Christmas....

I'm back to blogging with a vengeance!

Ok, maybe not, but I thought I would at least share how winter break was before I fade off into bad-at-consistent-blogging-land.

Sorry :(

Anyway, we celebrated Christmas with David's family at our house on Christmas Eve.  Due to a big storm that was supposed to hit St. Louis, Danna (David's sister) and her son Liam came over on the 23rd.

David insisted we all watch Toy Story 3, mostly because Liam brought it.

On the 24th, I woke up at about 7:30 and looked outside, expecting mountains of white fluff.

Nada.  Zilch.  No snow at all.

So I decided to laze around the house and head out for a run in a few hours.

I peeked back outside at 8:15 and the ground was covered!  It was incredible--I had never seen the ground get covered so quickly.  I decided that it was a Christmas miracle and that Santa was telling me not to run.

Thanks, Santa.

Instead, I spent the day being lazy and hanging out with my favorite nephew and my fantastic in-laws.  Mostly, we discovered that Liam likes to wear flowers in his hair.

His grandpa wasn't so thrilled about the bows, but I know my friend Lesli (who made said bow) would be pleased as punch.

We went to 3 o'clock church, since the snow was still coming down and then headed back to our house for dinner!

No pictures, but a smorgasbord of food...

Ham Loaf (it's amazing... I know it sounds gross)

Turkey

Mashed Potatoes

Broccoli and Rice

Salad

Rolls

Raspberry Chipotle Dip

Corny Cheesy Casserole (which didn't turn out...my Jiffy was old.  TERRIBLE!)

Needless to say, we ate well.  Unfortunately, Danna's husband was roped into work all day (because of the storm) so he missed dinner.  Sad.

After dinner--we all watched Liam open presents.  I love watching babies open presents.

After dinner, Liam was one tired, cranky boy.  However, we pulled out the Bundt Cake I made and he started dancing and twirling.  It was amazing to watch the transformation that sugar had on the little guy.

Now I see why David tries to feed me when I'm cranky :)

The next morning, we got up at a reasonable time and ate some delicious quiche-type things I made.  I didn't feel like making pie crust (since we were leaving) and had some croissant dough in the fridge, so we had nice muffin-type eggs.  I was proud of myself :)

David and I exchanged gifts (I got a flip cam!  YAY!) and then headed for Kansas.

For some reason, we decided that we didn't feel like packing lunch (stupid) and we would just pick up something on the drive.

Did you know that NOTHING is open on Christmas day?  

I didn't feel like eating at a gas station (hot dogs are so not on my Christmas meal menu), and all drive-thru's were closed.  I totally vetoed going in somewhere for time.

Luckily, we found a Wendy's in a gas station that was open.  And I like Wendy's!

It was a Christmas Miracle.  (I love saying that.  Number 1 reason I'm sad Christmas is over.) 

We stopped at David's grandma's house to say howdy and then traveled on to Lyndon...where I was greeted by a tipsy family.  I know this because Lindy immediately pulled Veronica Breadbasket out of her cage and started cradling her like a doll.  Sober Lindy doesn't usually attack kitties.

But we had a nice dinner (turkey!  stuffing! broccoli salad!) and opened our very generous gifts from the parents.  The siblings were supposed to do a holiday booze exchange, but Lindy & Jon had already put a significant dent on the, um, handle of tequila they brought.  So the family just finished off that handle and called it good.   Well, maybe not so good, if stained carpet later in the evening is any indicator.  :)  Luckily, Mom's a fantastic sport.

The next day, we headed to my grandma Brownback's to celebrate Christmas. 

With guns, of course.  Because a holiday isn't a holiday unless you're trying to kill someone or something.

After David left for the bowl game, we traveled to Topeka for a beer tasting.  The (only) brewery in Topeka, The Blind Tiger, made a beer for my uncle's inauguration.  I hear the beer wasn't close enough to Bud Light for most of my family's preference, but my cousin Andy mentioned that the night could only have been improved if it were a beer drinking, rather than a beer tasting.

The rest of my break was full of shopping--for dresses!  I successfully found two dresses for the inaugural ball and got fitted for my bridesmaid's dress for Lindy's wedding.