Christmas Eve

This Christmas Eve started off with a bang! Matthew received poppers in the Chinese gift exchange and we wore the traditional English hats to celebrate.

Every year mom gives all the guys boxer shorts for Christmas, and this year was no exception. This was Matthew's first time participating, and he dived right in.

After a five year wait, Dan was finally awarded the MOTY Award for being Man of the Year. This entitles him to silky boxers, and bragging rights for the year. Dan was flexing his muscles after the big announcement. Congratulations Dan! Maybe one day Matthew will hold the MOTY title, everyone cross their fingers.

Uncle Ron also lead the group in singing, but this year he had some help from a reindeer named Jackson. Since our numbers were down this year, we did not sing the Twelve Days of Christmas, but we did sing all the other traditional songs. As always, we had perfect pitch.
Here is a picture of the Christmas tree later that night after Santa had stopped by. I think he over did it this year, but that's what happens when you start buying presents in August. It was a fabulous Christmas Eve!

Matthew's Christmas Honorable Mentions Post

Holly is working on her Christmas blog post that should appear tomorrow. However, a few pictures didn't make the cut that I thought deserved an honorable mention.

Here is where Holly jumped out of the car to have her picture taken with some stranger's Christmas lights. I know the picture is a little blurry, but the lights say "Happy Birthday Jesi" because a few lights burned out. We thought that was funny at the time.

A few days ago, I helped my mother-in-law, Linda, make Christmas cookies. After 2 pans, she left me alone with the dough and cookie cutters. Notice the angel and Santa have reindeer heads. Hilarious.

Here is one of Heidi and Dan's dogs, Spanky. Santa left him a fluffy blue ball for his Christmas gift. He liked it so much that after he chewed on it for a few hours he took it to bed with him. I thought it was blog worthy, but it wasn't going to make the cut in Holly's post. I hope you guys enjoy it.

Don't worry. There isn't anything wrong with Spanky's eye. It was just the flash.

Merry Christmas from Indiana. I hope everyone had a great day.

Snowman!

Here are some more snowmen pictures. Mom really did most of the work, but we helped a little too. Matthew did very well dealing with the cold too.

Jackson took a break from playing in the snow to pose with us. He wakes up every morning and looks to be sure the snowman is still there.

The carrot nose seems to be a bit out of proportion.

Here I am with little Reece; he wanted in on the snow fun too! He was all bundled up, but still only made it a few minutes after I lost the mittens. We are suppose to get a huge ice storm on Christmas Eve, so keep your fingers crossed. I am still praying for a white, glassy Christmas.

Who's got who?

Here I am with my Nephew Jackson. I'm not sure who has who at this
point.

Indiana University pictures

For Christmas this year, Matthew treated me to a Hoosier basketball game over break. It was the first time Matthew had ever been to IU and I took advantage of the weekend to show him all my favorite places. He saw my sorority, the education building, and all the frats I partied at. We were also lucky enough to have our friends Katie and John join us for the game and festivities. Here Matthew and I are at Nick's, an IU tradition. All of you who are familiar with the game "Sink the Biz" would be proud to know that we played for hours.

After a pit stop at Nick's we headed to my favorite establishment at IU, Upstairs Pub. Upstairs is home of the original AMF drink and the best darn popcorn you'll ever eat. Here Katie and I are enjoying our AMFs and each other's company. We then put our coats back on and headed to Assembly Hall for the basketball game.

Here we all our standing on the court after the Indiana victory. Please notice all the NCAA championship banners in the background...go IU!

Matthew and I during the pregame warm-up. I love my new B-town sweatshirt.

Matthew and I took a minute to pose in front of the Sample Gates at IU. You can't really see them here, but I know they are there, and they are beautiful. This is the statue that greeted me everyday when I walked through the Union. We paused to get warm and decide that a picture would be a good idea too. I had a great time visiting the alma mater, especially since I was able to share it with Matthew and Katie and John. I look forward to making more memories there with all of them.

Pistol Pete, Powers, and a fire truck

Today was our first full day with the family here in Indiana. Mom treated us all to a horse drawn carriage ride through downtown Fort Wayne. We were pulled my a white work horse named "Pistol Pete". He even gave Jackson and I a kiss at the end. During the ride, we got to see all the lights, and Jackson even saw Santa. All the kids looking at the lights were screaming for Santa...hysterical. Here we all our in the carriage waiting to go. We were bundled up and ready for the ride, even little Reece. After we ate at the local favorite we saw a firetruck outside. The firemen were nice enough to let Jackson climb in and explore. He got to hold a real hat and boots. They even let him sit upfront and turn all the lights on. I think he about died and went to heaven. After the sleigh ride we headed to a local favorite, Powers Hamburger stand. They are famous for their little sliders with tons of grilled onions. Here is the grill man working on our order; please notice that Matthew's burgers were the only ones not slathered on onions.
Here Matthew is enjoying his burger and I am loving my onions! It was definitely a must. It was a busy, fabulous day!

Merry Christmas from Indiana

It's a little blury, but you can get the general idea. We'll get
better pictures up here eventually.

Carly and Patrick's Wedding

This past weekend Matthew and I made the trip down to Greenville, South Carolina for our friends Patrick and Carly's wedding. As always, Carly was stunning and Patrick looked dashing. Here Matthew and I are taking a break a moment before the dancing began. Here the newly weds are with all the guys from our tailgate. I think Carly is making them look even better then normal; she really was a showstopper.
Here is our tailgaiting club; such a fun group of women, and I am blessed to know them all!

Let it never be said that Richard doesn't dance. He had his boogie shoes on!

What a handsome group of guys!

Shannon and Allison taking a break from shag dancing, but Potter and Carrie took to the floor instead.

Don't Let Him Fool You...

Matthew loves having a cat to snuggle in the house. I just received this picture while at work today. He acts like he doesn't like Norm, but we all know differently.

Decking the Halls

This past weekend Matthew and I headed over to Heidi's for a Christmas party. Here we all are posing by the Christmas tree. It was a blast; Matthew even won peppermint bark and movie tickets in the gift exchange. However, he neglected to tell anyone that the movie tickets were attached the candy so that no one would swipe his gift. We also got to sing Christmas carols, Jackson and Mr. Steve lead the group on their guitars. Here Jackson is with his holiday sunglasses on. I also took full advantage of this opportunity to spoil the boys with candy and sweets. Here I am sneaking a few more treats into Jackson's pocket. We would have never been discovered, except that Matthew took this picture and snitched on us to the mom in charge. All I can do is try. It was a wonderful way to kick off the Christmas season.

Feliz Navidad

Last night Matthew and I went to the local Mexican restaurant for diner; we have both been working crazy hours this week. As we enjoyed our dinner, we entered ourselves in the "Feliz Navidad" raffle. Garcia's always has random giveaways and whatnot. As it turns out, my name was called! I ran up to the front to claim my prize. Then the announcer said he was drawing for the grand prize, and Matthew won! It was awesome! It was also hysterical because the grand prize was exactly the same as my normal prize. Anywho, we can now eat there every day next week.