Sunday, December 30, 2012

And Christmas Makes Three...

Christmas 2012

Christmas One
We spent our Christmas with family in the south, and it was great to see everyone :)  Our first stop was at my in-laws' house in Griffin, GA.  Per usual, Mrs E out did herself with decorating the house, it's always a very festive place, complete with mistletoe.  We spent a day or so there and had our first Christmas.
 Mrs E in her new storefront.

We took a ride to see lights and found
this house all decked-out!

I decorated gingerbread cookies; one to look like each of them!
 
Christmas Two
After Georgia, we headed up to Tennessee to have our second Christmas.  My grandmothers and Aunt Carla came for the night to spend time with us.  Mom arranged a few crafts this year to keep us all entertained.  We started with home-made Christmas tree decorations (I made the star); Mom chopped down the tree from the back yard and we put all the newly-designed pieces on it.  I think it turned out pretty well, all things considered.  (Dad is moving out of the house soon because he's retiring(!!) so there were no decorations there so we made our own).  Following the tree decorations, we had a cookie-decorating contest. Mom had baked a bunch of sugar cookies and brought toppings and such for us to use.  Each participant had 2 minutes to decorate their cookie then be judged.  Let me tell you, competition was tough ;)  Cookie decorating was followed by another Christmas.



Did I forget to mention that whoever was opening
a present got to wear this festive vest?  Dad loved it
so much, but we made him share it :)

My beautiful grandmother, Mimi.

 
Christmas Three
We had our third and final Christmas on the actual day Christ was born (we just celebrated a lot up to this point!).  Mom made a great french toast bake for breakfast and then cooked a fabulous lunch of grilled tuna steaks, hashbrown casserole, and salad.  We also had another craft, oyster-angels (see below).

Will's home-made Semi-Rad t-shirt (from M&D); the real
one shipped late so he gets to wear this awesome one
for the time being.


 
 
And the last day of our trip Will dropped me off in Atlanta to visit my favorite little babies, Vivian and the brand-new Harrison :)  He was only a week old when I got to first hold him; it was so special!  Vivian was as cute as ever and had gotten a kitchen for Christmas so we played with that for most of the night and all her fake food.  Harrison was such a sweetie, he was always content and happy and I held him as much as I could, fed him, and even changed him! 




 

 


Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Post Montage

I've neglected updating my blog this past month because I've been busy!  Instead of recounting each weekend and activity in detail, I'm providing a nice montage of the things I've been up to lately. Happy holidays, I promise to keep you more up-to-date in 2013 :)

Atlanta and North Georgia Mountains
I took a few days in November to visit my friends and niece, Vivi, in Atlanta.  Total relaxation, and totally needed. PS, my BFF Jess, is in labor at this very moment with Harrison --- going to see him in a few days!!






Thanksgiving 2012
We had Thanksgiving dinner with our friends, Kal & Amy.  Then we headed off to Whistler, BC (where the 2010 Winter Olympics were held) for a ski weekend.  It was fabulous!










BBB December 'White Elephant'
I hosted BBB (girlfriends' monthly get-together) this month and we did a super-fun white elephant gift exchange.  We also had fur collars (handmade from a lady in Seattle) and jewelry show for Christmas gift buying.





AIARE L1 Avalanche Training
This past weekend we took an avalanche training course up at Mount Baker, taught by AAI.  We practiced search and rescue skills and then did a ski tour day using all our newly acquired avi knowledge. We stayed at the Mountaineers Lodge from Friday-Sunday and it snowed about three feet in three days!






House
Brenda, this section is for you.  I know you've been wanting to see some pictures of our new house for a while.  Here are a couple :)








***Breaking news*** Jessica just had Harrison...my first nephew!!

Have a safe and Merry Christmas!
Love,
Melanie