Leading up to Christmas had been very overwhelming. The day I decorated the house we had a showing which lead to an offer which later we sold the house! Good thing I decorated ;)
Our Christmas Tree:
I wanted to do an advent calendar - this is one Mom made me and I filled with treats for Fred and I oh and Abby
Can you see Abby's doggie treat?
Fred and I both were blessed with a great Christmas Eve. We had a service at the church from 5-6pm and then we went over to VIP Chinese for dinner with Carmen and Phylis. We had some wonderful conversations and some good laughs. After dropping Phylis off at her house Fred drove us home on a scenic drive to see all the Christmas lights. Once home we popped in "It's a Wonderful Life" and just relaxed before going to bed.
Christmas morning we woke up and had Charlie and Abby open their stockings. It was hilarious to see Abby and Charlie both go to their stockings and understand the goodies were for them.
Abby made quick work of hers as she tossed her toys outs
After both pets had their stockings open and played with. Fred made us bacon and pancakes. We both had a nap before getting ready to go over to mom and dads. Fred and Dad went and got Grandma so she can visit for a bit. We had a nice dinner with mom and dad and watched a Christmas movie before heading home. Oh and Abby got to open her Christmas present from them -- a purple rain coat and some chewy bones!
Boxing day - Mom's birthday - was spent at mom and dads for our Christmas get together. Once the boys arrived we opened stockings and gifts. Fred got several items for the garage and for ice fishing. And I was thrilled to get my movie "Julie & Julia" plus several scrapbooking goodies.
Oh I have to show off the gift I made dad. He wanted money to go towards his GPS system so I made a card that I saw on Jennifer McGuires blog. The snowman scarf is made from a folded up $50 bill!
All of us kids (and Abby and Austin)
December 27th was the Grendel family get together. We started it off by all going to Fred's parents church in Maitland. Then we headed back to their place for a big turkey dinner. Which was followed by the gift exchange. All of the kids continue to grow and change. This was definitely the quietest Christmas yet.
Then it was back to work for me (Fred had the week off) for a few more days until New Years. We had April and Aaron come over for New Years Eve and had a blast!
We exchanged gifts....
Charlie got some homemade treats...
Abby was thrilled with her crazy toy....
We were spoiled as usually (movie pass, CD's, Jane Austen book and movie! oh and homemade ornaments)
And besides the 2 games we got them I also was finally able to give them their gift -- their wedding scrapbook! (I will post pics later of the scrapbook - but for now you can see they really loved it!)
We then spent the night eating (oh my goodness the amount of food), playing the Mario Kart, bowling and tennis on the Wii and some good old Family Feud before watching the ball drop! We finished out the night with a movie and then said good byes around 3am! It was a great night and a great way to ring in the new year!
Hahah! I was so enthralled with the album, I didn't realize you were taking those pictures! "Loved it" isn't strong enough of an expression! We absolutely adore and treasure it! I was up until 4:30 looking through the album when we got home, and then we showed it off to Mum and Daddy yesterday when they were here. Oh, and Lisa had a look through it (and pointed out all the pics of her!).
ReplyDeleteWe had an awesome time on NYE too - thank you so much for hosting! Besides the very generous gifts, we truly enjoyed the gift of spending the time with you both!
Thank you for rounding out the end of our Christmas with an awesome evening!