Christmas 2012

Christmas this year was different than any other Christmas I've ever had. When I was little, we'd drive the 2 days to Canada and spend the holidays with my extended family. When I was in college, I'd go to my parent's house on Christmas Eve and spend a few days with them. Last year, our first Christmas after we moved, we drove back to Missouri and spent equal time with both of our families. This year, due to the fact that Keegan ran out of vacation days because of the wedding and honeymoon, we had to stay in Mississippi.

Christmas morning was just us. We put on some festive music and opened our presents from each other. The whole thing lasted about 20 minutes, far from the hours and hours it normally takes with my family. The rest of the day was spent cleaning the house for the next day when my family would be making the trek down to see us.

On December 26, my mom, sister, and sister's boyfriend came down to spend a few days with us. They had never seen our house, in fact, sister's boyfriend had never been to Mississippi. Unfortunately my youngest sister was having some *ahem* problems, so my dad had to stay back in Missouri with her. Even more unfortunately, my mom came down with the flu (not the stomach flu, thank goodness) the day they drove down here. It wiped her out for the remainder of the trip and by the end, sister's boyfriend also got it. With Keegan just getting over a nasty cold, 3/5 of our house was sick. We spent the days lazing about, watching movies and playing card games.

 

We were so lucky to have Keegan's parents give us one of their extra dining room tables as an early Christmas present. This allowed us to host a proper Christmas dinner when my family came down instead of pizza which was the original idea. And yes, we moved the t.v. and boxes before company arrived. 

Entryway decorations. 

I planned on making our stockings this year. Unfortunately I didn't get around to them until Christmas Eve Day and that's only because Keegan was demanding (nicely) that I got them done so he could stuff my stocking, which meant they weren't around long. 

Ornament from Keegan's college 

Ornament from my college 

Adorable winter birdie that my mom gave me in 2011

Engagement ornament #1

Engagement ornament #2

Ornament from our honeymoon in the Smokey Mountains  

Ornament made by a local artist that was given to my from my boss. 

Keegan's mom has gifted us these handmade ornaments (pictured above) for the last two years. They're beautiful and I hope that it continues to be a tradition.

 

We still can't find a tree topper that we like, so Bendy Santa had to do this year.

Tree. Obviously. 

I'm not going to post pictures of our guests for privacy sake except for one. 

In September, my sister gave me a bunch of her old swimming t-shirts (we both swam competitively for years) so that I could make her a t-shirt quilt. I finally finished it two days before they arrived (shhhh) and she was thrilled with it. I think it turned out pretty cool if I do say so myself. 

Even though this Christmas was a total 180 from other years, it was still pretty awesome. I missed my dad and sister a lot, but, I must admit, it was nice not having to travel anywhere for the first time ever. Maybe we'll start making Christmas in Mississippi a new tradition? 

How was everyone else's holidays? I obviously haven't been around much, but I hope to catch up on blogs soon.