Christmas '11 Festivities

We had a great and very busy Christmas!

Here are some (sorta) quick holiday highlights and lots of pictures:

~ On Sunday it snowed!! It didn't stick around, but it was nice for a day at least

~ We puppy-sat Max for the week of Christmas!  Having 3 animals in our house made for a lot of snuggling time

~Had a fun date night with Luke, driving around looking at Christmas lights

~ Had a big baking day on Wednesday...I made fudge and 4 other kinds of Christmas treats

~ On Friday I spent the afternoon with Sarah.  We baked zucchini bread and set up her new blog!!  Check it out!!  And follow her!  Her posts are deep and they really make you think.  And she's also super funny!

~ Later on Friday night, Mom invited the whole family over for a big turkey dinner.  It was a really nice evening in with the family, because I knew Christmas Eve and Christmas day were about to be crazy!  

~On Christmas Eve, Max was sportin' his adorable Christmas sweater!  Had to get a picture...even though he doesn't look too thrilled.

~Our first stop was the candlelight service on Christmas Eve.  It was beautiful!

~Second stop on Christmas Eve was my mom's side of the family's Christmas party where we had a delicious dinner and fun white elephant gift exchange

~Our final stop of the evening was Luke's parents house to exchange gifts.  It was a fun time!  And I got a Kindle Fire (from both sets of parents...Luke's and mine :-))  Totally unexpected, and it has barely left my hands in the past 48 hours. 

Luke got "The Bro Code" book from his sister.  SO funny!! 

~Christmas morning Luke and I exchanged gifts.  I got him a sweater and a blu-ray, and he got me a pink cover for my Kindle, and the Crazy Stupid Love blu-ray...one of my favorite movies!

~Next stop was church on Christmas morning for a lovely service, and then to my parents' house to exchange presents with the family.  We felt so blessed and spoiled!

~Next up was Luke's grandparents' house where we had more delicious food, played board games, and exchanged gifts.  I must not have had my camera out much here because I didn't get any good pictures!  Oops

~Finally our last stop of the day was my Aunt Viv's house for my dad's side of the family.  We were barely functioning at this point, but we had a yummy dinner, caught up with family we hadn't seen in months, and had another white elephant gift exchange.  

~ I should have come home and immediately collapsed into the most restful sleep of my life. However, earlier last week I read The Hunger Games, and had started reading Catching Fire (the second book of the trilogy) on my Kindle.  And I just couldn't put it down!!  This is one of the best series I've ever read!! So I stayed up late reading by the light of the Christmas tree.  

What a wonderful, blessed Christmas!  It will take a few days of rest to fully recover, but that's what the week before New Years is for, right??

I hope you all had a wonderful, Merry Christmas as well!!