Christmas #3- Greensboro

Our third (and final) Christmas took place in Greensboro with my family.  On Christmas Eve we had dinner and dessert at my aunt and uncles house.  My aunt made a fabulous dinner and we had the best time catching up with my little (not so little anymore) cousins.  

Christmas morning we woke up to go to High Point (to my other aunts house) for breakfast with my cousins and grandparents.  I love this tradition- we have been doing it as long as I can remember.  I took a few pictures of the cousins (we missed you Anna and Kyle!) but we looked pretty rough.  I think Laurie and Blair will thank me for not posting them :)  As we were leaving, it started snowing and did not stop for the rest of the day!  We ended up with almost six inches of snow and a white Christmas!  The rest of the day was spent doing presents with my dad and sister, seeing True Grit (we recommend it by the way- it was great!)  and having bbq with my grandmother.   That night we drove around Greensboro to see some Christmas lights.  There is one neighborhood that puts these lighted balls in the trees.  So many houses participate- it's beautiful.  Although it's pretty hard to take a decent picture of lights and night, but here's my attempt-

We have spent the rest of the week enjoying more family and friends.  My family also got completely sucked  into Lost on Netflix. I'm not sure how I missed it the first time around, but we are definitely hooked now.

We feel so blessed to be able to celebrate with everyone that we love.  It has been a wonderful break!

Christmas #2- Raleigh

For Christmas number two we packed up and headed to Raleigh.  We spent the week with Nick's parents, and his sister Cait, her husband Josh, and our three cute nieces.  They were in town all the way from London.  We had the best time just hanging out, being entertained by these three cutie pies-

The girls decided we should act out a Nativity scene (or "activity scene") as they called it.  Before we left Blacksburg they called to see if Uncle Nick would be the sheep- because of course he would make a good one!  We had a practice one night and Annie was the director.  She had two complaints- that all Nick did was just lay on the ground and that Papa (the angel of the Lord) did not know his lines and maybe he should write them down.  Ha!  A few nights later, we tried again.  Here is the new and improved sheep- in costume I might add-

I am happy to report he took the directors advice to heart and did a much better job as a sheep the second time around!  Annie and Elle took turns being Mary (with a baby in her tummy of course!) and an angel.

The girls got these little cars called plasma cars from Grammy and Papa.  When they went down for their naps, guess who took them for a spin?

I think we enjoyed them just as much as the kids!  Christmas in Raleigh was so much fun, and we loved catching up with family and friends!

Christmas # 1- Blacksburg

Friday after Nick and I both finished school for Christmas Break (woo hoo!) we decided to celebrate our Christmas.  The end of the semester is always crazy for Nick- long, late nights, lost of projects, etc.  We were really needing a date night, so we kicked off our Christmas with dinner out at one of our favorite restaurants- thanks to a gift card from Cait and Josh- thanks again!  

On Saturday morning we woke up and had a delicious breakfast.  We had pumpkin cinnamon rolls, a spinach and caramelized onion frittata and fruit.  

We decided to just do stockings for each other this year, so after breakfast we opened those.  It was so relaxing to enjoy our morning full of lots of coffee, Christmas music and quality time together!

 

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas....

We have decked the halls, got several inches of snow this weekend, and it has been frigid the past few days (the wind chill is 5 degrees right now!)  It feels like Christmas!

Here is the "after" shot of our tree-

This is Nick's "nicktivity" as his parents call it.  This was his job to set up every year growing up.  We inherited it when we got married, so he still gets to set it up!

 

I love having our house all decorated!  We are going to curl up with a bowl of soup by the Christmas tree and try to stay warm! 

 Have a great night!

Birthday Celebration

Last week was Nick's birthday.  I wanted to make sure he had a special day even though we couldn't spend the whole day together, as we both had school.  This is what he woke up to on Monday morning- I think its becoming our standard birthday breakfast around here.  Its yummy, but easy enough for a school morning!

When Nick got home from class on Monday, I had the car all packed and ready to go for our surprise.  We went out to one of our favorite spots, the New River.  I had made steak chili and cornbread and packed everything we would need for a fire.

It was a beautiful but cold night.  We had a great time just sitting around the fire, enjoying the river right beside us!  Nick even got to test out his present- his new jacket.