I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas!

Andrew and I were pretty busy over the weekend, but it was good to get some time off work and to visit with all of our family. We spent Christmas Eve morning with his dad and his family. We opened presents first and Andrew got some movies and video games, while I got a couple of books and a Zumba game for the Xbox. We haven’t tried it out yet but I’m pretty excited about making Andrew play it with me!

We bought Andrew’s little half-brother a huge Nerf shot gun that he absolutely loved. Andrew might have gotten him in trouble a couple times when they were shooting it in the kitchen, but we were glad that he really enjoyed it! I think Andrew was even a bit jealous because we just have little mini Nerf guns at home and this one was huge!

That evening we went to my mom’s house for dinner and to exchange gifts. We kept it pretty simple and just had sandwiches with chips and dip. I made a banana cream pie and my mom had a plethora of Christmas cookies that we all munched on afterwards. My mom bought me a new kitchen knife block set that I am really excited about! She also bought me a couple of small kitchen utensils and the False Prince book series. My brother got me the same book series, which we all laughed a bit about, as well as a new flash drive.

Andrew got some new clothes from my parents which I’m pretty sure I was more excited about than he was because he only gets new clothes at Christmas! The boy does not like shopping. He also got some video games and a couple DVDs.

I was most excited for Christmas morning when Andrew and I had our own little Christmas. I bought him a 3DS which he had been eying for a couple of years now but never got around to buying because of the price. In turn, he bought me an Xbox 360, which I have been eying every since he sold his old one to get the Xbox One. Most of the Xbox games that I enjoy are on the older system and aren’t backwards compatible on the One, so I’m pretty excited to play Lego Lord of the Rings and Lego Harry Potter! He bought me a couple of other 360 games, but I’m most excited about those two in particular.

We both said we wouldn’t get much for each other since we bought such big gifts for each other, but we both ended up getting more things for each other than we planned. Andrew has been wanting a candy dish for our living room and we always seem to have candy laying around (even though we both eat it almost immediately!) so I bought him a red candy dispenser machine which he now has proudly displayed in the living room. I also bought him a new pillow and a couple of DVDs that we haven’t seen yet off of our IMDB 250 list.

Andrew bought me a few 360 games.

My roommate gave me such thoughtful gifts; her grandmother knitted me a towel holder that is shaped like a dress to hang on our stove which I loved. It’s just so cute! She also gave me and Andrew matching over-sized mugs that say ‘his’ and ‘hers’ in gold on them. Even though they weren’t very expensive gifts, those two ended up being some of my favorite gifts this year just because of how thoughtful they were and they were just very me.

Afterwards we headed to Andrew’s mom’s down in Union. It’s only about a forty-five minute drive and traffic was pretty light, surprisingly. Shopping for Andrew’s mom for Christmas is always easier than I think it will be. She loves to read – moreso than even I do – so I always like to get her one of my favorite books that I read that particular year (I chose A Man Called Ove for this year) and an adult coloring book. Andrew bought her a couple of small things, but I wanted to put something nice together for her and her husband. So I made a little date night basket, using popcorn tubs as the basket, and filled it with popcorn, their favorite candies, a movie seek-and-find book, a bottle of wine for her, his favorite beer, and Casablanca. She really liked it when she opened it so I felt pretty good about that one!

While I got a couple books, I think my favorite present from her was a mandolin slicer! I’ve been wanting to make apple chips and make homemade french fries a lot, so I can’t wait to try out how it works. Everyone has warned me to be careful and not slice off my finger, however.

We spent the afternoon at Andrew’s aunt’s, who cooked up a big Christmas meal. There was ham and scalloped potatoes, corn mac, green bean casserole, buttered rolls, barbecued meatballs and little sausages, and I supplied some Christmas cookies. We were all stuffed and I unintentionally took a brief nap when we headed back to his mom’s.

Overall, it was a great Christmas! It was pretty busy fitting in four Christmases over the two days, but we were happy that we were able to see everyone and spend time with each of them. All of presents I received were really thoughtful, and I’m really excited to try some of them out.

How was your Christmas?