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Happy Monday!
How was everyone's weekend? I hope everyone got a chance to recharge before the week started! What did you get for Christmas? I'm sure there are some wonderful surprises out there.
I had a wonderful time with my family- my brothers, SILs and nephew and niece came up for lunch and opening presents on Christmas eve, then after they left MIL came over for dinner (ham, scalloped potatoes, etc). Kids got dropped off at 7 at their mom's and we had the night to ourselves :-) It was a really busy but fun day! Christmas day DH and I went to my dad's for lunch. He made a smoked turkey and cornbread dressing that my mom used to make and both came out perfect! My grandma, SIL and I brought the accompaniments and everything was delicious. We had a nice time visiting and everyone enjoyed it. I don't think it could've been much better, except of course having my mom around in physical form. I'm sure she was there though.
My Christmas presents from DH were the Droid 2 which I got a couple weeks ago, and my planner refills which I could not live without! MIL gave the kids and I each $50 which I will promptly use at AC Moore on New Years Day with my 25% off entire purchase coupon for some yarn!
I spent the day yesterday doing a bunch of knitting- the stuff I gave my niece (hat, mitts, booties and sweater) were a hit but all but the sweater looked to be a little large so I made smaller versions yesterday which I'll mail to them. Aren't they sweet?! I am thinking about making this into a business b/c they are so dang cute!
April 2010 Siggy Challenge: Next Vacation Destination
Re: Happy Monday!
It was busy, but it was fun. We started off with 4:00 mass on Christmas Eve, but had to sit in the social hall for the other mass since the church was filled up by, oh, probably 2:30. My mom was bummed because she wanted Amanda to get the full Christmas mass experience (Amanda is very turned off on religion because her grandma is a holy roller and preaches constantly, driving the poor kid nuts). Amanda enjoyed mass, and afterwards we went back to my cousin's house for lasagna dinner, dessert, visiting and gift opening and the hot tub. We came home about 10:00 and opened gifts since Amanda had to go back to her mom first thing in the morning as it was her year to have her for Christmas Dinner.
Christmas Day we dropped Amanda off to her mom in the morning then headed over my parents' for breakfast. After we did gifts, I ran next door to visit the neighbors. I grew up with their daughters and have been close friends with them since I was 4. One of them has an 11 month old son & I went over to take him his present (you have got to see how cute he is - check the holiday album on FB for the little blonde cutie). We went over SIL (J's) house so Mike could give her grandson (his god son) his gift and we visited with her and her H and kids for a while. After that was dinner at SIL (K's) house with the rest of hte family. Everythign was great until a HUGE family blowout ensued over a photo. SIL's (P,K and M) had a fit because the nephews without our last name weren't included in the "Lxxxxx- men" picture. (Mike does this every year where he, his brothers, uncle, cousin and nephews with our last name get a picture together). It turned into WWIII because the SILs wouldn't let it go; I just went upstairs and hung with the kids until Mike came up and pretty much dragged me out of there without giving me time to say goodbye to anyone other than the kids & said we wouldn't be back for awhile. 2 days later and it's still giong on - and yes, it has escalated on to facebook.
Last night we picked up my parents & went over my cousin B's house for dinner. My aunt (dad's older sis) and cousin were up from down south and since B had her ILs over on Christmas, we went over to visit them yesterday. Stayed until about 6:30 then we dropped my folks off and came home.
Today I'm back to the grind, still with nobody to talk to and not much actual work to do. I have to create things to keep myself busy, like organizing my desk and tossing out files and stuff that I don't need anymore.
lisa i would love to learn how to make these for my future niece/nephew! were they difficult?? can you recommend a good site/link where i can get an easy to understand pattern?
dh had to work the night shift on thursday so he was home with a four day weekend by 11am on thursday morning - that was fantastic! christmas eve we opened our gifts from each other and our sister who lives with us. i got a beautiful hand-knit cardigan from ireland that i am absolutely loving right now from my dh and my beautiful sister bought me a sweet plaque for my wall about sisters (we both only had brothers until a month ago!) and several other wonderful things. christmas morning we went to dh's mom's house and enjoyed breakfast and gifts. we received gift cards to two of our favorite restaurants, apples to apples and four huge bags of dunkin donuts coffee (our fave!) we received a few fantastic small gifts as well! we went to my mom's for dinner and gifts where we received movie tickets and gift certificates for an hour couples massage, as well as some beautiful decor for the house. it was really wonderful and we just loved every minute of it. by the evening of christmas, i was sobbing tears of gratitude for everything i've received this year -- the bad brought the good and i couldn't be more grateful!
