Holiday Travels - NY

The second half of our trip was spent in NY with my family.  There was a long list of people to visit, but we managed to see everyone.

Our first visit was with two ladies I worked with while I was on rotation in Syracuse.  They both have 4 month old babies now.  So we had lunch with them and their babies which was a lot of fun.  They are cute as buttons and have very different personalities.  As the mom's tell us, they are already bff's, they just aren't aware of it yet.

The next stop was up to see my Aunt.  We picked up my dad and headed north for a short visit.  We played our wedding slide show DVD for her since she was unable to attend the wedding.  She thought it was lovely.  A few random cousins came in and said hi since they were working out in the barn.  I always consider those bonus visits since you never know who's going to be at the house.

We had a big fancy polish dinner with my parents and Joyce's dad that night before opening presents.  I finally got to deliver the quilt I had been working on since November of last year.  To be fair, there was about a 10 month break in there after Christmas last year.  Something about getting married and moving that put things on hold for a little while.

Joyce and the complete quilt

As always dad's wrapping jobs are never missed.

3 different kinds of paper to wrap a sweater

And we completed the evening with a family photo.  This tripod thing is really coming in handy!

Chet, Joyce, Sarah, Rob, Larry

Afterward we headed back to my sisters house where we were allowed a lazy day on Thursday.  We spent the whole day at the house with my sister and Wayne and my brother Dave and Audrey came over in the afternoon for a bread lesson.  My older brother always makes grandma's bread for Christmas.  It's become somewhat of a tradition that I show up after they have had real dinner and then I eat a turkey sandwich on grandma's bread.  Something about it is just phenomenal.  So on that day, we made bread and used it for turkey sandwiches.  Delicious!!

The process of learning how to make grandma's bread was quite interesting.  Measuring was not an exact science and there were a lot of Gramisms to learn along the way.  For instance, use your hands to clean your work surface to prevent your sponges from getting really gross.  Neat trick. 

Stirring ingredients together

Until there's too much in the bowl and my brother takes over

Me kneading bread

"Spanking" the bread to get the air pockets out

Finished product

My loaf, a little lumpy on the top, but still yummy on the inside

No complaints from this peanut gallery

 After dinner we played our slide show for this crowd and got another group photo.  I think this will be the year of the group photos.  Thanks free tripod!

John, Audrey, Wayne, Sam, Rob, and myself

Holiday Travels - CT

I am always surprised by how fast the holiday season comes and goes.  It's hard to believe I am here typing up how the holidays went and what happened.  But here we go!

This year we started our holidays in CT to begin the every other year with each others parents.  It was my first year spending Christmas Eve/Christmas Morning with his family.  I am always eager to see how people celebrate the holidays and what traditions they have.  I just think it's great how everyone has their own special and unique way to spend time with each other.  We arrived in the afternoon and we were greeted with a fully decorated house that smelled of the holidays.  Rob's mother does an excellent job of decorating throughout the house and so there's no mistaking what time of year it is.  Before dinner Rob, myself, Bill, and Ellie went on a short car ride to Woodbury to see the town's luminaries.  They line the streets with them on Christmas Eve.  Kind of impressive when you stop and think of how many bags were set out.  We came back, ate a fabulous homemade lasagna and gathered around the tree for the famous tree lighting ceremony which Bill does every year.  It's kind of a fun family thing that is always different and up to the discretion of Bill as to what exactly happens.  Christmas morning we came down the stairs, grabbed some hot toddy and breakfast items in Christmas dishes and went to open presents.  Afterward, we took our time getting ready and headed over to Grandma's house.

Rob on Christmas morning

The Smith family

We piled into Grandma's house in time to unwind for a few minutes before dinner was ready and generally hung out with the family getting caught up.  By the following day the rest of the cousins had arrived and so did the snow.  We were getting hit with a blizzard for the next two days which really wasn't awful, but then again, I had no where to be and the company was nice.  Everyone had gone out for a walk after breakfast and when they came back, there were quite a few frozen bunnies.  We did the Christmas gifts there, followed by the fantastic grab bag.  I am pleased to say this year there was a nice mix of crap and good items.  The most fought over was probably the imported bottle of vodka from Poland.

