Christmas Adventures - Part 1

Wow - what a busy (but fun!) time of year!

Note:  This blogpost is very long in itself and does not include all of my Christmas travels.  Part 2 coming soon!

My Christmas celebrating and festivities started on December 15 and didn't end until January 8.

Starting it all off on December 15, we had a White Elephant gift exchange at work.  First, we continued our office tradition of watching a Christmas episode of "The Office."   Our generous boss provided awesome Qdoba catered lunch to eat while we watched.

Then it was time for the gifts.

Of course, the White Elephant theme provided some rather interesting gifts, like this 20 year old Chia pet (never used)...

...and this homemade lighted UK fan Squirrel complete with Cowboy hat....

.....and this Elvis Hot Chocolate Set.....

....and this little Angel Snow Globe - to name a few.

This was the gift I had "tweaked" a little and brought for the exchange.  This N'SYNC doll bared a striking resemblance to my cube-mate, Ken.  So, I doctored it up by adding a new title and included his picture on the bottom right hand side.

On the back of the box, I also changed up the "back-up singers" to include pictures and nicknames of some of the other guys in our office.  (You may need to click on the picture to enlarge to really appreciate the fact that their little heads were glued onto the N'SYNC guys bodies).

Then 2 days later on the 17th, we had another work function, this time hitting the road to join with the other half of our company (in Lex.).  We had a company-wide Staff Meeting which included a Costume Contest (with only 3 Costumes this year).  The girl on the left is the "Leg Lamp" from The Christmas Story.  The guy in the middle is Buddy the Elf.  And the guy on the right dresses up every year as Santa for the Office Party, but has a different theme each year.  Last year, he was Biker Santa.  This year he was Baker Santa.

There's also a Cubicle Decorating Contest.  This was my favorite:

After the Staff Meeting, we all enjoyed an awesome pizza lunch.....

....from none other than Joe Bologna's.....

....then it was off to the Bowling Alley for some more company-wide fun!

We pick teams and compete for the highest and lowest scores....sadly, I am always closer to the lowest.

Andrea has great form, doesn't she?

And check out her awesome socks with that skirt....she was rockin' the Bowling Shoes.

And there's me - I guarantee I was in the process of getting a strike right there.

A couple days after that, on December 19, Brandon and I made Christmas cookies using my Granny's recipe.

Mmmm....don't they look scrum-didally-YUM-cious?

We each gave some to our neighbors for Christmas.

Remember when Brandon helped me put up my Christmas tree?  Well, he didn't have a tree of his own, so his mom got a tree for him too - here it is.  I think it's perfect for him.  Functional & simple, yet practical and cute.

Then on the night of Dec. 22, I had The Girls over for a Christmas Movie Night.  I fired up my chocolate fountain and everybody pitched in with items to dip.
(L-R: Me, Shannon, Gina & Jenn)

The chocolate ended up a little glumpy, but chocolate is chocolate in my book!  It still worked just fine.

The next night, Dec. 23, Brandon and I headed to his hometown (in South Central KY) to visit his parents, his sister and brother-in-law, and his Mammaw (his Dad's mom).  We stayed the night with his parents and spent Christmas Eve morning and afternoon with them.

Kim (Brandon's sister) and Beverley (Brandon's mom) 

Beverley *loves* Christmas trees and has several of them around the house.

Jimmy (Brandon's dad)

Brandon's parents got a me a really pretty scarf and glove set, along with a headband/ear cover.  (I *love* scarves!)

Can you guess what they got Brandon?

Love this picture of Brandon's mom, opening her can-opener from me.  She, like my mom, has can-opener issues.

Kim loved the present Brandon got for her (and her husband Billy) - a game for their Wii.

Here's Billy, opening a gift from Jimmy and Beverley

Brandon and I each had two presents for each other.  So, we opened one with his family and one with mine.  Here's the one I opened from him.  He put together a frame of pictures for us that I LOVE!

Just in case you are wondering, the top picture is us with 3D Glasses on from when we went to see "Despicable Me"; the second is from when we took a fun 4-seater plane ride over the Ville, courtesy of Bill & Decker (who I went to Honduras with this year); the third was taken when we watched the sunset in Beaufort, NC when we went to spend a week with his Aunt & Uncle; the fourth is also in Beaufort - us giving a little smooch with the sunset perfectly placed between our silhouettes (amazingly enough, I had set the timer for this picture!).  Brandon also wrote a very sweet note on the back of the frame that is so dear to me heart.  That man surely blesses my socks off!

