Well, as always, the holidays have proven to have went by in a flurry. It seems that you spend an awful lot of time preparing for something that seems to be over in a snap leaving everyone pretty tired and also tired of food. However tiring, Christmas is one of those holidays that opens the month of December up to endless, festive possibilities that are every minute worth the effort. From holiday performances, to baking, to decorating, there is not a dull moment; the year goes out with a bang. We had a very good holiday season and were pleasantly surprised (thank you weather man) by the 8-12 inches of snow we got on Christmas day!
We got the house all decorated. The tree this year wasn't my favorite, but after messing with it about 12 times, it did it's job and actually kinda grew on me.
The cats sure enjoyed it. I don't think there was a moment that they weren't curled up underneath. There were lots of scrumptious goodies floating around, probably earlier than they should have been. We made chocolate covered Ritz peanut butter crackers, snow balls cookies, blackberry thumbprints, pecan bars, a citrus filled spice cake for Christmas day, and asiago pear scones for Christmas morning, not to mention the candy that we found in our advent calendar the 25 days prior to Christmas.
On Christmas Eve, we went to my parents for lunch for the traditional meal where a Christmas surprise showed up! Little Noel (we named her that) wondered into my parents yard. She was a cute, very sweet little kitten that we tried to entice to stay with ham which she ate a lot of; however, she must have had owners as after spending the evening with us, she disappeared. In the evening we watched a church performance that Katy, my niece, was performing in. After that we went to my older brother's house to eat hor d'oeuvres and exchange gifts. It was good to spend the evening over there, and we got a sweet camera!
Christmas morning was magical as always! After getting Sam to go back to sleep until 7, we woke up and had our Christmas morning here. Complete with coffee, scones, and times I wouldn't swap for anything! I got several awesome books. The one I am most excited about is my muffin recipe book with 750 recipes!
I also got some running clothes, kitchen gadgets, a sweet owl shirt and earrings. Sam got a wine rack, so he can now store all the wine he made! He also got some books, a fabulous purple cardigan and shirt to go with, as well as a whoopie cushion!
After we had wrapped up business on the homefront, it had already been snowing for two hours! We attempted to head out to Sam's parents in Haywood County, unfortunately the roads had not been touched yet and looked pretty hazardous. Not knowing what to expect, we turned around and headed home, and the snow kept falling.
Later that day, my dad, who has a truck that can barrell through anything, picked us up and we all went back to Scott's house for Christmas lunch and a little snow play. We rolled the world's biggest snowball that was stolen from Scott's neighbors yard into Scott's yard which was the beautiful start to an igloo. This was a huge snowball. It took some serious heave-hos by four adults. I'm not sure what the tonnage comes out to, but I am sure it was at least 500 lbs.
Later that evening, we made a successful second attempt to get to Haywood County to spend the night with Sam's parents. Thankfully it was only slightly treacherous, and my husband is a manly driver. Once there, we opened presents and ate some delicious food. I got a lot of cool socks, some books, clothes, and a cast iron skillet! Sam got some clothes, books, and a converter cartridge for his black powder (woo). As an early gift, we received this magical dishwasher that actually cleans the dishes! Tuckered out from the days events, we went to bed and woke the next morning to tackle sledding. And can you believe it was still snowing!?
I think a total of 12+ inches fell. We made it out of there after lunch and came home to shake off the Christmas crazies and relax a little.
The rest of the week was spent joyously...with just the right amount of relaxing. Mark was in town which was a special treat. It was good to see him, as always! The Sunday Skype sessions just don't do his essence justice. We went to see Little Fockers and True Grit, while polar opposites, both were pretty excellent. Sam was like a child in a candy shop all throughout the viewing on True Grit. We also went bowling. I dominated. Not shying away at all after Christmas, good food made it into our mouths several times. We went back to Kathmandu and then, on New Year's Eve we went back to The Southern with Mark, Jon, and Christian. Those two joints might be my favs as of right now. On the opposite end of indulgence, we partook in several yoga classes. I really enjoy the new studio I go to, for it has really good vibes and lots of colorful souls.
Now 'tis January, a new year, and lots of exciting stuff awaits us! Cruises, concerts, trips, and we are also keeping a flexible schedule and an opening to all the possibilities. A January blog is commin' round the corner!
Happy New Year! May it be filled with love, light, and laughs (which according to scientific studies may help burn off those extra holiday calories)!
Bon Voyage, Ya'll!
Sam's version of how we spent New Year's Eve:
Sorry for all the pictures. I've been enjoying the new camera. However, this New Year's pictojourney isn't complete because I couldn't get a picture of us asleep on the couch about 10:30 pm.
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