Mary Jo modeling a fabulous pair of beer glasses with a wig, nice scarf and a pair of flannel Be Mine boxers from the grab bag.

Lauren taking vodka from Grandma

After we finished up with the gifts, I was in charge of getting a cookie decorating party going for everyone to participate in.  I brought all the cookies, frosting, and fixings and ran the show.  Grandma suggested we make it into a contest and provided prizes.  It was fun and kept everyone entertained and quiet for about an hour.  :) 

Everyone hard at work

Some of the lovely creations

After I had gotten everything cleaned up I decided to go out for a walk and take pictures of the snow.  I think I was somewhat successful.  

Later than evening after dinner, I suggested doing some family photos.  With the aid of a tripod, almost anything is possible.   

Grandma and her Grandchildren

We finished the evening watching Despicable Me before all piling in for the night. 

We spent the next few days visiting and playing games.  The last day we were there, they decided to go see the movie True Grit.  I am not all the interested in Westerns and haven't seen many of the movies I have wanted to this year so I felt funny going to see a movie I didn't really care about.  I went to the Outlet Mall instead and bought a couple of cute things which kept my plenty entertained and occupied while they were at the movies.

It was a really good visit with family and the roads were kind to us, both on traffic and weather.  Before we knew it, it was time to go and continue our journey on to NY.

Cookie Party

Today I hosted my first ever cookie party!  I have been wanting to do this for a few years but have either been too busy, or just not had the right timing/groups of people to do this with.  In my family, it was a tradition to make my grandmothers sugar cookie recipe, frost them, and hand them out to family and friends.  My dad will never let me forget the year that my brother and I both reached into the oven with bare hands to pull out cookie sheets.  And it wasn't like we did it at the same time.  My brother had reached in to grab it and burned his fingers and then shortly after I managed to touch a pan that had just come out of the oven.  Those are the kinds of memories that really stick with you.  :P

For today's event I decided I wanted to recreate the basic idea of the cookie decorating that I used to do, so I made up a batch of grandma's cookies, rolled out the dough, and cut them all out.  I ended up making two batched of cookies so everyone would have the ability to take home a dozen cookies if they wanted.  We had cookies everywhere!  

Playing with the dough and adding flour to make it not super sticky so I could roll it out

Working the dough to get it all rolled out on my way to small counter.  You can see the tub of peanut butter cookies I just had baked yesterday. 

A few samples of the cookies I cut out.  The F-22s were big hits.  Of course some thought it was a two legged Christmas tree or Sponge Bob Square Pants side kick.  :)

The party was really for the ladies to get together and socialize as much as it was to frost and quality control test some cookies.  We had lots of frosting options and decorations to add on.  Our creations were definitely one of a kind.

I think everyone had a pretty good time.  I hope that this can become and annual event.  It reminded me a lot of all those holidays where my family used to do this.  I think it's a nice tradition to have and one that doesn't involve technology gadgets and hi-tech toys; well unless you count my mixer (god help me if I didn't have that!)  I did learn that I probably made too many cookies, but honestly, is this ever really a problem with you live with a cookie monster?

Company Cheer!

One of the perks of Rob's job is being invited to a real office Christmas Party.  This is the first one that either Rob or I had ever been invited to, so we were pretty excited about it.  Not knowing what to wear, we inquired about the dress code and found out people get really decked out for this event.  Nifty! 

His company threw quite the bash at the Hilton near the airport this Saturday.  The party started at 7pm with a proper cocktail hour and mingling.  I was able to meet a lot of Rob's co-workers and other people at the company.  They had nothing but nice things to say about him.  During the cocktail hour, they had a photographer taking free professional photos of everyone that came.  We didn't know they were going to do this, so I took a few minutes to grab a proper photo of us before we left the house.

