Christmas take 2

Specially ordered for our second round of Christmas fun, Mother Nature delivered another 5-6 inches of snow on Friday. The previous layers were beginning to melt into the nasty slushy black type of junk, so this new white fluffy layer is actually quite appreciated:Christmas at the in laws! I don't think I've shown an exterior picture of their [and soon to be our] house. Isn't it cute? The door on the right will be ours, and the whole top floor is ours. If you look closely you'll see our little porch above the lower one, with a little door leading outside. I think there is supposed to be a railing of some sort up there, but I think we can manage to sit out and have a glass of vino without falling over the edge:)
We decided to start a new Christmas tradition: Fondue! We had a fondue feast last night. Beginning with beer cheese sauce and dipping soft pretzels and bread, then onto the main course of shrimp and beef dipped in oil, then dessert with strawberries, pineapple, pound cake, and marshmallows, dipped in chocolate. Whew, I'm still full!
The only thing about fondue is it gets a little wild. Oil spattered all around Lois' table cloth and almost got our faces a few times. But it was so good!

Here is the Christmas tree in all it's glory, plus the gifts that took over the living room floor. I told you my ILs go all out for Christmas!
Then time to open presents. Nate has been begging for [another] Patagonia fleece hoodie. As in, he wrote down all of the information for his mother and handed it to her about two months ago. The boy is seriously addicted to outdoor gear, mostly fleeces and coats. Well, of course he received his beloved hoodie:
But don't worry, I received one too! It's a gorgeous red wine color by North Face and it has "wind stopper" material in it. So the whole family has warm hoodies for the Wisconsin weather now:
Other items I received: a windstopper hat, warm North Face mittens, Patagonia tight lounge pants, warm fuzzy socks [do you see a theme here?], framed artsy pictures taken by my BIL Jon, a newlywed cookbook, and a $50 gift certificate to Roots----an awesome restaurant where we will be spending New Years Eve. It's SO good and now we can splurge a little more on Monday night!

Lois received her wedding album and loved it. I got a tear out of her, too, so overall the albums were a success! Nate was in heaven with his hoodie, plus another fleece, plus some outdoorsy shoes he's been coveting lately. He also got the brightest bike light you will ever see. It's basically a blinding spotlight he can put on his handlebars at night:)

Our parents, along with Memaw and Pepaw, contributed money towards our "wedding DVD" fund as well. So we are closer to buying the stupid thing so I can attempt to make us an album. As time goes on, and we move further and further away from the wedding, I have a feeling that deciding on images for the album will be a lot easier. It's not that I don't care anymore, but it's just so far in the past that I will probably be able to narrow down the shots with less emotional attachment.

So overall, we had some wonderful Christmases! And now onto the New Year: I have to work tomorrow [of course] but I'm off on Tuesday. So we'll go out to dinner Monday and maybe grab a drink afterwards. I love four day work weeks!