Merry Christmas! 2013

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Goodness, I can hardly believe that it has been 4 weeks since my last post...
We have been pretty busy around here!
Peter started a new job on the 9 th and we had to immediately pack up and head to Long Island for his first week of training. His new job requires a good majority of travel in and out of the US so we decided that we would try to stick together as a family as much as possible!

Our first family adventure didn't turn out as planned - though we did enjoy our first ferry ride! The hotel room was smaller than anticipated and Peter's work schedule required him to need the van for longer than the children could stay cooped-up, so the girls and I dropped Daddy off at a hotel closer to his work so he could carpool and we drove 3 hours to Gramma's house 2 days earlier than we originally planned.
We think it was best thing to do and Sunny and Dainty enjoyed stretching out at Gramma's and having a play date with cousins!

Peter surprised me by joining us on Thursday evening instead of Friday afternoon and we spend Friday shopping (thrift therapy, oh yeah!) and catching up on laundry.

Saturday we slept in (shweet!) And joined most of the family for a musical production of OLIVER! We had to drive back to my in-laws in a snowstorm, but the Chinese food was totally worth it!

When we arrived back home we were amazed that we were already into the 3rd week of Advent! We kept our cool and managed to get all Christmas shopping completed in spite having caught a bug. This is our first year staying home, so we really didn't need to prep to much for hosting.

Christmas Eve morning I woke early, made a pot of coffee, and opened my boxed of decor. We took our time getting the house together and by 2 pm the house was ready! Peter and the girls crashed until 4 when we had our official tree-lighting ceremony and baked Jesus' birthday cake.

Christmas day was lovely! We invited our good friend, Merle, for breakfast, opened presents, went to Mass, napped, made a lovely turkey dinner, and ate birthday cake. It was all simple and cozy. Peter has off until next Monday, so I'm hoping to catch up on some blog stories and recipes!