 

The dinner was really delicious and was followed up with dancing and door prizes.  We didn't win anything, but it was a lot of fun to see others winning.  I guess we are going to have to buy our own TV.  Oh well.  :)

Hung by the Chimney with Care...

Our holiday sewing activities continue with the making of stockings.  Rob and I had set we bought from Target or some place that were the generic red fuzzy stockings which were cute and all, but lacking some personality.  When we bought the material for the tree skirt, we also decided to use the same fabric to make some stockings.  We thought it would be nicer to have homemade ones that we created.  Years from now we will tell our kids, "We made those the first year we were married."  And it will be all "awww" and stuff.

Having made many Halloween costumes without a pattern, I had pretty good confidence I would do it with these as well.  I used an extremely scientific measuring device to make sure I had enough fabric.  I hijacked a store stocking that was completed and flopped it onto the fabric and then flipped it and told her to cut "about there".  I think she was somewhat amused by this tactic. 

I decided to try and document this process through the wonders of digital photography. 

I didn't buy the store model I used to make the initial assessment of how much fabric I was going to need, but I think I did alright.  I mostly followed the stocking we owned (remembering to allow for seams) and made it a little taller.  The fabric we found was amazing on many counts because it was pre-quilted, two sided fabric.  That left a lot of middle steps out once again and allowed me to pretty much just sew them up.

 Then I hired an assistant.  She was more interested in the pin cushion than anything.

Although she did monitor my cutting progress pretty well.  And she kept track of my stockings after I was finished.

Ok, so maybe the cat was a pretty big distraction in my sewing project, but it was totally worth it.

The cut projects look pretty similar to the model.  I guess we are on track here.   I sewed them up with a 5/8" seam and left the tops open.  

Then I decided to cut the top folds of the stockings and add the bias tape.  That stuff is awesome!  What is not shown here is the added embellishment of the gold squiggles again.  After that, I sewed the top part into a circle and lined it up with the base to sew it together.  I am not kidding when I say, this took my 15 minutes to figure out which way to sew this on.  I couldn't for the life of me get the flipping from wrong side to right side figured out because of the fold down of the top part on the right side.  If you understand that, then A+ for you.  Eventually I made it, because I did get a finished product.

I think they turned out pretty awesome and are now completely unique items that will hopefully stay with us for many years to come.  Now if I could find stocking hooks that I actually liked, I think we would be in business!

Holiday Sewing Adventures

For as long as I have owned my tree (now going on 5 years) I have always wanted a tree skirt.  I find this kind of odd because I never had one in my house growing up.  We used to make do (and my parents still do) with a white bed sheet that always serves this purpose.  That aside, I thought it would be relatively simple to find one.  The first year I was just happy to have a tree, so I said, "next year."  Since then it has become the running theme.

Most of the ones I do find fit into one of the two categories; Ugly and/or Expensive.  Since I wanted neither of these things I thought I could wait until the after Christmas sale to find one that was at least Used to be Expensive, but pretty.  It never quite worked out that way.  Oh well.  So here we are at year 5 of putting up my tree (which I love) and I decided I had enough hunting with pitiful results. 

The wonderful thing about owning a sewing machine is you can make most anything you need to if you want to. A quick Google search revealed many options for tree skirts.  I was surprised by how many of them still fell into the Ugly category.  I finally found one that was really generic which was perfect.  I am not sure I am really a Sewing 4 Dummies kind of person, but their pattern/instructions was exactly what I wanted.  Nothing too terribly complicated, but ideally spells out all of the things I would need and did some math for me.  I learned the C=2*pi*r, but I really didn't want to figure it out.  Off to the store we went!

I do have to mention we went on Saturday after Black Friday so I was worried the place was still going to be a zoo/really picked over.  They were having a 3 day sale, so the prices were still really good.  So we wandering to the Christmas fabric and started to browse when Rob spotted some pretty awesome fabric.  It was a doubled sided pre-quilted fabric with shimmery red on one side and shimmery green on the other.  The pattern had said that I would need two fabrics to sew together, but with this one, that step was eliminated.  Wohoo!  We located the bias tape we would need and Velcro to keep it closed.  We even went one step further and found some gold bric-a-brac to run along the edge of it.

