First Christmas and New Years

Am and I had the blessing of celebrating our first Christmas and New Years as a married couple this year.  We had fantastic celebrations with family and friends that will be remembered for a long time to come.  But most of all, we had the opportunity to spend time recognizing the great gift that we received when God sent his Son to earth to live among us.

We started celebrating with Am opening her stocking Christmas Eve morning.  I woke up early to make sure I could get downstairs to get all of the lights turned on.  We had agreed on a pretty low limit on how much each of us could spend on the other on Christmas gifts.  I reasoned that a stocking didn't count as a Christmas gift and so everything I could stuff in there was exempt from counting toward the spending limit (and I stuffed that puppy as full as it would go!).  Not sure I will be able to get away with that one again next year!  Here is a picture of the living room early that morning before Am woke up (we don't have a mantle, so I had to hang the stocking on the closet door) and a picture of Am unpacking her stocking:

We spent the majority of the day cooking and baking in preparation for hosting family for a Christmas celebration that evening.  We made loads of food (I think I gained about 5 pounds between the two holidays), the favorites being chicken dip made with fake chicken that turned out to be delicious and picnic potatoes which contain onions (I hate onions).  Never would have suspected I would have liked either but I couldn't get enough!  The evening was spent partying with Am's parents (Mike & Patti), brothers (Kevin & Drew), and adoptive grandparents (Big Al & Wicked Wanda).  Here's the crew chowing down:

After the party, Am and I exchanged our gifts.  Am bought me an awesome VCU hoodie sweatshirt and some sweatpants.  I think I have already managed to wear the VCU sweatshirt 6 times since Christmas!  I bought Am a new charm for her Pandora bracelet.  It is a Christmas tree.  Here are our gifts:

My biggest request in keeping with the traditions I had experienced growing up surrounding Christmas was consuming massive amounts of donuts on Christmas morning.  I don't really eat many donuts throughout the year so this always seems like such a treat.  Considering I had already eaten loads of frosted brownies, I probably could have done without the donuts, but what would have been the fun in that?  I mean don't these look awesome?

We visited with my mom Christmas evening and exchanged gifts with her.  I had put together a wedding album and Am and I decided that we would purchase a copy for both her parents and mine.  They were a big hit and definitely worth every penny.  Here is my mom with her present:

Dave and Shelley (my brother and sister-in-law) came down and stayed with us for New Year's weekend.  We, again, hosted a group of family New Years Eve.  This go round, we had both Am's family and mine.  My mom brought in pizza from Pizza Express (best pizza in the world, in my humble opinion) and we made awesome ice cream sundaes.  It was a great time!  If you look at Am's family and mine, we have a total of 9 people in our two sibling groups (counting spouses).  We realized that we actually had 8 out of 9 of us at the gathering (first time we have had that many - if only my sister, Gina, could have been here!).  It was a great time of fellowship with family!

Thanks to Momma Rinehults, Momma Breen, Pappa Breen, Dave & Shelley, Gary, Kevin, Drew, and Amy & Justin for coming out!

Overall a great first Christmas season for me and Am!  Thanks to all that were part of it!!!