Look at What You Just Saw, This is What You Live For

Happy late Christmas everyone!  And happy New Year!  Hope you all had a lovely time with family and enjoyed any extra free time.  We had a grand holiday and as such, my four days off work didn't really feel like off days. They were busy, but in a good way.  The Nashvillians arrived a little before dinner that Friday before Christmas and we walked down to Dewey's for a welcome-home pizza.

Christmas Eve morning we all met up at Kaldi's for a morning coffee and pastry.  After that we all had some things to do on our own before meeting back up that afternoon.  I helped Mom make some little desserts!

A while later we piled in the cars and left for the Hunt family party.  We all caught up and ate plenty of good food.  At the dinner table we played a version of the Drawing Game.  Rather than just sketching the person across from you, we did a blind contour drawing, meaning you can't look at your drawing, and you can't lift your pencil up off the page.  It was quite fun.  When dinner was over, we moved into the living room for the present-exchange game.  After that, Sara and I examined and compared the ornaments on their tree while everyone sat around chatting before saying our goodbye's and merry christmas's and heading home for the night.  

I had packed a bag to stay at home that night so I wouldn't miss a second of the Christmas cheer.  Everyone slept in so we would be all well-rested for the day.  After preparing coffee and breakfast, we began opening the mountain of presents that had taken over our living room.  It was a great year for gifts; lots of well-thought out and useful presents for each person.  My gifts to others were a little Star Wars/Starbucks-heavy, but everyone liked them.  Taylor gave me another one of his photo prints to match the pair he gave me a couple years ago, and Andrew gave me a series of Star Wars movie poster prints.  Both look smashing hung up in my apartment.

After all gifts were opened and all the wrapping paper was collected, everyone got dressed and began preparing for that night's party at our house.  Dad made an awesome Christmas dinner with ham, salmon, mashed potatoes, and green beans.  Everything was delicious, especially when paired with Uncle Gary's pre-dinner Christmas eggnog.

A jolly, festive time was had by all!  After everyone left Taylor and I watched The Empire Strikes Back and I stayed the night in my cozy, second-floor bedroom.  The next day Mom and I went down to Ikea, which was fun but a little disappointing.  We each got a couple little house things though.  After that I packed up everything at home and went back to my apartment to get it set up for the party I was hosting for all the cousins that night.

Everyone arrived at different intervals so I ended up giving about six different apartment tours!  We all sat in the living room (I had to use every single seating surface available to accommodate everyone!) discussing life and sharing fun stories while enjoying drinks; it was a great time.  I wish I got a picture with everyone!  Oh well, happy New Year from me!!

(photos by e.hunt, r.hunt, and j.daily)

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