I am really glad that my grandmother taught my how to sew all those years ago and that it's a skill I have kept in fairly decent use even today.  So assembling this project together took a couple of hours, but that was all.  The finished result looks better than anything sold in the stores (in our opinion) and it was really easy.

So here's the materials needed:
1 1/4 yards of material for each top and bottom - can be the same fabric (2 1/2 yards total) or different ones
6 yards of bias tape
Velcro Strips - found a package of 2 3"inch long pieces
Appropriate thread

We added 12 yards of gold bric-a-brac found in the ribbon aisle.  We had some left over, which is being used in the matching stocking project.  They also mention adding appliques and other embellishments as you see fit.  Anyone who has even limited sewing skills can pull this off.  :)

Total Cost for Project - $22.50 - Thank you sales and coupons!

Deck The Halls

We have paused and given Thanksgiving it's proper recognition and now we can charge onto Christmas*!  And Christmas isn't Christmas without a few sparkles and nick knacks being put up.  It's my tradition to wait until the Friday after Thanksgiving to pull out decorations.  It just seems wrong to do this beforehand, even if there is only one month between the two holidays.  It's bad enough the stores push it, it can wait to come to my house.

I thought it would be a fun idea to put up all the decorations and transform the house while Rob was at work (with his consent), but that didn't exactly happen.  When I was living on my own and decorating my own place, I had everything up in a few hours.  But Rob and I both love this holiday a lot and we have a LOT of decorations.  I am not talking about a couple of boxes.  We take up exactly one entire closet just for the stuff we put out for Christmas.  This equates to six 20 gallon totes, a 7 1/2 foot tree, plus a few paper box style boxes for the over flow that wouldn't fit in the totes.  It's a little overwhelming. 

I woke up on Friday around 10am, got all excited about the day ahead of me and immediately got side tracked by The Hunger Games book.  (Fabulous read btw and thank you Meghann for suggesting it!)  Around 12:30, I decided I need to eat and take a shower.  At 1:30 I figured I would pop in Love Actually and start in on my task for the day.  At 3pm, I still hadn't found all the boxes.  The lights were missing and weren't in the designated closet.  This is when I realized we didn't fit in one closet.  We have some serious issues.  Rob arrived home right around 4pm and found me with half opened boxes, kind of staring around and wondering what to do next.  I unwrapped a good many things I knew we wanted to put out, but I couldn't bring myself to organize them in any sort of fashion.  I did manage to arrange the ceramic Santa's along the mantle above the fire place.  That was my greatest accomplishment. Not exactly the progress I wanted to make.  Truthfully, I was also enjoying being a down right bum. 

Needless to say, I hadn't managed the winter wonderland look I was going for, but felt much better with the idea of reinforcements.  We puttered a bit more and between the two of us got the tree set up properly.  I was having trouble with the lights which seemed to just come on for Rob at the touch of his hands so he fed them to me while I worked them through the branches.  We called it quits and left the ornaments for Saturday.

On Saturday we tinkered with some more decorations and I left the house for the first time in days so we could pick up some books at the library and go to Jo-Ann Fabrics so we could create our own tree skirt.  (Stay tuned for Holiday Sewing Adventures.)  There was still some daylight left after out errands so I decided to put up the outside lights.  Really this is nothing super fancy, just some white lights between the porch rails, but I like it.  This sounds like the simplest task, but I have a way of complicating things to make myself do this twice.  That and I am prone to be a perfectionist.  I started with the lights going straight from my bulb to socket converter with about 7 feet hanging between it and the railing.  I figured I had enough to still do the front of the porch (trying to remember back to how wide my porch was in Atlanta).  I got through all 4 strands before I realized that was way wrong.  So I went back inside, got an extension cord and proceeded to redo the whole thing.  Did I mention that it was about 40 with whipping winds and I seem to misplaced my gloves?  BUT the porch looks fabulous and is brighter than the runway at Dulles.

