Christmas in West Virginia

We were at the Whiteds for Christmas this year. It was a little different not having Granny there (she passed away just a couple weeks before Christmas).


We baked, relaxed, wrapped, ate, opened, and laughed a lot.




(This is Bryce himself in the early morning with his mom...)


I got to go shopping with Connie at Easton Town Center in Columbus, OH for a day. It was so fun and we got to eat at Cheesecake factory. We got a lot of the Christmas shopping done in that one day.

We listened to this Christmas CD a lot. It's a favorite now. I love her voice.


Brant and Ashley had a gender revealing party and we bit into cupcakes at the same time to find out that they're having a girl in May!! They have named her Adelyn Grace. So cute!! We are so excited for them. Brett and Rachel will find out the gender in February.

This is the American-themed tree. Those are a pair of Brad's old military boots under the tree. There's also a picture of him when he was in Iraq a few years ago. We're thinking of him while he's gone on a ship!


On Christmas Eve, I got Bryce to drive me through Holiday at the Park. Every year, in the city park in Parkersburg, there's a huge light display that you can drive your car through. Our good family friends, Peggy and Roger, are in charge of the setting up. They do a great job! We even saw "Santa" (aka Roger) at the end of the drive.




Christmas was low key. The Whiteds (unlike my family) don't even open gifts until LATE afternoon like 4pm!! But I was able to get Bryce to exchange our gifts to each other right after we woke up (or after I woke him up singing "We wish you a merry Christmas"). I am SO excited...he got tickets to Cirque du Soleil in Roanoke for us!! Can't wait! I got him a couple dress shirts, ties, and socks. Equally exciting, right?


"Mimi" and "Pops" got their first grandparent gifts :-)



Mimi looooves that Max (or should I say, "Maxy poo"?)


Love the new down blanket we got from Connie. So warm and cozy!



Brad gave us a call on Christmas evening from Singapore. The Navy ship that he's on for deployment stopped in Singapore for Christmas. We were all on speaker phone talking with him.


Brett introduced us to "The Marble Game" a couple months ago and for Christmas, he handmade boards for each of us. I thought that was so cool! We played a few times that night. We also played Fishbowl and laughed hysterically.



Harley also got hit by a car while we were there. Luckily, it only really affected his paw, but it was completely shattered. They were able to see him and set it, but said that he will probably have problems with it later like arthritis since they couldn't fix all the little joints since they weren't a specialist. It was the SADDEST thing sitting out there with him. He was so helpless and acting unlike himself the whole time. We all felt so bad for him.