Christmas with the Nielsons

Christmas break this year was packed with adventures! BYU blessed Dustan (and therefore me by association) with THREE WEEKS OF CHRISTMAS BREAK. It was amazing. And since Dustan had his only two finals early during finals week, we actually got nearly four weeks of break. If you ever talk to us at all or follow us on social media, you already know that we flew to Florida and went on a cruise through the Western Caribbean (blog post up!) and spent a few days exploring what Orlando had to offer--which of course meant Disney World and Universal Studios (blog up!). We were able to still have a bit of fun in Washington before and after our trip.

We arrived in Kirkland on a Tuesday evening after an uneventful (thankfully) drive. We had left around 5:00 am so that we could make it to my little brother Michael's band concert. He is in 6th grade playing the tuba! It was awesome, and the flute players need to learn how to tune their instruments ;)

That week was just spent relaxing. Most everyone was still working and in school, so we got our extra sleep, did some Christmas shopping, and ate too much food. We played a lot of games and didn't watch nearly as many movies as we normally do. We also loved spending time at my grandparents house--we love having them live so close in Seattle area!

One game we played a lot was Super Battle Pets. Sounds ridiculous? Well, it's awesome. It is a card game that my brother Samuel designed and created completely on his own: the rules, the pictures on the cards, the rulebook, etc. It make look/sound silly and childish, but it really is an awesome game for all ages. Yes, I am shamelessly trying to sell it to you :) HERE is the link if you are interested in buying it (his website with more instructions is HERE)! We seriously played it dozens of times over break and plan on playing it way more. We've played it with a few friends and they also loved it.

Christmas day was going to be spent on the Norwegian Cruise Line's Jade cruise ship. As a result, many of our Nielson family Christmas traditions were put off in lieu of this adventure. We didn't put up and decorate a tree and we weren't attending the Nielson family Christmas Eve party, and we were doing minimal presents. Obviously we didn't bring our presents with us on the cruise, so we celebrated the material part of Christmas beforehand. The morning before we flew to Florida for our adventures, we opened presents! Our presents were stacked nicely on a table in the living room. We had fun spending that morning together and playing with some of our games. After opening presents, we ate baked french toast--like we do every year.

That afternoon, we began packing and flew to Tampa! We were on an 8 day cruise through the Western Caribbean. Afterward, we traveled to Orlando and spent one day at Universal Studios and three days at Disney World. We flew back to Seattle two weeks after leaving.

After the trip, Dustan and I just had just under a week before we needed to get back to Utah for his classes. We did much of the same--eating, sleeping, and playing games. We did spend one afternoon in downtown Seattle, playing games and eating even more good food :) We walked around Pike Place, ate macaroni and cheese from Beecher's and pastries from Piroshky Piroshky Bakery, and took many pictures.

On the way out of downtown, we stopped by Kerry Park and Nielsen's Pastries. Kerry Park has a beautiful skyline view of Seattle with Mount Rainier in the background. Nielsen's Pastries has been frequented by the Nielson family for years. We love their "potatoes" especially, a custard filled pastry with a marzipan topping.

Finally, it was time to head back to Utah :( We loved all the adventures we had in Washington (and Florida and the Caribbean haha) over Christmas break! Next up on the blog: OUR CRUISE! Thanks for reading!