Christmas Eve

On Christmas Eve neither of us had to work so we opened our stocking's and each picked a gift for the other to open before packing up and heading north :) We did stop and have breakfast  on our way out which helped keep us full until we had dinner at our favorite place by my parents house.

Stockings hung by the chimney with care

Dan packing up :)

 We had a beautiful drive in Michigan. They had a huge ice storm recently and we enjoyed seeing the tree's sparkling with snow on top of the ice and thankful we had clear roads to travel on.

We had a great Christmas Eve service and enjoyed every bite of dinner with a group of people at Carabba's. I was ecstatic that it started snowing as we left the service...it has been too long since I have had a proper white Christmas.

Sugar Scrub

In keeping with making things instead of always buying this year I made some homemade sugar scrubs for Christmas. They were easy to make and smelled so nice!

Mixing it up

Into the jars it goes!

All done!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

Cookies

On Sunday night we whipped up 6 different types of cookies. We did this last year for Dan's office and decided to do it again. I love pulling out my Grandma's cookie recipes and make the yummy treats she use to make for us every year. And if my cousins are "nice" they will get to have some too ;)

Cleaning up

Treats for my family

Plates all ready to go to the office 

 We are getting better at timing everything and getting things done, which means that between the 2 of us we had everything made in 2.5 hours. Plus we always have a movie or something going in the back ground which is fun. It helps make Christmas feel closer too.

Christmas Tree

I love sitting in our living room and looking at all our ornaments, lights, and the gifts wrapped under the tree. I love the reminder of Christ's birth and how much God loves us. I like the peace that comes as snow muffles the sound of cars and lights up the night with it's warm glow. I love spending time with family and having reasons to stay snuggled up inside. I love Christmas!

Chicago

This past weekend I headed up to Chicago for my annual Girls Weekend. There are 6 of us that try to get together every year; I am not sure all 6 of us have ever made it but we try anyways. Usually it is Jenner, Jen, Stacey and I who can come and this year we were excited that Becky was able to fly in and join us as well! We always stay at Jenner's house and she makes her holiday cookies and we play with her cats :)

We have been enjoying them since college when she would make them for us

Rizzo (amazing personality and very sweet)

Becky ready to take on the City

Stacey and Jen

Millie getting cozy

 We had clear roads and no snow driving to Jenner's house and when we woke up things looked a little different...

Stacey let us drive her Jeep into the City so we had 4-wheel drive, but we never needed it. They keep the roads clear, it would be a disaster if the 4 lane highways weren't kept clear of snow. It was fun and really pretty walking through the streets while it was snowing. We stopped first at Macy's to see their window displays before heading to the Christmas German village.

 At Macy's 

Christmas Tree in the German Village

Snow collecting :)

 After eating lunch at Hub 51 we went to Michigan Ave to stop in our favorite shops. We like going into Create and Barrel, Gap, and any other place that catches our eye. We love seeing the Christmas Decorations and had a surprise of seeing a crowd of men dressed as Santa. They were passing out candy and small toys...no idea who they were and why they were doing it but it was fun.

After lunch hitting Michigan Ave.

Group of Santa's 

One of the towers

The river covered in some ice

 After leaving the city (we were bundled up but still cold as we walked around) we stopped in Naperville on the way back to Jenner's to stop at this amazing candy shop they have downtown. This is such a cute town and after buying out candy we drove around looking at Christmas lights that people had up.

Downtown Naperville

Jen and Becky

We had a great time in the city, even taking some time to stop and chill at Starbucks before heading to Naperville. Back at Jenner's we had some soup for dinner and sat up talking for a while. Sadly we all had to leave the next day but we had a great time and it is always fun spending time with these girls, reminds me of being in college and how easy it to spend time with these girls.

Staff Christmas Party

With my new job this year meant a new Staff Christmas party :) We had dinner together at my boss's house, exchanged gifts (we all went in together on a gift for my boss) and she had gifts for us. It was a fun time of good food and good conversation.

Table setting

Chatting in the kitchen

After dinner conversation

Second table

We had a chance to meet a new person who will be coming to work in January and a co-worker brought her new baby. I enjoy my job and co-workers a lot and it was very fun to meet their families and spend time together.

Christmas Decorating

On Saturday, after Thanksgiving, to help ease saying good bye to family we went and got our Christmas Tree...

We got most of our decorations up and had dinner with a friend which was a lot of fun. We also got to spend Sunday with friends we hadn't seen for a while too. It is always hard to squeeze time in with friends with so much going on with the Holidays.

Thanksgiving Week

During the week of Thanksgiving our friend Aletheia dropped in to stay with us and visit some friends in the area. We had a good time hanging out even if it was brief :)

Unfortunately I thought I didn't have my camera with me during Thanksgiving but then found it hidden in a pocket in my purse, which was frustrating. So here are a few pictures I was able to get of Dan playing with his nieces...

We had a really good time this week with Dan's Family. We spent time eating good food, chatting, going to Shipshewana, and playing lazer tag. Dan and I even squeezed in some shopping to take advantage of the sales. It was amazing how quickly it went when you don't have to drive between each store!

Tree Lighting and Indy

The weekend before Thanksgiving we had the Christmas Tree Lighting at Dan's work. It is always fun and it wasn't too bad this year standing out in the cold...but you get use to it and start to go numb :)

Kevin and Konnie

Me and Dan

After grabbing some dinner with Dan's parents we headed down to Indy for the weekend. Dan had a meeting on Saturday so I hung out with Jen and my sister Carlyn for a couple hours. We then walked around the circle and got some Hot Chocolate :)

It was starting to snow which was fun!

Cooking and Canning

I finally had some time to open my new food processor that I got for my birthday and make some red pepper relish. I got the recipe from a lady at church and was excited to make it.

 I got my red peppers and enjoyed not having to cut them all up :) Into my Cuisinart they went and come out nice and shredded!

Once I let them cook for an hour with all the other ingredients I decided to do some canning. It has been a while since I canned anything but was excited to open our pressure canner and set to work.

Cooking

Filling the jars

Into the canner

Pressure holding steady!

Canning done!

The whole process went really smoothly and I only had one can that didn't seal. I have big plans for some chili this week and can't wait to share the red pepper relish this coming holiday season!