Christmas, Part 1! January 20, 2010

Sorry we’re so far behind on posting!  We have a lot to post over the next few days from the holidays, including pictures from several days of Christmas celebrations, a trip to NYC, and a couple birthdays.  This post is just from December 25.  Kerith had to work, so I got up at 5 am with her and we did stockings and breakfast together before she went to work.  I spent most of the day celebrating and hanging out with her family, before coming back and opening presents with Kerith after she got home from work.

Our stockings were really big, so we had fun finding stocking stuffers!

Uh oh, who gave Daniel a drill?

Allan's first Christmas!

One of the many white elephant gifts...

Russ & James keeping warm in front of the fire. James is connecting with his inner cowboy

Yuum, a spatula!

Watching some home videos

Glo in her Christmas sweater.

Allan watching Grandpa play the ukelele. (Also, note the still-present spatula.)

Orson, Annelise's dog, even joined in on the Christmas fun.

All of the loot, just waiting for Kerith to come home.

Jay got me this AWESOME wall hanging. I love it!

Great minds think alike... we each got the other coffee mugs!

Snowy Holiday Housewarming Party! December 23, 2009

Last Saturday, Kerith and I hosted a holiday housewarming party at our house.  Even though we had about a foot and a half of snow (the official count for Philly was 23 inches… I don’t believe it), about 15 or 20 people trekked out through the snow to our house.  We had a great time, lots of hot cider and eggnog, and got to hang out with a bunch of awesome people!  For those who made it, thanks for braving the weather!  And for those who weren’t able, hopefully we’ll be able to have you over in better weather very soon!

Lots of boots!

Stef was in town from D.C.

Jeremy and Stephanie are our small group leaders.

The next pictures were from our walk to and from church Sunday.  It was a very pretty snow.

Russell and Nick spent the night at our house Saturday night and went to church with us Sunday. I think we had to push four cars out that were stuck in the snow on the way.

I think this one gives an idea of how much snow there was.

This van is tall enough without the snow piled on top.

Kerith is cold.

Tree Time! December 21, 2009

At the beginning of December, we trekked out with my brother and his family to cut down our very first Christmas tree! It was very cold and rainy/snowy (which in Philly is called a ‘wintry mix’), but we managed to have 30 minutes of dry skies and got both trees picked out during that time!

Rosie got a ride from her dad.

Daniel wanted to take home every other tree.

Checking the height.

Sean vs. tree. Guess who won...

What a cute tree! Pretty cute family too.

Rosie decided to make a run for it!

One tree down, off to conquer the next one.

(I see London, I see France...)

The men with their catches of the day. On the left is Mr. I-just-had-surgery-and-should-not-be-lifting-heavy-objects. On the right is Mr. I've-been-sick-for-the-past-week. What a team!

A walking tree!

Ornaments!

My mom packed up a box of Christmas decorations for me when I got married. Thanks, Mom!

All my siblings and I got ornaments the year Russ was born. Ironically, I hate cats, and am allergic. But the ornament is cute.

The finished product. Isn't it perty?

We put up lights! I love Christmas time!!