Christmas Weekend

Todd & I had quite the busy Christmas weekend! We got up early on Saturday morning to drive up to his hometown for Christmas Eve at his parent's house. They have a big gathering on Christmas Eve with about 40 people and lots of food! The past couple years, Todd & I have gone up Christmas Eve day, spent the night & Christmas morning with his family, and then driven back to spend Christmas afternoon/evening with my parents. My brother was flying in from San Francisco this year and we decided to drive back from Todd's hometown that evening so we could go to Christmas mass with my family & spend Christmas day with them for a change.

My in-laws Christmas tree

The whole family: Todd's parents, his sister's family, and Todd & I

Todd & I

Since we were only staying the day, we opened presents in the afternoon on Christmas Eve before everyone came over. It was fun this year with not only our nephew, Andrew, who's 5, but also our niece, Audrey, who's only 7 months old.

She enjoyed eating the wrapping paper more than helping open the presents

Andrew taking a break from opening presents

We hung out the rest of the afternoon and helped Todd's mom get food ready for that evening. People started coming over around 5:00 PM and the rest of the group came over around 7:30 PM after church. We ate dinner in 3 shifts but luckily Todd & I were able to sneak in the first shift since we weren't going to be sticking around the entire evening. After Santa came to visit the kids, we headed out a little after 9:00 PM for the 3 hour drive back. We got home after midnight and went straight to bed since we had to be up early on Christmas morning for church.

Todd's sister made this cute Santa hat cake pops that were so good

Todd & I woke up at 6:45 AM on Sunday morning to open our presents before meeting my parents & brother at church.

Our Christmas tree

Todd opening one of his presents from me

I was just a little excited to get an iPad!! Apparently, Todd didn't stick to the $100 budget that we had set

Even more excited about the pink smart cover

I felt bad that I didn't get more for Todd, you know, since I thought we were only going to spend $100, but he said the iPad was also a present for him because it will keep me occupied in the car when we're travelling. I think this was a nice way of saying I get bored easily & have a short attention span. For those that are interested, I got Todd a refractometer for his beer making (it measures specific gravity), an Ohio Breweries book, The Complete Book of Sushi, King Cube Silicone Ice Cube Trays for drinking scotch, and a few smaller things.

After church, we went back to my parent's house. We ate brunch and then opened up presents.

Christmas tree with presents from Santa/my parents

Christmas tree for presents to my parents & brother (and from my brother)

My brother & I

Todd & I (our first Christmas as a Mr. & Mrs.)

We hung out at my parent's the rest of the day, talking, playing with our Christmas presents (or maybe that was just me with my iPad), eating, and drinking.

Table set for Christmas dinner

Todd & I after dinner

We had a great weekend & definitely feel spoiled from our family yet again. It worked out perfectly this year since Christmas fell on a Sunday that we were able to be with both of our families. Next year might be a bit trickier!

Todd is lucky that he doesn't have to go back to work until January 3 but I, unfortunately, have to work the rest of the week. I feel like I have a really hectic week with teaching a few mornings, working all day, and social obligations every night.

I'll leave you with a few of the things I received this year....

2012 Running Log, The Great Fitness Experiment, Nike waterproof running hoodie, lululemon CRB tank in pink, and a lululemon skidless towel for hot yoga

Apparently everyone knows I love my lipgloss! This should last me a couple months...

And throw pillows for our bedroom