The Holiday Season

As usual, time has gotten the best of me and it has been a month since I blogged last. I left off after getting home from an amazing trip to Chicago. We got home and had to prepare for Thanksgiving that week. Tuesday before thanksgiving we had all of our friends over to celebrate, play games and eat a pot-luck Thanksgiving meal everyone chipped in on. It was great to catch up with friends and have some fun!

The only picture I took at Friends-giving!

We spent thanksgiving day in Chad's hometown with his family. It was laid-back, fun and relaxing! We had to come back that night, I had to work on Black Friday, Chad spend the day shopping. He got us a brand new flat screen TV for our bedroom that has paid off to be an amazing idea - I love to lay in bed and watch TV! Then Saturday we had Thanksgiving with my family! It was another laid-back fun day. We ate way too much and just hung out!

A couple weeks after Thanksgiving, we went to the Festival of Lights with a couple of our friends and their kids. It was a lot of fun, not too cold, and watching the kids get excited made me smile! The Festival of Lights always seems to get me in the Christmas spirit!

Festival of Lights

With Christmas around the corner, we went over our friends for an annual Christmas party. We watch National Lampoons Christmas Vacation and eat food and celebrate! It was great to have fun and see our friends at Christmas.

This was the first Christmas season we had to splint the holidays between our families. I was very thankful to be off work for several days following the holiday which allowed us to spend time with both sides of our families. We sent Friday night and Saturday (Christmas Eve) with my family. We typically do most of our Christmas celebrations on Christmas Eve, so this worked out very well. We ate a big meal and unwrapped our gifts. We are extremely spoiled and got way more than we deserve. After a long night driving to Chad's hometown, we went to bed only to wake up early the next morning.

Chad and I on Christmas

I woke up around 730 because I forgot to make the dessert I was planning to make the day before. I wanted to get a head start on the baking, so it could be in the oven while we opened gifts. Well all was well until halfway through the gifts when we realized the kitchen was full of smoke. Apparently the pan I used had a hole in it and the sugar was burning to the bottom of the oven. My mother-in-law spent too much time Christmas morning cleaning the oven and we had to keep all the windows and doors open to all the kitchen/living room out. However, it gave us a funny story to look back on. Again, we were way too spoiled and got way more than we deserve. We spent the afternoon with Chad's extended family and the next two days in his hometown visiting with friends.

Blackburn kids on Christmas 

With New Years (Chad's birthday) on the horizon, it made me stop and think about our past NYE. We have not had a normal NYE together since we met. Our first NYE was spent apart, Chad went home and I stayed in our college town. Our second NYE was spent in Miami, probably our favorite time. Our 3rd NYE was spent in New Orleans, although we hate the town, it was a fun time. Last NYE I was supposed to be working  night shift, I got sick and had to call off. I spent the night on the couch watching Glee reruns. Chad had already made plans, expecting me to be at work, to go skiing with his brother. This was my least favorite NYE - didn't like ringing in the new year all by myself. So this new years we decided to surround ourselves with friends and spent the night with our friends. We had a great time and hope that 2012 brings a lot of fun and happiness.

Neither Chad or I have a new years resolution and looking back on 2011 with all the great things that happened: getting married, buying a house, our honeymoon, Chicago...etc I think we just hope that 2012 is relaxing and laid-back. We have the best family and friends we could ask for and we look forward to a great new year! HAPPY NEW YEAR!