On Sunday I believe we finally finished putting up everything.  So instead of 5 hours, it took 3 days, but it looks lovely and we were enjoying the process, so who cares?

*For those of you who do not celebrate Christmas, fill in whatever decorating holiday that falls around this time of year that's most appropriate to you.

Black Friday

I thought it would be seasonally appropriate for me to chime in on what is being touted as the "busiest shopping day of the year".  I will go ahead and agree that it is probably the busiest day for the shopping centers aside from the final days before Christmas when people again loose their minds and decide they need to buy 300 other things to make the "perfect Christmas". 

Many people asked me if I was going shopping on Black Friday to which I replied, "Hell no!"  The reactions I got were bipolar in nature.  I either got the people that gave me the sympathetic nod of understanding or, "Why not?!" as if I was some kind of alien.  Let me tell you why not.  First, I hate crowds.  I avoid them like the plague.  There has to be a really good reason for me to deal with crowds (see this post).  Secondly, I would have to get up at 3am or earlier to wait in line in the cold and throw elbows to make sure I wasn't stampeded.  And lastly, I would have to deal with the rude people which when coupled with crowds is toxic.  I tell people I wouldn't be able to handle it and I would be hauled away and convicted of murder before the day is out.

So why do people get all crazed up and brave the hysteria?  I think there are is a small percentage of the population that really targets the stores they want to go to and exactly what they want to buy.  A+ for you guys.  You take advantage of the sales that apply to the things you really need to get.  I believe the rest of the crowd is out there for the "good deals".  And this, I have to say, is really stupid.  There are only a few really super awesome good deals that the stores have which are generally sold out moments after opening.  The rest of the sales from what I could see were good, but not really all that different from sales at any other time of the year.  For instance, the Micheal's ad (I realize this isn't Best Buy but bare with me) that came Thanksgiving day was filled with 40% off sales.  They are always having 40% off sales.  They did have a small selection of items that were on really good deals, but it's nothing I wanted to buy.  The Bed Bath & Beyond was just a 20% off your entire purchase.  Um, ok really?  I have about 20 of those 20% off coupons and if you get the right sales person they will let you do multiple transactions.  No deal.  Saving $150 off a TV, hmm, tempting, but again, you won't have it in stock by the time I get there and well, my sanity is worth $150 to me.  The $1.39 DVDs at Wal-Mart were tempting if you really wanted to own Ice Age 2 or Lord of The Rings (non box set).  The other things I really considered was the $70 Cuisinart Food Processor that was on sale from like $150.  Clearly I didn't make it.

I shop to the lists that people have given me for what they want for Christmas.  I am not getting out of bed at 3am to save on wool socks for my dad.  It's just not going to happen.  Which brings me to another point on these sales.  The sales are on things that no one asked for or on things I don't really need.  The sales on clothes I might go for, but it would be for me and not other people, which just seems wrong this time of year so I don't bother.  I always tell myself, other people are getting me stuff for Christmas and just to be happy with that (not to mention if I still want something after the holidays the sales after Christmas are even better).  They can come out for the super dupper awesome deals, but again, nothing I have asked for is going to be in those ads.  Wait, I take that back, they might be able to use the 50% off at Borders (which goes all weekend) to get me a book.  Also both of our families (Rob's and mine) are born deal hunters and have never relied on the deals of Black Friday for their Christmas shopping.  I don't know if they ever have in the past, but certainly not as of late.  My dad has actually really gotten on the whole on-line ordering.  He says, "If I can shop from the comfort of my own home and get everything delivered to me, why would I bother standing in line at some store?"  You might see where I get my attitude from.

This opinion on Black Friday might change when I have kids and there's some Tickle Me Elmo that will break my kids hearts if they don't get it.  As far as I can tell though, that's a good few years down the road.  For the first 5 years of their life they don't really care what they get because they don't have school friends to tell them what they are missing.  Until then I will enjoy decorating my tree and eating leftovers while watching holiday movies. 

