Like I mentioned a few posts ago, Deric and I traveled to see both of our families for Christmas. We started out in Virginia at my parents' house, then headed up to Indiana to see Deric's family. I like this whole being-married-means-two-Christmases thing. :)
There's about a billion pictures to go with this post, so the Indiana Christmas pics get a post of their own. And we'll keep words to a minimum because I'm not sure how much one blog post can hold.
Lunch with two good friends who I miss all year.
Sarah made cake balls multiple times and they were deelish.
Christmas with friends.
(My white balance was insanely off, so some pics will be black and white because that's the only way I know to fix it.)
Christmas Eve dinner: shrimp and crab legs! I miss living by the coast...
Getting ready for a family Christmas photo.
Meet Henry Melman, the newest addition to the family. He really loves the Christmas season and goes all out for it. Sadly, he was a bit too skinny to fit into the traditional Santa outfits, so he borrowed this ensemble from a friendly plastic goose.
Courtney played Santa and made sure everyone got all their gifts.
My gift from Mom: a class at an art studio down here and watercolors! I'd mentioned that I've never used watercolors and wanted to try them out, so she got all the supplies for me. I've already got some plans for them..
Mom's gift from Sarah was a Vera Bradley backpack she'd been eyeing. Her laptop fits inside perfectly.
Sarah's present for the second year running...a pair of Toms. Last year was a red pair and this year was black.
Like I said, Isaac got to have Christmas morning all to himself. It was so fun watching him tear through the wrapping paper and get excited about the presents. And he waited so patiently until 8 before waking me up. :)
This picture just fits Christmas morning, don't you think?
Moving right along to the next day's festivities...gingerbread houses! I haven't been home for this in years so I was really excited. We scaled it back a bit though from the chaos it used to be with ten+ people participating. This year Deric, Sarah, myself and two of Sarah's friends were the only ones interested. Mom graciously made frosting for us and took pictures.
Deric is seriously genius. Who else thinks of a gingerbread covered wagon?! I love it.
Liz made a gingerbread soup kitchen stuck in a blizzard.
Sarah and I made traditional houses.
Kristen made a church. The church and soup kitchen were in competition over who had the biggest cross. I don't remember who won, but both crosses were about the same size as their buildings.
Don't you love Sarah's wreaths? So cute. I also love her Nerds path leading up to the...oh wait, no front door.;) Gotta go around back!
My red-and-green gingerbread house. The yellow gumdrops are luminaries lighting the path to the door.
Deric and his frontier Christmas. That's a covered wagon pulled by teddy grahams, a tent, Christmas tree, and a campfire.
My favorites are the lassoed teddy grahams and the Redhots embers in the fire.
Whew, I think that's enough pictures for one Christmas! It was such a great week and we were sad to leave, but it was made easier as we headed to see the other side of the family. There's more to come tomorrow with Christmas: Indiana. Get excited!
I think we know who had the bigger cross...
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