holiday seasons at home

So Christmas came a little late this year... We left on the 27th on a very sunny day. This time we left on time.. that never happens unless we have a plane to catch. The drive was about 10 hours but it was one of the fastest drives we have taken thanks to books on cd..this time we listened to one called whiskey sour.. it was a great mystery that took us all the way to sarah's front door.
At her house, we found warm hugs, friends and christmas gifts galore!!! I got the most amazing aprons from sarah...a rockin vintage one with a hot redhead pin up on it barbequeing with her honey.. and a patchwork one that i left at my mom's since i cook like crazy there... not to mention a new cookbook LOVE IT!!

adriana got me another cookbook that was on my list of things i would love to have, an amazing scented goddesss shaped soap, mary had a little amp cd, and this cute little monkey t-shirt. most importantly though was the gift of gab..i got to spend a few hours catching up with my best dolls!!! always best dolls, not just at weddings :)

after some great conversation tony and i sleepily headed to my mom and dad's house..we hung out with my dad for a little bit and then went to bed.

the next day i met barbie at the gym to begin to work off the food that i knew i would be eating while i was home.

we chatted and sweated our buns off ( literally)

after a shower and some primping we headed over to gwen and tony's. we stayed and chatted for a long time, then headed over to uncle mark and aunt sue's house. We had a lot of great wine and some more great converastion.. after we were wined and talked out. we headed to dinner...

The next night we met up with jay and cathy for dinner. After we dinnerback at my parent's place we played my new favorite game Mad GAb and indulged in a bit of the sauce...

the game consists of words written then when read properly make a real work or phrase. for example ( and my favorite one so far that my husband didn't get until just under the wire) the words were written bun crock moo sick and after reading it aloud and getting coached you are supposed to figure out that it is supposed to say 'punk rock music'

FUN FUN FUN !

after we said goodbye i had to get to bed, because i had another gym date with barbie in the morning!

That night i met up with my girls and tony hung out with mike and his guys. Although Adirana was missing, i got to spend some time with all my best girls, including Kristine, who i didn't think i was going to get to see...

we chatted long into the night ( and tara didn't get tired at all!! i am so proud)

Sunday was new year's eve... not just nye, but the first one that i have had off of work in 4 or 5 years...and the first one that tony and i ever got to spend together!

scott had a party, so we went there and brought in the new year with darts, air hockey, drinks, and friends..not to mention champagne and cigars!!! it was really fun! and from now on, i think i shall not work another christmas or new year's if i have anything to do with it!

The next day we had a new year's/ christmas party at our house. I am so excited i got to see uncle butch and auntie grace, uncle richie and auntie rosie and her shiny new knee ( well i didn't get see it, but i saw it in action) cheryl and tim. Not to mention i got to meet some of tony's family that i have not met prior to then, brian and tanya showed up, ashley and her boyfriend...there were so many people there, i can not even name them all, but i was glad to see everyone. The only crappy part is that scott and i got my mom a new camera for christmas so her camera has all the pictures on it and she hasn't downloaded them yet!!! ( so get on it mom)

we had an amazing dinner of pierogi's ( that the gang prepared last month) and tons of other food!!!

it was really a good time.

sarah, mark, jeff and mike came over later on in the night. it was nice to get to spend some time with everyone!

The next day scott took off work ( he is a lot like my dad-i was his excuse to not go to work)

we had lunch with him and hung out doing a bunch of nothing, one of my favorite things to do!!!

after that i got fitted for my dress for nicole's wedding.

After that we stopped over mark and tiff and jay and cathy were already there.i can not believe how fast nate is growing and i can't believe that i didn't take ANY photos of him!! he is the sweetest thing ever! laughing his little buns off.

i'm pretty sure i hogged him- tiff let me feed him and he fell asleep on my lap. i am still so mad that i didn't get any pix of him.. i mean i have one on my fridge, but he should be on this..

anyway we left there pretty late in the night.

we went home and got a good night's sleep, we had a lot of driving to do.

since i wasn't going to be home for my mom's birthday, she and i had some time together. i got her a new phone. then we went shopping for a bit..

brought some lunch home for the guys. ate lunch and drove off into the sunset ( literally it was pretty much dark when we left) well not really..mid afternoon. but it felt late...

i love coming home, but i sure hate leaving...as much as i love traveling, i can't wait for the day when tony and i drive in and land in OUR home and then don't have to move again, but i wouldn't trade this time right now for anything in the world..