Merry Christmas

I wish everyone a Merry Christmas!

We enjoyed a family meal and gift exchange at Chris's grandmother's house on Christmas Eve. This morning, we met Chris's parents for breakfast. Then it was off to my parents house for Christmas lunch and gift exchange and time with family.

More Christmas parties

Two more Christmas parties today, one at the neighbors, and one at my boss's house. The photo is from the office Christmas party.

Christmas at the neighbors

Our next door neighbors hosted a Christmas gathering and invited us. The food was absolutely wonderful, and the company as well. We got to meet several other neighbors we had not had the opportunity to meet before. It was a wonderful evening.

American Girl Boutique & Bistro

October 12th - It's that time of year again - getting close to Christmas and BB decided we would make an earlier trip to The American Girl Boutique and Bistro this year in hopes of avoiding the disappointment of some little girls when the dolls or clothes they were seeking were sold out like last year. Also, we hoped the store wouldn't be as busy at it was last year when we went closer to Christmas. Well, the shelves were full, and the chosen dolls and outfits were available.

The store was busy - but not nearly as busy as it was last year in December.


FYI - you have to make RESERVATIONS at the bistro! Can you imagine?!?! They serve icecream and snacks, and they require reservations! And of course, when we attempted to make reservations, we were turned away with the "We're not taking any further reservations today." Come on! We drove 2 1/2 hours to get here, and last year the bistro was closed, so the girls were promised that if it was open, they could eat in the bistro. Oh well, country come to town... next year might be the charm.


Both girls chose "Felicity" (photo below). KB was bound, bent and determined she was going to have the exact doll and clothes that AG chose. BB got Felicity's pal Elizabeth for her house so there would always be a doll to play with.

Clowing around

This is me clowning around on Christmas Day.

Paintball

Tyler got paintball guns and all the accessories for Christmas. Here are a couple of photos I took of him getting his moves down.



(Love the new lens for my camera! Thanks again Chris!)

Karina's Christmas Cookies

Every year, my friend Karina makes Christmas cookies. She is from the Czech Republic, and these are her traditional cookies. I am always amazed at how intricate they are. They taste as good as they look! Thanks Karina.

Gifts

We've been getting lots of food gifts over the past couple of weeks... some of them have some great food in them. The McTavish Shortbread Cinnamon sticks are wonderful! The toffee from Toffee to Go melts in your mouth! Nunes Farms almond caramel chews are fantastic! And Chris loves the Ferris Coffee & Nut cherry berry nut mix. And then there are all of the things I didn't list!

Christmas party

We had our office Christmas party on Saturday night. The weather was terrible! But the food and the company were good.

It's hard to believe that Christmas is a week from today.

Willy's stocking

This is Willy's stocking. This is the first time I've had a mantel, so I was excited about getting stockings for the 3 of us. Now, I have to go out and start buying some stocking stuffers!

American Girl Doll

Today we struck out for Northpoint Mall, which is about 2 hours from my house. The reason for the trip was to go to the American Girl Boutique & Bistro so my nieces, Anna Grace and Katie Beth, could pick out their Christmas gifts from Bebe & Pops.

We (me, Bebe, Bene', Jess, AG & KB) had a great time. Choosing from all of the dolls and clothes was a tough thing for a little girl to do! Both ended up choosing Nicki who is the doll of the year. Doll of the year means they retire the doll and she is no longer available.




The boutique was amazing, and it was packed with shoppers. Even a few men braved it and were shopping. There is a Doll Hair Salon inside the store! The clothes and accessories for all of the dolls were just too cute!

They even have mini dolls so the dolls can have dolls. Shhh... don't tell, but I snuck in line and purchased something!

First Christmas

This is our first Christmas in our new house. We spent yesterday decorating. I've never been much of a decorator, but this year I'm excited about it. I braved the crowds and ventured out on Black Friday and got some garland, a wreath and some ribbon for the outside decorations.

I have never made a ribbon before, but I think they turned out pretty good. The weather was windy and chilly, making it seem much more like Christmas time. It took us about 2 hours from start to finish. We both really enjoyed ourselves. Thank goodness for powertools!