Christmas Recap

First of all, let me just give a big THANK YOU to my sister, Julie, for purchasing THIS for me for Christmas:I made my new header with that software, and could have probably spent all night on there playing around. It is really a great scrapbooking program if you are looking for one. Very simple to use, and it has sooo many graphics and backgrounds to choose from. I've decided to start making a monthly header for my blog. I made January's but didn't want to put it on too early, so I also made this very similar one that I'm displaying now. I shudder to think of all the hours I will inevitably waste on this thing!

And now for my Christmas recap. Please forgive me for the massive amounts of pictures you are about to encounter ;-)

Christmas Eve was spent first of all at church. What a great time of worship it was! Luke's band played some Christmas songs, including "Christmas Eve, Sarajevo " by TSO. Then we had a drama, and a sermon about the birth of Jesus. I snapped a picture of the beautiful Christmas tree right before we slipped out to our next location.
Our next destination was Luke's aunt's house. We stayed there and enjoyed some delicious appetizers, and a fun game: The Game of Things. Have you played it? I didn't get to play long because we still had two more places to go that night, but it was fun!

Third, we headed over to my grandparents' house, which is a Christmas Eve tradition. We had some more delicious food, and spent time together laughing and talking. My cousin brought his new bulldog and we all had fun playing with it. We were pretty much in awe of his big head!
We also had a gift exchange, white elephant style. I picked number 1, which meant that after everyone had picked their gifts, I got the final pick of anything I wanted! It just so happened that my grandma had the item that I so desperately wanted. I think my knees were shaking as I stole it from her :-P Everyone was amazed that timid little Jessica had made that move! But when you see what I got out of it, you'll understand:
Every year at grandma's we do poppers...if you don't know what they are, they basically pop when you pull on them and a couple little prizes pop out, including a crown. Here are my sister and I sporting ours proudly:
Luke and I had to snap the annual Christmas picture before we skipped on over to our final destination (of the night, that is. That sounded morbid).
Our last stop of the night was at Luke's parents' house, where we exchanged gifts and watched a movie. Luke and I are so thankful for all the gifts we received! We got some ornaments, including this lovely little piece:
(The Christmas Story is our favorite Christmas movie)

We got a couple of books. One of them is "The Shack" and I can't wait to read it! I got this sign that I LOVE that will go in our new living room when it's done
Luke got a Shop Vac, which I'm sure we will use all the time! It will be great between the cracks of our hardwood floors! And I got a new microwave! Our old one was gigantic, and I already have almost no counter space! We plan on buying a microwave stand asap. Luke and his brother-in-law both got shovels, and in this picture I believe they were about to have a shovel war.
Oh, and I almost forgot! I got the stable for my Willow Tree Nativity set! LOVE IT!
After the gift exchange, we watched "The Hangover," which has become one of Luke's favorite movies. Normally we watch "A Christmas Story" But Luke's sister got "The Hangover" for Christmas and everyone couldn't wait to watch it.

I'm exhausted after just writing all that, but Christmas day was even busier. Luke and I woke up and exchanged the gifts we got each other. But first I had to give the cats their stockings...filled with treats
I got Luke a few different things, but my favorite was this calendar I made him at Snapfish. It's an Ohio State calendar, made of some pictures we've taken at games, and some I just found different places. I loved it, because you could also click on any date, and add a picture or a caption.
Luke got me the Twilight blu-ray, a gift card, and THIS.
You just hook your ipod or iphone to the top, and it plays out of the speakers. I think this will go right in the kitchen. LOVE it!

After that we headed over to my mom and dad's for breakfast and to exchange gifts. Here we are at the breakfast table while my pyro father tries to catch things on fire.
My sister did not approve
Next it was time to exchange gifts! Here is Luke with his favorite gift of the morning:
Here's Dad opening his new blu-ray player. He was excited!
Mom loves her perfume from Dad
And I can't leave Julie out:

And here was my big surprise of the morning:
My parents got me VIOLIN LESSONS for Christmas!! This violin is just a loan from Julie's boyfriend's family, but I can use it until I decide I want to buy my own! I will take lessons at a local college this semester. I'm so excited! I've wanted to learn to play for such a long time! I tried to play a little bit, and it was pretty scratchy. I did manage to squeak out "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" after spending about a half hour tuning it. Hopefully I improve in the next few months! Ha!

After my parents' house, we headed over to Luke's grandparents' house for a delicious lunch. I of course ate way too much, but it was worth it! We had a lot of fun just talking and being together. Oh, and Luke and our brother-in-law had a lot of fun playing with Luke's little cousin's toys. The Nerf gun was a big hit. Luke is so goofy!
On our way out to my aunt's house, we saw this:
It had been really rainy and gross before that, and all of a sudden the sun came out. This lovely rainbow was the result. I can definitely say that I've never seen a rainbow on Christmas before!

Our final stop of the day was my aunt's house. We ate some more food (don't judge me, my New Year's Resolution is to start working out :-P)

And had a fun white elephant gift exchange. I got a Snuggie! lol

Then my dad played his role as Santa, sporting a new hat this year. It's pretty sweet, right??
When we finally left for home, we were both EXHAUSTED! But I of course stayed up for hours playing with my new digital scrapbooking software.

And then we spent most of the day today at Luke's dad's side of the family's Christmas party. We just got home. Soon we are going to visit my grandma before she goes to Virginia for the winter with my aunt and uncle, and later we are going to see Sherlock Holmes with a bunch of people. Poor Max has been home alone a lot the past three days, and I really feel bad! I'll have to spend some QT with him later tonight and tomorrow before he goes home!

Well, it was another great Christmas filled with lots of fun memories. I hope your Christmas was as blessed as mine! And if you made it all the way down here, I'm surprised ;-)