Our Christmas was wonderful! It was a long day (we were gone almost 12 hours), but well worth it! DH and I opened gifts in the morning...he did GREAT this year with my gifts!! From him I got a Kindle (!!!) with a case for it, he started me a Pandora bracelet, slippers, a cookbook and a karaoke game with microphones for our PS3.
We started off at my parent's house around 10:30...we opened gifts there (I got 2 shirts, a pair of boots, some jewelry, a new crockpot and some other odds and ends) and my mom had a big lunch. We left to go to my IL's around 3:30 and opened gifts with them...I got some jewelry, fuzzy socks, scarves, a wine set and other misc stuff. We ate dinner there. Till we left there it was prob 9:30 or so. We were both exhausted and the dog has passed out at the IL's house b/c he was so tired from the excitement.
Everyone seemed to love the gifts we gave, which always makes me happy b/c I enjoy giving people things that make them happy!
10/11: Dx PCOS, 2000mg Metformin
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April Nesties March siggy challenge: Next Vacation, Anguilla!!
Christmas Eve we went to DH's mom's and opened presents. It was ok. I got a yoga mat, a tent chair, and a gift card for Kohls. DH got a space heater for the garage and some money for his birthday.
We also stopped at DH's grandparents house for a quick visit. His grandmother was in the hospital last year at this time so it was great to see her moving and looking so much healthier!
Then off to my parent's home. We went to Christmas Eve mass at 6. Then my aunt and uncle invited us over to their house for drinks and good cheer! It was FUN! DH was mixing drinks and getting my mom and aunt drunk/tipsy. Too funny!
Christmas Day we had to wait for my brother and sister to come home. When they got there we took pictures and then ate dinner (turducken, potatoes, corn, etc). We opened presents after that. I got some coaster with our wedding pictures on, a big roasting pan, a 4 sided grater, Willow Tree nativity set, yoga mat, and some washcloths. I am in LOVE with my Willow Tree nativity set! I can't wait to add to it.
Shmel's Blog
On the 23rd...I surprised both of us with a positive pregnancy test! I go to the dr. Wednesday to confirm! Those that are friends on FB, please don't say anything on there.. We want to wait until Valentine's Day to make a "public" announcement.
We had everyone over Christmas Eve (told our parents the good news). On Christmas day, we had breakfast and gifts at our house, went to DH's aunt's for lunch and gifts, and ended the day with dinner and gifts at my parents.
congrats!!!!! You must be so exicted! I hope your drs appointment goes well!
April 2010 Siggy Challenge: Next Vacation Destination
Muchlove1069 congrats!!! That is so exciting!
We had a great Christmas!! We had all of my family over at our house all weekend. DH family went out of state so we celebrated early with them. DH worked on Christmas but we were able to all get together and open gifts on his lunch break. Then we played games and ate LOTS of food!! It was a great Christmas
Dh got me a Victoria secret yoga outfit (love it!), some slippers, a new Wii game and two new remotes for the Wii 
And he really loved his gift which made the whole day perfect!
yay!! congratulations!!!!
How amazing, Sara!!! Congratulations to you both :-)) What a perfect present!
It's so great that everyone had terrific holidays!!!
Ours went well also...The day started with a visit to my parents (My Mom always gives me the most awesome gifts...my favorite so far from this year's gifts is a bronze B. Makowsky leather handbag that is totally HOT!!!)...from there it was up to have dinner with my SIL's family (we did not dine at H's sister's house after all; instead opting to join his brother and wife at her parent's family dinner, which turned out to be awesome. Her family is so warm and amazing!)
For those girls who don't know the history, H's sister hasn't spoken a word to me since we announced our engagement well over a year ago, after asking H "why bother to get married" to me; since we had been together for so long already.
