12 Dates of Christmas - Date 10

on the tenth date of christmas, E gave to me, a night of polish vodka and christmas caroling

this was actually our second year of christmas caroling in baltimore. it is sponsored by the polish home club and includes walking the streets of fells point, singing christmas caroling, partaking in vodka shots given out in plastic cups from local businesses, and some polish catholic church blessings.

the night ends with warming up upstairs at the polish home. it's usually a crazy time including hot dogs, buckets of beer, a polish band, and lots of polka.

if a night like that doesn't put you in the christmas spirit, nothing will.

12 Dates of Christmas - Date 9

on the ninth date of christmas, E gave to me, noodles and korean kimchee

E took me to his favorite korean place near his office for a lunch date. i have heard about this place many a time - literally called korean restaurant. it looks like a hole in the wall but inside, korean women are cooking up a storm. i have wanted to eat there for a while but they are only open on weekdays so we haven't been able to make it work but yesterday, we did.

i felt like i was being let in on a secret. this food was excellent.

we started out with a plate of kimchee, spicy cucumbers, and a third yummy but unidentifiable dish (carrots and something?). we both ordered beef ramen (E's favorite) and each came with 5 yaki mandu and a dipping sauce - both excellent!

the beef ramen was pretty good too - very hot - but it lacked a bit of flavor. i added some soy sauce and the remainder of the yaki mandu dipping sauce and it was pretty good. let's just say i managed to do some serious damage to this enormous bowl.

when E went up to pay, he was handed 2 whoopie pies and candy canes.

12 Dates of Christmas - Date 8

on the eighth day of christmas, E gave to me, dinner and CPK and a target shopping spree

california pizza kitchen is our go-to local place when we are hungry, don't have much in the house, but don't know what we want to eat. cpk has so many options we both are bound to find something we want to eat. after dinner by the (most certainly) gas powered oven, we headed to target.

our initial focus was a christmas gift for our nephew but a twist was added. E and i both had to find a gift for the other in target for $10.

we arrived home and placed our target treasures under the tree.

i got E some gum (this is mainly a selfish because i always want gum when i'm in his car and he always has an empty pack - such a tease) and an anchorman themed t-shirt.

E got me some super soft, fuzzy blue socks and a box of cookies. well done, i can be cozy and eat dessert, he knows me well:)

now, if you need me, i'll be enjoying my turquoise socks with a glass of wine.

The 12 Dates of Christmas - Dates 6 & 7

on the sixth date of christmas, i gave to E, dinner and a drive through live nativity
date six had us going through the live drive through nativity at our church (see a quick video here),

on the seventh date of christmas, E gave to me, ice cream and the game on tv 

that's right, the seventh date was spent on our couch, in our pj's, watching the ravens game and eating homemade mint chocolate chip ice cream. it might have been my favorite date yet:)

The 12 Dates of Christmas - Dates 4 & 5

on the fourth date of christmas, E gave to me, baking cream cheese cookies

E and i made his favorite cream cheese cookies (you can find the recipe i use here) the night before our fifth date . . .

on the fifth date of christmas, E gave to me, another company holiday party

that's right, Booz Allen Hamilton has multiple holiday parties. we attended the whole office party last weekend and this weekend E and i spent some quality time with his team. it was downtown, so we stayed at the hilton in baltimore. check out the view from our room! (that's camden yards for those of you who don't know.)

12 Dates of Christmas - Date 3

our third date of christmas was a low key one after we overdid it a bit the night before.

on the third date of christmas, i gave to E, a tour of the hampden lights with a hubcap tree

that's right hon, we saw a baltimore christmas tradition - the lights on 34th street in hampden - also known as "the miracle on 34th street". for 64 years, the residents of 34th street in baltimore have been going all out and decorating a whole city block of rowhomes.

there are stands of lights crossing the street from one roof top to the next. they have large lit up crabs, blow-up ravens players, and of course santa. there is even a christmas tree made solely out of hubcaps.

it truly is a slight to be seen - some home owners even invite people into their houses. (you can read all about it at http://christmasstreet.com - there is even a bit about it on wikipedia)

we finished the date with pizza and E's favorite christmas movie - the christmas story.

12 Dates of Christmas - Date 2

we're back for more of the 12 dates of christmas!

on the second date of christmas E gave to me, an invite to his company holiday party

we dressed up and headed downtown to the marriott waterfront and enjoyed cocktails, dinner, and not winning any of the prizes handed out.

my expectations were pretty low for this night as we don't know many people in the aberdeen office, but we ended up having so much fun - too much fun actually. i blame disaronno and crown royal.

yes, that's my handsome man. yes, i am lucky - incredibly lucky . . .

12 Dates of Christmas - Date 1

E and i used to take turns planning monthly dates (awww/gag, i know). somehow between buying a new/old house, selling a house, and life, it fell by the wayside. i often think i really miss doing it. we would take turns, alternating months, planning something special just the two of us. it was fun to surprise the other and it ensured we made time for each other during sometimes crazy/busy/stressful times. it didn't have to be extravagant or expensive, it just had to be us. occasionally we say"oh i miss that, we should do that again" but somehow it was forgotten again.

well, no more my friends, no more. enter the 12 dates of christmas - dun dun da da!

i am totally stealing an idea from another blogger (dang, do i have any original ideas??) thingstodofortwo, and will be boring you all to death with how they turn out. we each get six to plan starting with me. so, without further adieu, the first date of christmas . . .

on the first date of christmas, i gave to E, picking out and decorating the tree. (sung to the tune "the 12 days of christmas" you get the idea, right?)

last night we found the perfect one,

brought it home and placed it in its stand while puppies snuggled all warm in their beds,

put up the lights,

and intended to decorate it but ran into a road block. apparently three strands of our christmas lights didn't survive the summer. one was totally dead and the other two were half out. that left us with a half lit tree.

so, first thing this morning, i got some new lights so we could finish the making the tree sparkle and decorate it! i went with the bird theme again this year i just love it so much.

we still managed to finish the evening off right last night with popcorn, drinks (gin and tonic for me, jameson for E), chocolate, and a good old fashioned christmas movie - it's a wonderful life.

life is good indeed. only 21 days till christmas!