Classy Holiday Photo

I had meant to put this into the mix of holiday updates, but it slipped by. Rob was kind enough to remind me and I still thought it warranted a spot on the blog. So this is me finishing off the Death by Chocolate dessert. His dad was amused and his mother actually went and got me a spatula so I could scrape the bowl and scrape it I did! It was nummerlious!

Holiday Recap Part III (Final)

The final leg of our holiday trail was to return to Rob's parents house for Christmas there. We had breakfast with Grandma the following day and loaded the cars back up for the short drive back to the homestead. After arriving, Rob's mom made some delicious hot toddy. I have never had this drink, but I liked it.

After we had unloaded a bit and settled in, we went to the family room for the Annual Tree Lighting Ceremony. This is a tradition of their family that has been going on for some years. Bill is always in charge of this production and each year it's different. This year, we voted on The 12 Superlatives of Christmas, kind of like what you voted on in high school. Some of this included, Best at Faking Liking a Gift, First to Fall Asleep After Dinner, and many others. That was pretty good. Afterward the tree was finally lit and we all said "ooooo", "ahhhh" and then proceeded to open presents.

We presented Rob's family with gifts from our trip to Germany which they really liked as well as some of the things they had asked for. I received a bunch of things, but my favorite gifts include purple fuzzy socks, a spider ornament with the tale included, winter themed decorations, as well as some desperately needed chap stick. :)

When the presents we done, we gathered around the TV to watch Inglorious Bastards. It was one of those films that was presented to show a different kind of movie in the previews. It was a good movie (little long in some spots), but it wasn't the humorous film you think you would be getting. It's actually quite a serious drama, but has some funny parts. Either way, we watched it and then called it a night.

The next day we got up, packed the car and headed back with a pit stop to see Joanna and Steve and the new baby, Annie. She's adorable and such a nice baby. We had a good visit with them before getting back on the road to complete our journey north. Thankfully the weather held out for us and we were able to travel without any worry of snow covered roads.

Overall it was a great holiday this year. We got a lot of things we needed and even a few surprises mixed in. We think we did pretty good getting presents for people this year. We did well by doing a lot of shopping in Germany. It was done early and totally unique! :) Being close to everyone didn't hurt either. Hopefully this is a sign of things to come for the New Year.

Holiday Recap Part II

The day after Christmas we loaded the car and hit the road for Connecticut to visit Rob's family. We enjoyed the short 5 or so hours in the car this year as compared with 18+ hours in past years. We arrived at Grandma's house in time for presents before dinner. We all gathered around and took turns opening presents. Rob got another Wii controller and remote to up our set to 3 each now. I received some pretty cool quilting books that used to be his grandmother's.

After presents, we sat down for dinner and then we did the grab bag. The grab bag is always an interesting mix of random gifts that can be pretty cool OR can be pretty terrible. This year I think we made out 50/50. I got a cool purse and Rob got a Lobster statue, which I am not sure we know what to do with. For now, it hangs out on an end table to attract strange looks.

After words we cleared the table and played Cranium which was a gift from Bill's girlfriend Ellie. It provided hours of fun. I was on a team with Danielle and Steve (aka Gorgonzola). We didn't win, but we had a pretty good time. This year was Gorgonzola's first year with the family and I think he survived quite well. I could sympathize with him and was also happy to see another person's reaction to the fun chaos.


We called it a night and we left to stay with Rob's parents for the night. We usually stay at Grandma's house, but it was quite full. It was probably just as well (and probably planned that way). The next morning we came back to the house and got a welcome from Grandma singing Doo-doot-do-doo (wedding march) through wrapping paper tubes. I figure this is just par for the course and I was ushered into the living room where the entire family had gathered sitting all around with turkey feathers in the hair. I was like, umm, ok, that's cool and went back into the kitchen to remove the shoes and jacket I came in with. This was when Rob's mother filled me in as to what was happening. "This your surprise bridal shower!" OOHHH!!!!

