Christmas at the Fetter's

Christmas evening we spent with the Fetter's at Aunt Pinky & Uncle Charlie's house. They made a wonderful dinner, as usual, and we were all stuffed before dessert got served. We sat at the dining room table for a while chatting, telling stories, and catching up with Christa & Sara since they are home from college. After dinner Aunt Pinky thought it'd be fun to play a game so we pulled out Trivia Pursuit, the 80's edition. It was guys vs gals. The gals felt like we were cheated because 2 of the 5 of us weren't above 2 yrs old in the 80's. The guys did win but the gals held our own. It was a lot of fun and we had lots of laughs while we played. Brian looked out the window and saw that it was starting to snow, so that was cool to have a white Christmas. We had a very nice time with the family!

Christmas morning

Christmas morning was quiet, but nice. Brian and I got each other a bunch of clothes and shoes that we each needed. Jadie, Autumn, and Harvey had fun lounging out with us all morning while we opened our gifts and ate breakfast. We stayed in our PJ's till it was time to head to Brigantine. Another lovely Christmas morning with my hubby.

Christmas Eve at Grandmom's

After Mom & Dad's we headed over to Grandmom's to see our Aunts, Uncles, and cousins. We had dinner and then did our pollyanna gifts. As a kid I always remember the feeling during dinner that all I wanted was to open presents and I could see that look in Livi's face...it was too funny. We had a ball with the pollyanna, as usual. This year the gift everyone seemed to want was the battery operated candles w/a remote control. It was so much fun to watch Livi, Charlotte, Dominick, and Sophia run around and play with their new toys. It was a great night filled with happiness, family, and love.

Christmas Eve at Mom & Dad's

We headed over to Mom & Dad's at 1:30 on Christmas Eve. Mom had lunch prepared for us which we all enjoyed. We then spent the next couple hours exchanging gifts and hanging out. Livi got a real microphone and she was SO excited. She loves to sing, dance, and put on concerts so she was in heaven. Charlotte was so fun to watch this year because she's really starting to understand presents and the fun of opening them. It was beautiful afternoon with the family.

Blue Man Group

Last night I took Brian to see Blue Man Group in Philly for his birthday. He's always told me that he'd like to see them but they are never in our area. I happened to find out they were on tour and in Philly this week. He was very excited. The show was very entertaining and we enjoyed it. After we went to grab a bite to eat before heading home.

Pillow pets

This week we went over to Dana & Anthony's to visit for Christmas. We ordered in some dinner and hung out. The girls were amazed that Santa called us and told us we could get them pillow pets! They were so excited and will cross them off their lists. :)

Visit w/Aunts & Uncle

Last night Aunt Pinky, Uncle Charlie, and Aunt Denise came over for a visit. We hung out at the house for about an hour and then went out to dinner for Brian's birthday. They embarrassed him by having the waiter sing happy birthday to him and I was laughing. We had a very nice time with them celebrating Brian's bday and talking about Christmas plans next weekend.

Tim's Christmas party

Last night we went down to AC for Tim's annual Christmas party. Aunt Pinky, Uncle Charlie, Aunt Denise, and all the cousin's were there. We had munchies and drinks while we all hung out chatting. The guys talked about football most of the night while the gals talked about anything/everything, as we usually do. It was nice to see cousin Chelsea and catch up....now that she's a Freshman at Penn we expect to see her more often, which is nice. (They live in GA.) It was a very nice night of family fun.

3rd annual cookie day

Yesterday Mom, Aunt Rita & I got together to bake the Christmas cookies. We kept the same roles as usual....Mom at the oven, Aunt Rita w/the SuperShooter and I decorated. It seems to work perfectly so why mess with it? We ordered Primo's hoagies and were just girly all night as we chatted about anything/everything. I love that I'm a part of this fun new tradition....It's my special time with the two of them and I love every minute of it. Maybe we'll have to bake cookies for "Christmas in July" so that we don't have to wait a whole year to do it again. :)

Banana Bread

I don't have a baking speciality. I don't bake cookies or chocolate covered pretzels like make people do this time of year. I was telling Brian this at dinner last night and he said we should make banana bread. He said his Mom used to make it Christmas and give it away as gifts. We have his Mom's recipe box so we pulled our her recipe and made a bunch of bread tonight. They are currently in the oven and we are anxious to see if they taste the way Brian remembers. So....it may just be that I have a Christmas baking speciality now. We'll see....

Jadie is a big girl

Brian has been telling me for the past couple of months that he wants to break down Jadie's cage and store it away. I kept telling him no because even though we don't put her in there anymore, she would from time to time lay in there. Truth be told those times have gotten a lot more further apart and I was starting to understand Brian's point. It does take up a significant space in our guest room and as everyone knows...I like everything to be in order and put away in the house. Well tonight Brian did it! He broke it down and put it in the closet. I was worried about how Jadie would react but she just laid on the guest bed watching him. The only time she was concerned was when we took her blankets out of the cage. I washed the blankets and she is now laying on our bed with me...with her baby blanket in between us. Too cute! She may be a big girl now but she's still our baby. :)