Christmas was a whirlwind. No joke.
Today, as I sit in my jammies with a large mug of hot apple cider, I'm finally going through all the pictures from my Christmas "break." We literally had almost every member of BOTH of our families down to our new house at some point over the last two weeks, which forced me to make our bed every day and actually fold my laundry instead of letting it sit in the corner of our bedroom for a week.
Our Christmas started on Christmas eve. Both Bobby and I took off of work to prepare for the upcoming hosting events. Bobby hung siding and finished up the platform of the deck while I Swiffered the heck out of our floors and painted my toe nails...twice. Just kidding. We went to the grocery store, prepared all the food for the next day, cuddled up on the couch to watch "It's a Wonderful Life" and exchanged presents. I gave Bobby a grill so now he can start cooking ME meals (just kidding), and he gave me a pair of REAL UGG boots and a spankin' new Kitchen Aid Mixer (in brushed stainless!). We both fell asleep on the couch at approximately 9 p.m. then actually went to bed sometime in the middle of the night.
Christmas Day, Bobby's whole family came down. We had copious amounts of Baked Brie, along with some other food for dinner, then opened presents. We had a Champagne toast to kick off our first big dinner party in the new house! It was very special for us, so Thank You, Barrick's, for making the journey down.
Jido ("Grandfather" in Arabic - pronounced "Jeh-Dough") trying to find Killian through his cat door! Poor kitty.
We fell asleep again around 9:30 p.m. and woke up early the next morning to head up to Annapolis area to spend Christmas with my side of the family! I wore my new UGG's, of course, and was completely content for the rest of the day (The Real UGG's are totally worth it...I used to wear the Target brand Ugg's). Christina's house was swarming with happy children and well-fed adults! The next day, all the men took the kids so that we could have a sister's movie night/Surprise Baby shower for my sister-in-law, Jen! It was good bonding time that we don't often get with just us sisters (and my Mom).
I never have any pictures of my parents on here... all of my brothers and sisters gave them a weekend away at
Lydia Mountain Luxury Cabins for their Anniversary weekend (I highly recommend that place for a quick and inexpensive weekend away!)
Uncle Bennett reading Disney Princess stories to the girls.
Over the course of the next week, we had my brother and his family visit, then on New Years, my sister Christina came down with her husband, AJ. We had a good time and rang in the new year right. We all made it up to 2:00 a.m. and were kicking ourselves the next day from staying up so late. Nothing a huge breakfast at Bob Evan's can't cure! We all fell back asleep at 2 p.m. While my sister was down, we drove out to St. Mary's College to take some pictures for them! They haven't had formal pictures taken since their wedding almost 4 years ago. It was fun, but it was probably the coldest day all winter!
Christina and AJ at St. Mary's waterfront. Words cannot describe how cold it was.
Isn't my sister pretty?? (AJ, you're pretty good-looking too) She always was the prettier one.
Yesterday, my parents came down with my sister, Holly, to exchange more gifts! Thanks Mom and Dad Wise for everything... so many fun new "toys" to play with! We fell asleep at 9:00 p.m. right after they left and didn't wake up until almost 10 a.m. the next morning. Which is why I write to you, still in my jammies. Today is meant to be a lazy day and to prepare me for going back to my day job tomorrow and back to editing at night!
Despite the running around and driving all over the state of Maryland in a 2-week period, it was well worth it and such a blessing to have a big family filled with love.
We hope that you had a wonderful Christmas and a New Year filled with countless blessings!
