Christmas 2012 Recap Part 1

Hello and happy new year! I hope you all had a happy, healthy, and safe holiday season! We just returned home from our Christmas vacation and thought I would post a few photos from our trip.

We left for Nebraska before dawn on Christmas Eve and landed around midday. We spent Christmas Eve celebrating with Walker’s immediate family and some of his extended family. It was so wonderful!  We exchanged gifts and had a delicious dinner (artichoke stew and chili to warm us up… it was 9 degrees!). On Christmas morning, Walker’s extended family came over and we had an incredible breakfast (including homemade cinnamon rolls and a delicious smoked salmon hash!). We spent the day watching movies and enjoying each others’ company. We finished off the day with a turkey, gravy, and mashed potato feast.  We were totally spoiled. :)

The day after Christmas we went to the movies (Django Unchained for those who are curious) and then had a family get-together to celebrate Walker’s 30th birthday a little early.  Of course, he received scotch as a gift so the night turned into a lively party with his cousins! ;)

We spent the 27th relaxing with his immediate family before I had to depart for the airport that afternoon. I finally arrived in New York by 1am (and had to wait for an hour for my bags of course). Little did I know I would be walking into a house full of sickies! My parents, brother, and entire extended family all caught/spread bronchitis on Christmas. Yuck! :(

On the 28th, my family celebrated a belated Christmas and they were MORE than generous as always. I spent the afternoon drinking coffee, scratching lotto tickets, and exchanging gifts with my best friend.  When I got home, I fed my family soup and/or toast for dinner because they were all so sick! :(

On the 29th, I was eager for some fresh air that was not contaminated with sick germs, so I tagged along with my best friend and her husband to West Mountain to go snowboarding! It was so much fun and it felt great to enjoy the winter weather. In fact, we got about 4 inches of snow while we were on the slopes and had a bit of a slippery drive home.

By the 30th, my family was starting to feel a bit better so we spent the day watching movies, playing games, and relaxing. It was so nice! :)

On New Year’s Eve, I left the house at 4am to get to the airport and flew back to LA. I arrived around midday, only 45 minutes or so from Walker in the same terminal.  We gathered our bags and headed home.  After a long nap, we decided we were too tired to go out for New Years Eve and instead opted to have a date night in (since we hadn’t seen each other in days!).  We cooked an amazing meal of ahi tuna filets and garlic mashed potatoes, drank lots of wine, played Yahtzee (I got three Yahtzees on our last game… crazy right!?), and listened to great music! It was the perfect night! We began 2013 with a champagne toast and a solid night’s sleep in our own bed!

January 1st was the (2nd) anniversary of our first date so we always have a fun time celebrating New Years Day! We got up and watched Nebraska play in the bowl game while we drank coffee and got ready for the day.  As tradition dictates, we then went to lunch at the restaurant where we had our first date! After lunch we walked around downtown Burbank and went into a few shops. Also in keeping with tradition, we found a photo booth to take a few anniversary pictures (we forgot a camera last year so this was our solution)! When we got home, we exchanged gifts and watched one of the movies we got for Christmas.

Then yesterday I had to get up and go back to real life… BOO! Oh, well. At least our vacation was amazing and relaxing! I will be back tomorrow to share some of the awesome home-related gifts we received for the holidays!

Now onto the good stuff… a few pictures from the trip. Enjoy and happy 2013!