Salish Lodge Brunch

One of our Holiday traditions is that every year around during the winter holiday season Aaron & Dani, Mom & Dad and Carol & I go out to a nice dinner together. We used to all exchange gifts at Christmas but it got to where it was more obligatory than celebratory. So we decided that, since none of us really go out that often, it would be really nice to all go together once a year, leave the kids at home and have a really nice adult dinner together. To make it even more fun we added a little gift exchange to the tradition. So every year around Thanksgiving we pick names & get something special for that person and bring it along to our holiday dinner.

This year we settled on my favorite restaurant... The Salish Lodge. We altered our tradition just a tiny bit by deciding to do a brunch rather than our normal dinner. I was thrilled. It's been several years since I've been to The Salish and I love to have their multi-course Country Breakfast.

Sunday afternoon after morning meeting we met at Aaron and Dani's and all carpooled up to brunch. We've had mild weather this winter but this was one of just a few really cold days and we expected there would be snow up in the foothills of Snoqualmie. It was a perfect day for a holiday brunch!

Waiting for our table. The gift-wrapping gets fancier every year!
Mom and Dad in front of the Salish tree.
And Aaron & Dani too. Seated and pouring over the choices. While we were waiting for the food we got the gift exchange under way. Aaron had mom's name this year. She got tickets to the Flower & Garden Show and pictures of the grandkids. Aaron had taken all 4 of the kids to get their pictures taken together; they turned out pretty good too! Awwww... aren't the pictures cute! Dad had Carol's name...

....and he got her a beautiful sweater in autumn colors that looks really nice on her. Then came a little shocker. It was Dani's turn to hand out her present and she handed it to... DAD! Yikes! I thought I had dad's name! Figures that I would get mixed up and shop for the wrong person! So dad opened the first of two nice fluffy soft navy blue bathrobes.

Dani received her beautifully wrapped present from Carol. The little box had a pair of nice earrings and a bracelet with a subtle snowman pattern.

And the big box was a Panini maker... exactly what Dani wanted!

Hmmm... this is familiar. Dad is opening up more gifts! This time a work shirt and, yes, you guessed it... a nice nice fluffy soft navy blue bathrobe.

My turn. Mom handed me the best-wrapped gift of the night. In the smaller box was exactly the gift I most wanted... a new can opener!

You can't tell from the picture just how sparkly the tree gift-topper was... it was as sparkly as can be! You also can't tell from the picture that inside was a very pretty half-zip taupe-colored sweater that I love wearing.

At that point the food arrived and everyone had an enjoyable meal as the snow continued to come down outside and the real fire in the fireplace crackled merrily. It was all very festive.

By the time we finished brunch it was almost dark outside.

We walked over to the Snoqualmie Falls Lookout for a few more pictures.

It had been cold for several days and there were all kinds of beautiful ice formations around the falls. As the waterfall hits the bottom it splashes out and sends up a mist which froze all along the perimeter. It was really beautiful.

Finally it was time to head home, all squished into Aaron & Dani's Durango, heading out into the snowy winter night.