Chaotic Crazy Cherished Christmas

Wow- what a week and a half full of Christmas celebrations!  (Warning, this one's lengthy)

First off, I met up with some of my best blog friends for a yummy buffet (don't judge, it really was good) lunch, great conversation, and a gift exchange.  It was the perfect relaxing start to the crazy season!

The next celebration was our employee holiday day of celebration made up of made-to-order omlets, a cookie exchange/decorate your manager competition/gifts party, and casino night with the residents.  I got to play a big role in planning this day for our employees and had a blast! It was a lot of work, but it was, by far, the favorite thing I've done at my job thus far!  I even managed to pull out a second place finish in the cookie exchange with my Cake Balls (beat out only by our head of dining services.. not bad, huh?).

Cake Balls

Gifts for the employees (brownie/cookie/soup mix and coupon books)

 YUM

Decorated Managers

Matt and I started our celebrations together last weekend at his parent's house.  We were blessed with tons of wonderful gifts including a new camera, cookbook, gift cards, dvds, and even a little TV for our Kitchen (so exciting and unexpected!)!  We also had a fantastic crab leg dinner courtesy of the in-laws and I brought along some tasty brownies.  Unfortunately, I didn't take pictures, so I'll have to get some from my MIL to post later. 

Sunday night, Matt and I had our annual Christmas dinner.  I'm sad to say it's one of the few times a year we sit at our kitchen table for dinner with no TV or anything else on.  It is, however, some of the best conversation, and I'm always glad we took the time to focus on the two of us.  We'll definitely have to do it more often.  Monday night we exchanged stockings.  While we didn't set a price limit, we agreed to keep it budget friendly, and I got M a new electric razor and some headphones for his I-Pod.  Matt did, however, bust the budget with a great Spa gift card for me.  I have to say, I'm one lucky lady to have such a sweet and thoughtful hubby, and it felt great to know he noticed how hard I'd been working. Cayne had aleady gotten his Christmas toy, but he still got a few bones in his stocking just for kicks!

 Don't judge this gross picture of me right out of the shower (I swear my hair's not so two-toned in person.. I don't think)

Tuesday, Matt got to meet my work crew when we headed out to a play (our Christmas gift from my boss).  The play was a little less than entertaining, but it was great for him to meet the people I work with, and we got to sit in "box" seats, which was really fun.

Thursday we excitedly headed off to the airport to go fly to NC/SC to see my family!  It's been quite a while since the two of us have been there just for a visit, so it was a very exciting (although super speedy) trip!  Friday was a 5k for my cousin Bayler who passed away from Cancer at age 7 1/2 this summer.  My sisters and I ran the race (and I even got my PR) and the race raised lots of money in Bayler's memory for their Children's hospital (Bayler's 8th B-day would have been on Christmas eve).  After the race we headed back to my Aunt/Uncle's to have pizza with the family and to watch the kids open gifts.  I love my family and was so glad to get to hang out with them!

 Matt even held baby Jacob even though he spit up on him first :)

 

 Liv and her boyfriend (apparently an avid reader of the blog- hey Jamie!)

 Mom and Baby Oliver

 Liv's pup.. cute, right?

After lunch we headed back to my parent's house for church and some quality family fun.

 

 My love

And my first love

Christmas morning we awoke to some Santa goodness! Santa was very good to all of us, and it was fun watching the girls open their gifts.. M and I managed to score some of our own, too!  I got some new running shoes (YAY!!!) and some much needed clothes, while M got a much wanted North Face jacket, another video game, and a gift card to yet another hunting/fishing store (just to name a few).

 

 Love our puppy nephew, Benning (who has yet to meet cousin, Cayne)

 Molly

 Mom with her Canvas print we gave her

 Liv and her camera strap- so cute! (found on etsy- let me know if anyone wants to know the seller)

 Dad made yummy Christmas breakfast

 Love of my life

 And we even ended up with a White Christmas

 (puppies eating leftover pancakes)

 Liv got a DSLR (so jealous), so we took pictures of each other taking pictures, naturally..

 Beautiful Christmas night

 And we wrapped up Christmas night in style with a little Rockband (as you can see, our band is growing with the addition of the boyfriends/hubby)

 Bella-boo looking pretty

 Sunday night, M and I returned home to our precious puppy, Cayne!  He was happy to see  "Mommy and Daddy" but maybe even more happy to get his second Christmas gift from his "grandmommies"

 Cayne and his giraffe from my mom.  He also LOVES his new goose from my MIL, but I didn't get a chance to snap a picture.  Apparently M caught him trying to carry them both around together yesterday.

 

Overall, we had a fantastic Christmas Celebration.  God has blessed us with wonderful family and friends, and we feel so lucky.  This was quite the lengthy recap, but we had a lot going on.  I hope your Christmas was as Merry and Blessed as ours was!  Now, onto the new year....