out)
I like how the lights shine in this shot
adding some final touches
and then the pièce de résistance
my dad gave me this little angel last christmas when he was here, she is the angel from our family christmas tree and we have had her for as long as I can remember Christmas. it was tradition that Dad would always put her on the tree last
time for chocolate now
we dipped strawberries, marshmallows and mini lemon poppyseed muffins
it was all too much for Cooper and McKenzie
they snuggled with Hannah
and we finished up watching Charlie Brown Christmas (well some of us fell asleep on the couch)
our wonderfully perfect christmas tree
Mabel and I are heading out on a mini girls vacation today with Hannah to Palm Springs. It's going to be an average of 40 (104F) degrees while we're there. Ooh la la! But luckily there's a pool, that we'll be spending lots of time in :)
gino goes head to head with a french bulldog
Hannah and Max (awww)
and it was their turn on the red carpet
lots of dogs had to be helped up those stairs, but not little Max, he's a determined little guy
they worked the catwalk and did a trick where Max jumps through Hannah's leg and the crowd was very impressed!
quick stop for the puparazzi (I'm so funny... :P)
dog modeling is so exhausting...
Cody and Gino were up next and he was almost the biggest dog there (so many small fluffy types)
all for the reward of the treat though, hey Gino?
awww
ok that's enough now...
this poodle was dressed up like Mr T, I think
we won a $30 gift voucher to a local pet store in a raffle - yay mckenzie!
and now it was Coop's turn, and we were determined to show up clever Max with a combo of tricks :) first high 5
then shake
dance
and then through the leg - yay!
quick photo op
and then it was McKenzie's turn which her trick was just making it through without getting too scared (the poor skittish girl)... family portrait
and then they're outta there!
it was so hot so we didn't stick around for much after that, so we cooled down with some frozen yogurt yumminess
I snapped this shot last Friday on my drive home from work, and when I saw it this morning I had to share it. Hannah bought me these gorgeous flowers for my birthday (along with the most awesome electric juicer, which is invaluable with all the oranges and lemons we have at our place...) anyway I was driving them home with the top down in my car (yes Dad, I was stopped at a traffic light...) and the lighting was well - you can see :)
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