I knew I just wouldn't enjoy having Christmas in her home, but we did compromise and go there to join the family after dinner for our gift exchange. Where she did what she has done for years - somehow she got my name - didn't ask what I wanted (although it didn't matter, even when I provided wish lists, they were never adhered to), and gave me two horrifically butt-ugly outfits... again. On top of that, she didn't bring out my gifts until everyone had been opening for about 15 minutes, so I was the only one there not opening presents. H noticed, and once we saw that she again went out of her way to use the gift exchange to try to agitate me, we just decided that it was best to go. So we only stayed for about 30 minutes, which was perfect for me!
So we got in about 6pm, and did our own gift exchange and had the best time hanging out with our doggies and enjoying our first Christmas together :-)
Among the goodies I got from H? Gift cards, a new Joyce Byer's Caroler, Ravens goodies, Purple Flamingo's for the front yard ( a Baltimore and a Ravens thing!), and.....my Nookcolor!!! Woo Hoo!!! And it is very cool - I'm loving it :-))
All in all, a terrific holiday, even with the stunt his sister pulled. It wasn't totally unexpected, but sad really. I refused to let any clouds in on such a beautiful day, and it turned out to be just wonderful!
Congrats Sara!!!
We had a whirlwind of a weekend. Friday morning I took H to work and ran a few last minute errands as the snow started to come down. Around 930ish, I went back to pick H up from work so we could start our 3 days of Christmas.
Before loading the car, we decided to take a few minutes for ourselves to exchange gifts. I got 2 Glee cd's, the Peanuts holiday DVD collection a cookbook and a gift card. Then we drove to the IL's to drop off the gifts and food for Sunday's events. That evening, we went to my parents for dinner and gifts. We also drove through more snow to go to 11pm Church service.
Christmas morning, we headed back to my parents house for breakfast and a little Wii. Then we went to H's aunt and uncles house for the day. We had a huge but awesome lunch, a 2 1/2 gift exchange and then leftovers for dinner. We got back to my sisters around 830 that night and crashed.
Sunday, we packed up again and went back to the IL's for gifts with H's immediate family, then lunch and gifts with MIL's family.
I got lots of goodies...another cookbook, the 3rd Glee cd and some snowman dishes.
Now I am trying to catch up on sleep, laundry and cleaning while getting ready for NYE here.
Congratulations!!!!!
Christmas was great! Christmas Eve I hung around the house while DH went golfing and did the best he's ever done. That night we made lasagna for dinner which is a tradition we're starting to honor my Nona (Italian grandmother) who passed away this summer. She made it every xmas so we're going to make it every xmas eve with our family. Then we went to a christmas tree light show set to music that evening. It was wonderful!
Christmas day we opened our gifts at our house. We only had stockings and one gift for eachother, then all the gifts from my family that they mailed to us. It was so much fun! DH gave me a really awesome printer/scanner/fax that we needed and I love it! My mom totally surprised me and got me a kindle! Whoo hoo! Also, my living grandmother SHOCKED us all and sent a VERY generous check to all the grandchildren!
After our morning at home we headed to DH's moms house to make breakfast, open up gifts with his side of the fam and make linner. DH fried a turkey and it came out great! Opening gifts over there was alright.......extremally chaotic. (you don't even want to get me started on that) His mom as usual went way overboard which makes me uncomfortable since I know she can't really afford it. I really wish she'd go lighter one year and use that money for stuff she needs to get done. But it was very nice of her and we are very grateful.
Normally we go see a movie on xmas day but I'm glad we didn't this year. Had to get home to the doggies and we were exhausted!
It was great and I really hope to get my family to come out here to spend xmas with us next year. It was the first time not being with my fam around xmas time so I got pretty sad. Fingers crossed!!!
Glad to read how everyones xmas went well!!!
I LOVE my Pandora bracelet!! Hope you like yours as much as I like mine!
Yay! Congrats! What exciting news
Post-Wedding Life Blog!
A10 Siggy Challenge: Next Vacation Destination: San Francisco!
Post-Wedding Life Blog!
A10 Siggy Challenge: Next Vacation Destination: San Francisco!