Playing Catch Up

Christmas time came and went and was absolutely wonderful. There was never a dull moment. Always something fun or exciting going on and always someone to spend time with :)

We kicked off the end of the semester with a PT tacky sweater party :) I then was able to take a week or so of down time until we headed to Atlanta for Christmas :)

We were only in Atlanta for about a day but in that time my mother had a Christmas tea, we celebrated our own Christmas morning at home, and concluded that day celebrating Christmas with DJ's family at their Feliz Navidad celebration!
We spent the 23rd driving from Atlanta to Michigan (undocumented, for obvious reasons), shortly after we arrived at Nona & Grandpa's house we had some unexpected visitors, who kicked our whole visit off to a good start! :)
Christmas eve day was wonderful, we ran some errands during the day, went to 4 o'clock mass with my grandparents,

and then went to my Aunt Kathy & Uncle Joe's to celebrate with family
Christmas morning was spent at my grandparents with cousins, we then headed out to my Aunt Steph & Uncle Matt's house for my favorite meal of the entire year of homemade ravioli. We ate and ate and played TONs of different games too :)
The day after Christmas we had a huge bowling party which was a reunion with about 75 of our closest cousins ;)
On the 27th we headed up to Paula and Steve's house for their annual snow or shine sledding party, which is always so nice and relaxed, we always have fun catching up with (you guessed it) cousins
I would just like to point out that DJ did not sled, he did not want to get wet and cold {pansy}
We did end up getting a beautiful snow that day and took this right before we left (a little narnia-esque for me, but still cute)

Rochester, Michigan has the coolest light display, and we were complete tourists and took loads of pictures around them :)
Stopped for pizza on the way home: Gluten free crust? Yes please! :)

We drove home the following day, Lindsey had her annual Euchre party on the 30th and DJ and I spent New Year's Eve at DJ's brother's house.

Unfortunately, Peyton came down with a kennel cough, putting a little bit of a damper on things, but we ended up staying home on the 1st and were able to meet some of Lindsey and Audrey's friends from school.

I know, this is a little bit over the top information wise, but I have the worst memory ever, and want to remember all that I can about my favorite Christmas yet :)

It was the little things that made it memorable, my gift from DJ was a HUGE surprise and meant so much to me. DJ was willing to stay in the basement with my sisters at my Nona's & Grandpa's house and witness/take part in our silliness. DJ meeting ALL of the family and not letting it overwhelm him/handling it like a rock star. Jill getting engaged and reminiscing about how much fun/stressful that time was for us. :P

Anyways, better late than never, but I hope you enjoyed your holidays as much as we did :)