She had planned out the whole thing and the table was decorated and everyone had known about this for a while. It was a fantastic surprise. We played wedding bingo, then did "how well do you know your significant other" interviews. Turns out Rob and I don't know each other's eye color and some other silly facts. His family came up with some great questions and that was hilarious. I think the favorite was, when privately interviewed and asked, "Who would you say your biggest celebrity crush is?" I responded, "OH! Definitely Heath Ledger, I would do him in a second, well, not anymore." It got quite a laugh when shared with the crowd. The best part of the party was the TP wedding dresses the family made for Becky and Danielle. They had a ball designing them and the girls looked fabulous. :)


I am so excited to be joining this family. They know how to have fun, the embrace silliness, and truly care about all members of the family. To show how much they have accepted me into the family, I was given an extremely treasured gift. When I opened it, I didn't think much of the gift inside, but the entire family went, "oooooooo". Apparently, they all knew what it was that I opened because it's a family tradition that they are given from time to time to only female blood relatives within the family. As I am not a member of the family yet or a blood relative, it spoke a great deal of how his family feels about me joining it. I was really honored to be given such a present. It's a set of 3 change purses linked together on a chain. Every now and again the purses get filled with treasures as they are passed along. Sometimes they are passed for significant events (like now) and sometimes, just because.

It really was a great party and while I didn't expect it at all, I really appreciated it. The wedding is just around the corner now!

Holiday Recap Part I

Gosh it's been a while since I last posted. I think it's been happening a lot lately with all that's going on, especially around the holidays. Mostly that indicates I was trying to do too many things without enough hours in the day. Some year I will learn, but I always amaze myself at what I can get done.

This year's holiday visits were a little different than those of past years. Mostly, we didn't have to drive half or even a quarter as far as we have in the last 3 years. Thank the heavens. It started out with the annual family party at my Aunt's house. We had a slightly smaller crowd this year, but still some 30 people hanging out and little ones running around. We did manage the get most of the younger branch of the family on the stairs for a group shot though.


On Christmas day Rob and I got to enjoy the morning to ourselves for the first time ever. It was actually quite nice. We opened out presents ate a bunch of cookies, made breakfast and then went to my parent's house for lunch. The flaw in our morning was the part where we made breakfast. At the time this seemed like a brilliant idea, however with the amount of food that was prepared for later in the day, we really could have skipped it. By lunch we were full for the rest of the day and still had one more stop to my sisters.

Christmas at my parents house was pretty awesome. Rob and I got new PJ pants, our bread maker, and I got my first silver bell. My parents were the happy recipients of gifts from Germany and my dad got a new shirt and tie to celebrate his weight loss and Joyce got a quilt that's not quite done, but looks like this. (Cat not included) It's my first ever attempt at making one and I think it turned out pretty darn good. ;)

From there we went to my sister's house for visiting with that part of my family and dessert. It was hard to find room, but I did my best to make room for cheesecake. We did our silly family gift exchange and hung around for turkey sandwiches on homemade bread. It's delicious! We called it a night and headed back to our house to get loaded up for the next day for the drive to Rob's family gathering at his Grandmother's house!

It's Christmas Time...

We have officially decorated our house for the holidays. It takes a while because we have about 8 boxes of Christmas stuff to sort out and put up, but it looks nice when we are done. So I will let the pictures do the talking. :)


Our pretty Christmas tree. We have an eclectic tree with all kinds of different ornaments that we each have collected over the years. Our favorite additions this year are the personalized engaged ornament and the ornament from Rothenburg, Germany.


The holly lights are my favorite non-tree decoration because I think they are classic Christmas.


We didn't want our entry way to feel left out, so we put a small tree down there. This particular one has a set of lights on there that blink, so really this is an action shot. :)

Rob and I aren't the only ones in this household that enjoy the Christmas decorations. Both Dory and Sparky think that we have done this house up as some sort of playland for them. They take turns sitting at the extra lights from the holly.


And they both like to camp out under the tree. In this case only one cat was being cooperative so Dory gets all the limelight on this go around. :)


Of course, they also like batting at the ornaments which means strategic placement of all fluffy/non breakable ornaments so if they bat at something, they bat at those.

Here's to the Christmas season!!