Its been a Bermuda-ful December!

Once again I know I have fallen behind on the blog updates, but as I am sure it is for everyone reading this, December is a crazy month!  In order not to bore you to tears I will break up the updates.  This one is going to be from where the previous update left off at Philips Birthday through until we leave the Rock to head home for Christmas. 

On Saturday, December 9th we took the ice cream truck and went to the Boat Parade.  The boat Parade is a Bermudian tradition that I have never been able to attend due to the fact that it is held on a Saturday night in December and I have always had to work.  I was once again working, but this time it was on the truck and I had a front row seat!  This year there were about 40 boats in the Harbor all decked out with lights and music.  Some even had Santa waving to us!   



Prime location to watch the boats go by



The sun was just setting as the boats started circling



this boat was simple, but I really liked it



its hard to tell, but that is the Bacardi boat





The night ended with fireworks which I am still convinced Philip arranged as a kick off to my birthday the next day ;)

Speaking of which!.... Philip had to go to work at Cafe Cairo after the parade but he waited until midnight to go so I could open my birthday presents and he could sing to me! He did a wonderful job on my gifts....



me wearing my jersey....



 

The only problem is the jersey is big enough to fit Philip!  So it looks like he now has his own Brady jersey to wear for when we go watch the games in town!

Philip making a pouty face wearing MY jersey

The next day.....my actual birthday!!!!!! was so amazing!  It started with bunch at the lighthouse.  We sipped Mimosa and I got to have Eggs Benedict, one of my all time favs (btw Kel...still not as good as Warren tavern!)



Philip and I at Gibbs Lighthouse on my Birthday



After brunch we went home to install my other gift, a box for my bike (that's the red thing on the back) so that I have somewhere safe to put my bag and stuff while I am riding.  Knowing that red is my favorite color...I got a fun red one!

This was the first year in a long time that I did not have to work on my  birthday because even though it is MY birthday, people still insist upon having Holiday parties on December 11th! I made a list of all the things I wanted to do and it kept us very busy.  The next thing on the agenda was baking Christmas cookies.  My intention was to make a whole bunch and give them to friends and family...good in theory.  They only lasted until Monday and then we were all out!  I did make more dough, again with good intentions of making more, but that is now in the freezer waiting for Valentines Day cookies I guess. 

As if my day was not already over the top, Philip planned a dinner with our friends to Harbourfront! So for the second time in 2 weeks we got all gussied up and went out to a lovely dinner!  Everyone had fun and it was the prefect way to end my day!

Things slowed down a bit that week giving us time to get our stuff together to go to to Va. for Xmas with the family.  We flew off island on the 22nd.  Prior to that we were able to have Xmas dinner with friends.  On Monday the 21st we went over to our friends Kim and Chis who are both chefs....always a wonderful evening when we get to go over there!  Their place was all decked out for Xmas, complete with fireplace and Santa hats!

 Wednesday night we went over to Lynn and Davids and had another amazing dinner!  Lynn lived in Japan for a few years and learned the art of hand rolling sushi.  Philip and I are both huge sushi lovers so this was such a great opportunity.  Lynn and David taught me how to make my own tuna roll and for a first time I think I did a pretty good job!




table set for hand rolled sushi dinner



So there you have it.....December 9-22....we are almost up-to-date!



Another thankful, merry, happy, special, successful week and a half!

Consider this your warning, this is going to be a long one!  If you do not have time or do not really care all that much about what we have going in, look away now!

Now that we have that out of the way....the title of this blog does hold some significance and as you read through it you will see why.  It has been another busy busy week or so here on the Rock and I have been slacking on the blog updates so I am cramming it all into one.  The first major event was Thanksgiving!  I love this holiday (as I do most) because I have so many fond memories growing up spending this day with my family and eating some amazing food.  Plus the excitement of Black Friday was always an added bonus!  This year was not different! I decided that just because I am living somewhere that does not celebrate Thanksgiving does not mean I can't!  I was able to watch the parade on my computer at work, although it was not the same as watching it on my couch in my jammies, it was still worth while.  We made a reservation at the Fairmont Southampton who were doing a Thanksgiving Dinner Dance.  I know, Thanksgiving isn't really known to be a dancing holiday, but we went with it.  We also asked our friends the Petty's to join us.  Daivd is a born and raised Onion just like Philip.  They have been friends for well over 20 years and after being gone for about 10 years David has recently moved back with his wife Lynn who is British.  We have been spending a lot of time together and it only seemed right to spend Thanksgiving with them as well as they are now a part of my "Bermuda Family"

Philip and I at
Thanksgiving Dinner

David and Lynn at
Thanksgiving Dinner

That Sunday was the Santa parade in Hamilton.  It was a fun day but somewhat surreal to me.  We were on the ice cream truck for it which was great since it was 75 and sunny out all day! It was a lot of fun to watch it from the truck. This is a picture of my view from the front seat.  It was a beautiful night!

Santa Parade in Hamilton, Bermuda

We took a few days off to relax and rest up for our next major event...Philip's Birthday!!!  Anyone who knows me knows how much I love birthdays (especially my own!)  Philip has never been a big fan of celebrating his birthday but I think I may be rubbing off on him.  For the first time since I have known him he decided that he wanted to go out to dinner with some friends to celebrate!  Once he said that I was all over the planning!  I booked us a table at his favourite restaurant Waterlot Inn and sent out an invite to friends.  November 30th turned out to be a very happy night!  We had so much fun!  David & Lynn and Kim & Chris Chafe all joined us for dinner and drinks.  

Philip cleaned up in the gifts department!  He is now ready for his next round of golf with new shirt, hat, towel and glove!  His comment was if only someone could gift him with a better swing he would be all set!  He is also now sporting a custom made (because they only make them in the size the player actually wears)   Man U jersey with Roony's name and number on it (I know, for the Americans reading this it means nothing, just smile and nod like I do!) 

Moving right along to this past weekend, as we know from the previous post I have already started to decorate for Christmas, well we are now all set with our tree and everything! 

 
Philip and I have gone through some tough times and have always come out on the better end of things...who knew agreeing on how to properly decorate a Christmas tree was going to be our hardest battle to overcome!  I like an elegant tree with solid white lights and ornaments.  Philip prefers a "dancing" tree with blinking coloured lights and tinsel! We were forced to compromise and agreed on solid white lights, blinking yellow lights at NO tinsel!

 

And what better way to finish this post then with a success....I got my license!!!  It took 2 attempts at the written test (who cares what international standard is used for helmets here?!?!?! turns out it is Snell...google it!) and 1 try at the actual riding, I am now legal.  Philip was helpful this weekend by setting up "cones" in our driveway so I could practice.  He thought it would be funny to video me doing it.  So being that it is the holiday season and I am a giving person I am including the link to the video...you can thank him!

So just to recap (in case you didn't figuer this out while reading):

• Thankful...Thanksgiving
• Merry... Santa Parade
• Happy...Philips Birthday 
• Special...our tree
• Successful...me getting my license

Stay tuned for the next update as we have a lot more stuff going on the next week or so (including someone's birthday!)