The present he opened from me was a series of letters I had written to him over the past 6 months and how I was feeling at different times in our relationship....and when I realized I was in love with him.  ;)

Here's all of us in front of the tree (including Laredo, Kim and Billy's dog)

About 4:00 that day (Christmas Eve), we loaded up and drove back to the Ville to make it to my Mamaw's  house to celebrate with my Dad's side of the family.  But not before a quick visit to see Brandon's Mammaw on the way out of town.

(This picture is actually from the weekend we went to visit Brandon's parents for his birthday - October 30, so he's very tan in the picture - we had just gotten back from visiting his Aunt in NC where we had spent some time on the beach).

By the time we arrived back in the Ville and got to my Mamaw's, the place was already packed!  We all squeezed in there somehow though.

Once the presents start getting unwrapped it's a free-for-all.  Most years, my Uncles and my Dad start a paper wad fight with the wrapping paper, but this year was pretty subdued.

Here's my Mamaw, opening her gifts.

This is my cousin Jamie with his girlfriend, Heather.

And here's my "Best Cousin" Jennifer.  She and I were born 19 days apart and have been very close ever since.

That's my Dad, Robert, on the left with his younger brothers, Eddie & Jeff, who I lovingly and jokingly refer to as my "Mexican Uncles."

And there's me with the guy I'm lucky enough to call my Boyfriend. 

My Dad and his mom

The whole family!

(Well, at least the whole family that was there that night.  We were missing my brother's family and my cousin Brandy's family.)

 

About 11:00pm (due to some car trouble for my parents) on Christmas Eve, Brandon and I exchanged presents with my parents back at their house.  Here's my dad, opening a present from me - a bag that he can carry around when he and my mom go on their first cruise in March!

And here's my Mom opening a gift to her and my Dad, from Brandon and I - a trip with us to the Windy City in a couple weeks!  (We scored awesomely cheap plane tickets! - probably because you have to be slightly crazy to voluntarily go to Chicago in February?)

Then Brandon opened my other gift to him....

...."Despicable Me" & 3 Minion Mini Movies on DVD! (We absolutely *loved that movie)

Here's what the inside of his box looked like:

And although I didn't get a picture of me opening it, Brandon's other present to me was "White Christmas" on DVD - my favorite Christmas movie!  I didn't own a copy and he took note and got it for me.

My parents got me a new toaster over.  One that does not make the smoke detector go off every time I use it!

My Sweet Parents

Another one of Brandon and I

We all headed to bed before the Big Man in Red caught us still awake though. Brandon must have been sleeping very soundly, though, because he was on the couch in the living room just a couple feet from the fire place and never woke up when Santa came.

Although my Mom had to work on Christmas, my Dad, Brandon and I enjoyed a nice quiet morning....at least until we had to get ready for the next event.

Brandon's Mom is originally from the Ville and most of her family still lives here.  So, around 1:00, we headed about 15 minutes from my parents house to celebrate with his Mom's family.

Here's Brandon with his other Mammaw

And here he is with his parents

There's lots of kids at this family gathering....

Some who dress in costume and sword fight...

...some who play board games....

....and even a set of twins!  Here's one of the baby girls...

...and here's the other.  There's also a set of boy twins that are just a little older than these two precious little ones, but they weren't there (we saw them at Thanksgiving).

These two guys had my phone and Brandon's phone - each playing Angry Birds.  They would really get along with my nephew!

After spending a few hours with Brandon's Mom's family, we hopped back in the car and took off for another part of Central KY to visit my Mom's side of the family.  These are all pictures that my mom took.  I didn't realize until later that I didn't take a single picture while we were there (I must have been tired!  That's not like me)

Here's my Mom's Mom, who I call Granny

And my Mom's Dad, who I call Grandpa

I got my Granny an apron for Christmas that my friend Andrea embroidered for me.

Granny is doing a painting for me of a pitcher that I had bought at a yard sale across the street from her house.  I used it for a while in my home decor, but eventually put it back in a yard sale of my own.  Granny was there for the yard sale and saw the pitcher and thought it would make a great still life painting.  I can't wait to see the finished product.  My Granny is a very accomplished painter and photographer and I have several of her pieces up throughout my home.

We all stayed Christmas night at my Grandparents house and headed out the next morning.  Part 2 of my Christmas Adventures will be coming soon!