Christmas with the Alex’s Family

My first (of 4) Christmas celebration was with Alex’s family.  When we first started dating, Alex and I just exchanged presents either before we left to go home for the break or on our own time sometime before Christmas. 

The past couple of years, his family has invited me over for a Christmas celebration at their house, usually a few days before Christmas.  This fits in perfectly with my family’s schedule and it gives me a chance to spend some time with them.  This year was no different!

The Christmas tree…I always love seeing all of Alex’s baby and handmade ornaments :)

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care…;)  Can you find mine? :)

We had a delicious dinner of standing rib roast, brown sugar carrots, squash soufflé, and mashed potatoes….it was all delicious! :)

After dinner, it was present time…I was miserably sick with a cold so I didn’t take as many pictures as I would have liked, but I did take pictures of all my presents once I arrived home…I was so spoiled :)

Alex played “elf” (i.e. he hands out presents, each person gets one at a time, and everyone goes around opening it so everyone can see)

Anyway, Alex’s elf reign lasted about 1 round before I had to take over…what can I say, I’m OCD and bless his heart, he is not an organizer ;)

Look at all of my goodies!

A sweater dress from Alex’s Nanny Joyce…the lady who raised him while his parents were in the air force

Cooking/Entertaining Goodies from his parents:  cookbooks, season salt, peppermint bark, and a serving tray from Hawaii and then a t-shirt and a souvenir glass from her travels :)

R&R Goodies from their family friends in Seattle, Bob & Laura – Ms. Laura is always so cute and always does thematic gifts (a woman after my own heart!), even better…she includes a homemade card inside to kind of explain the gift.  This year, she left my card out of my gift, but she sent it later, but it had a bunch of pictures of famous hands like movie stars, philanthropists, models, musicians, etc and you were supposed to guess who they belonged to and she wrote a little note about how we use our hands to heal, to talk, to work, to play, etc and the need to take care of them…hence the little “hand pampering” presents.  Too cute!

 

The “Naughty and Nice” Lolita Martini Glass and an Alabama ornament from Alex’s brother and his girlfriend, Britney

My “PhD/Dissertation Survival Kit” from Alex:  A Keurig Coffee Maker, a box of my favorite coffee – French Vanilla, 2 elephant coffee mugs (he said “so I can have coffee with you when I come visit”…awww ;)), some Wizard of Oz magnets, and a book called “Lessons from Oz” and it takes moments from Wizard of Oz and talks about how you can apply them in your life…I loved it!  Even better, he wrote a sweet little message in the book telling me how proud he was of me and how he knew I would do well…I would share it with you, but he might kill me.  Take it from me though…it was so sweet and made me a little teary ;)

As for my gifts for his family (just for my memory :)):

• Alex: A bottle of Burberry Brit cologne, a sweater and dress shirt, a pair of Columbia Ultimate ROC Pants, and a new Columbia toiletry bag (his poor bag has about had it!)
• Andy – Alex and I gave him a gift card, movie, and a Star Wars bobblehead, XBox points
• Nana – Panera Gift Card
• Nanny Joyce – Hickory Farms gift set and Gibson’s Barbeque Gift Certificate
• Alex’s Parents – A basket full of my homemade goodies that I made during my baking spree :)
• Britney – A stationary set with her initial, a initial cosmetic bag and a pink sparkly shoe ornament :)

After we all opened presents, we had coffee and dessert:  a “Santa Claus” cheesecake from Junior’s Bakery in NY.  Seriously, this thing was almost too pretty to eat…

Yep, that’s the Norman Rockwell Santa on a cheesecake…isn’t it pretty?  It was a NY style cheesecake with oreo cookie crust…yum!

Everyone enjoying their cheesecake, coffee, and conversation   

Even though I was absolutely miserable, I had to get a picture with my guy…excuse the swollen face..yuck!

Anyway, we had a fantastic evening full of great friends, food, and fun :)