Christmas and 2010

So we are a bit late with sharing Christmas photos, but better late than never. We celebrated Christmas with Stephen's family the weekend before Christmas. It was a lot of fun to watch Stevie and his three cousins play. They had such a great time and Stevie keeps asking when they are coming back to NC. We received wonderful gifts from Santa with the Craters. The gift we were most excited about giving to Stevie was his Curious George. He is beyond obsessed with Curious at the moment. We also celebrated with Stephen's extended family at the Petree Christmas party. It was nice to see everyone and catch up.





After leaving the Petree party, we packed the car and headed to NJ. We usually stop in DC to spend the night with Laura and this time was no different. When we got to Laura's (she was already in NJ), there was roughly 2 feet of snow on the ground. It was exciting to see because we just don't get snow that often where we are. We got NJ early the next afternoon and started unpacking our truck. We thought it was full then, but we had no clue for what we were in for coming home.

We had a great time at my family's Christmas Eve party. It was nice to see all my family. We all try our best to make if for Christmas Eve and then go separate ways on Christmas Day. Stevie got to play with my younger cousins and it was so cute. He really likes hanging out with them and playing. I love to see the interaction between them all. He had a great time opening his gifts and got to bed a little past his bedtime that night. Some members of my family convinced us to go the Zoo for a drink or two after Stevie was asleep. That was a crazy idea, considering we did even have our gifts wrapped. But we went anyway. I think we got to bed around 2 or 3 that night.




Christmas morning was so exciting this year because Stevie was really excited about opening gifts. He received a lot of gifts from Santa. Grandma and Grandpa also indulged in giving Stevie gifts this year. Jackie and her family came over later evening and exchanged gifts. It was at this point that we realized it was going to be a challenge to get home.



Stephen gave me the best gift this year. He surprised me with tickets to Jersey Boys on Broadway and booked a room at the Hilton in Times Square. We did something very similar last year, but I knew about it. We had a delicious dinner in the city, at a restaurant recommended by James and Tiffany, a great time at the play, and then fun walking back to the hotel in the pouring rain. It was one of the yuckiest days I've ever seen in the city. Thanks babe for such a great surprise!

We spent the rest of the week ripping up my parents' bathroom on the first floor and re-tiling it. All I'm going to say about that project is too many cooks in the kitchen. Otherwise, it came out beautiful! We spent New Year's Eve with my mom, dad, Jackie, and Rich. We went to Que Pasta, a good Italian restaurant that serves homemade pasta. I love homemade pasta! We rang in the New Year and went to bed. My family came over the next day to celebrate 2010 and also a quick happy birthday to me.

We were sad to leave, but it was time to get home and back into the swing of things here in NC. We won't be back up in NJ until the spring and that seems like forever away! We did enjoy a visit from Meaghan right after we got home. Poor Stevie had a stomach bug while she was here. It didn't ruin the weekend, but it put a damper on things a bit. We enjoyed having Meg here and were very sad to see her go!