Christmas in July.

Oh.... you don't celebrate Christmas in July? *insert awkward silence. I would explain it to you, but I don't think you're ready for it.

We are a Christmas family. This past Christmas we switched things up and went to Mexico. I will take the liberty to speak for the rest of the family and say it was the best trip ever, but that we all felt a little Christmas-blues. No turkey on Christmas? It's blasphemous. I'm pretty sure Jesus would frown upon that. We had Italian food. it was delicious. It absolutely did not taste like Christmas. We spent the day drinking margaritas at the beach, seadooing and playing (and winning) bar games. Carol, god bless her, found us a mini pink and purple Christmas tree. She decked them with smarties balls, which was mind blowing! Smarties balls are a total re-hash scenario from the only other Christmas the Little's spent away from home- Whistler circa 10 years ago -another Christmas fail. The only part about our Mexican Christmas that felt like the holidays was the hangover I felt in the morning!

And all that rambling brings me to the point of my story...we need a DO OVER on Christmas, and no, we absolutely can not wait until December to make this happen. Christmas in July, folks! The second annual! Attended by various friends and family, this event features a FULL TURKEY DINNER and a sick amount of Christmas baked goods. I am hoping that someone either finds egg nog or goes to town and makes it from scratch!

 I was super excited at the prospect of breaking out my Xmas cookie cutters again and was debating between gingerbread and shortbread. Unfortunately, I was told that cookies were taken, so I defaulted to cupcakes. Red Velvet Cupcakes with Vanilla Butter cream. Total cheater cupcakes- I used a box cake mix and doctored up store bought frosting. I will not let you hold that against me, they are adorable and allowed me to also get my car washed and laundry done tonight!

THE SECOND ANNUAL CHRISTMAS IN JULY CELEBRATION IS UPON US! Coming up this Saturday, I am stoked for delicious treats, turkey, fake Christmas trees, and out of season decorations! Tis the (fake) season! Happy holidays. xo.

Behold.

Michelle's Christmas in July Red Velvet Cupcakes.

houseboating 2012, if i had it my way

I was going to recap the house boating trip but as there are already a thousand pictures on facebook that tell a better and more complete story (as there are large holes in my memory bank from this weekend) I decided that I will look to the future instead.

Title: House Boating 2012
Subtitle: IF I had it My Way

Thursday morning we meet in Langley and there is a private jet waiting to take us (and the wake setter of course) to Sicamous. The flight over is short, only long enough to listen to whatever song LMAFO has out this summer and to do a round of shots. We arrive at Waterways and the aussis load all our shit onto the boat and take us immediately through the canal. We are pleased to find the rooms have all been upgraded to King Sized beds, each with their own en suite. The rooms are soundproof. Someone notices there are a couple of stow aways on the boat- no, its not Adam from Twin Anchors- the randoms turn out to be a Mute Midget Chef who moonlights as a fire dancer and a female Thai Masseuse. We decide to keep them. The no randoms rule has been eased up on this year.

An hour or so into the night John and Nick climb a tree and fall onto the midget as he's fire dancing, amazingly nobody is hurt and the partying continues well into the night. Nobody passes out early and, hence, nobody gets Tbagged. Greg cooks up fifty boxes of KD and gourmets it up with extra cheesy baked deliciousness. We all back chew it- all of the flavor, none of the calories.

We awake to MidgetMan cooking a gourmet breakfast of bacon, eggs, waffles and coffee. No hangovers, we're all feeling great. We spend the day tanning and drinking, boating and floating. The girls win a round of flip cups and then beer pong. Mini chef cooks up a feast for dinner, we don our theme costumes and the party's on. The hot tub gets foamed, the fire gets lit and all surrounding boats flock to our beach to partake in an insane round of Ultimate Strip Limbo. A bear comes out of the woods to join the party- he let's us dress him in tight and bright and eventually ends up passed out in the hot tub.

I don't want to spoil the whole trip, so I'll leave the third night as a total surprise. Let me assure you that the Thai Masseuse sees to it that House boating 2012 and everyone there has a Happy Ending.