Holiday Parties!

We have been busy with FUN these past few weekends, and even though my little Dell is about to die from viruses I was able to upload some pictures last night!

First we put up Christmas decorations...and I was unable to figure out the tree plug system, so my handy hubby stepped in. He succeeded.


We didn't do a lot of decorations this year, but I moved this table under the pass-through, strung garland and hung our stockings with care (since we're mantle-less).

And I let my cute little snow-people hang out in our living room, too. That and our tree are mostly the extent of how we decorated. I hung a gorgeous wreath on our door, but no outdoor lights. I know, we're scrooges this year.

A couple weekends ago we got together with Sarah, her boyfriend Thomas, Pam and her boyfriend Jason for a holiday dinner. We ate at Max's Wine Dive, which was fabulous, and watched Colt not win the Heisman (no comment on that...). Below is Sarah's steak...which so artfully displayed her steak knife in a bone.

Group shot from Howl at the Moon later in the evening. We had so much fun and we were amazed to find a night that worked for 6 people!

And as most Texans know - it snowed!! We were out at a company happy hour, but I managed to get some snow action shots! It really stuck all night and into the morning...I wish I had a picture of our house, because our lawn and roof were white.

This was my failed attempt at a nice, outdoor puppy picture for our Christmas cards. They're still cute anyway! Very typical - Dixie is eating a stick and McLovin is soaking in the sun.

This past weekend we got to have dinner at the original Ninfa's (yum!) with Kevin and Tracy, our friends and Jeremy's second cousin. Tracy is due in February, so we spent most of the meal forcing Baby Poli to move around in T's tummy! We can't wait for that little squirt to make his or her debut! Our friends, the Harbisons, also had a Christmas party. Since Jeremy's company didn't have one and we didn't make it to mine, it was fun to have at least one to go to! We also got to catch up with our favorite "hustler," Chris.

Emily, a lawyer, had quite a story as well...the night before she slipped at Chick-fil-a and bruised her tailbone and basically shattered the bones in the tip of her finger. She seemed okay at the party, although the Vicodin and Shirley Temples may have been helping. :)

Don't they just look too cool?

We also celebrated Tyler's 11th Birthday this weekend. I can NOT believe my little brother is ELEVEN. It seems like just yesterday he was 3 days old on Christmas morning, our house was under construction, and we were all passing him around while opening presents...

Jeremy and I are horrible at keeping secrets, especially when it comes to gifts! So since Jeremy's work schedule finally calmed down and he was at home all afternoon, we broke down and decided we needed to open gifts last night!! I know it sounds not very fun, but we're busy with family anyway over the holidays and it was nice to spend some time alone together! Jeremy had just finished shopping for me in the day, so none of his gifts were wrapped, but I had finished his last week. Enjoy my gorgeous wrapping below...

Jeremy and the dogs with the goods. Yes, there is an air mattress in our living room. We're basically living ghetto these days - we hooked up Jeremy's laptop to our TV so we can watch Netflix movies instantly (because you know, we're too impatient to wait the 2 days it takes to get them in the mail!). But our new couch, as opposed to the sectional, is not very comfy for TV-watching for more than 1 person and we need an ottoman. Our free solution for now - blow up the air mattress! The dogs love it too, so the whole family gets to snuggle. I promise we're buying an ottoman soon and the air mattress will go away.

Please excuse the curse word on the gift below, but if you know Jeremy, you know he uses Excel spreadsheets to plan our whole life, complete with color-coding, formulas, etc. I saw this and it was too perfect to pass up. I don't think he finds it as funny as I do though...

My "big" gift this year!! Tall, chestnut, size 9. I'm in love. And I don't care if they're not cool anymore, they keep my feet toasty warm and they're super comfy. These will be perfect for our trip to Telluride in January!! Also (not pictured) I got the Williams-Sonoma recipe box and embosser (so I don't lose my recipes anymore), UT socks and underwear (for game days, of course!), and the Jon & Kate + 8 book, Multiple Blessings.

Jeremy's big gift...that we all enjoyed playing last night into the wee hours (no Wii pun intended)!! Jeremy also got 2 books - a nice UT book with photography of the campus with the personalized cover, and the Bro Code (Barney's book from How I Met Your Mother).

In between all the gifting and playing last night, I baked up a storm. I made sandtarts (or Russian tea cakes), more fudge and homemade peppermint bark. The bark is really good, if I do say so myself, and I will never pay $30 for a tin of it again from Williams-Sonoma. I would still like to try baking candy cane cookies (my favorite), but they're really labor-intensive and I might just run out of time.

Our plans for this Christmas aren't too busy - we're both taking tomorrow off to go see my dad for lunch and during the day and my mom at night for church and dinner. Then Christmas morning we are sleeping in (my one requirement this holiday), then spending time with Jeremy's parents, Aunt Pat and Uncle Dan, and Meemaw and Peepaw. It should be relatively stress-free. I am working on Friday, but it's only a 4-hour day and I can be casual, so I don't mind!

I can't believe Christmas Eve is tomorrow and our 2nd anniversary is only a week away! I LOVE this season!!