{Very Happy Holidays}

This has definitely been the best holiday season of my life. I couldn't have dreamed for a better time with friends and family. Even with the little hiccups along the way, I think that this will be a time I look back to for the rest of my life. Aaron and I got to have Christmas at our house with my family. That was awesome and inspired much cooking and baking and decorating.

this is my sweetie pie's Christmas shirt. He is quite the artist when he puts his mind to it :)

making our first batch of cookies. We ended up with enough to take to 4 houses!

guess what these are...

they include lots of kisses...

this smelled so good.

Peanut Butter Kisses!!!!

second batch

It includes a little something extra.

Orange zest +

Lemon zest +

fun Christmas shapes =

Citrus sugar cookies :) these were REALLY good, thanks to Aaron, the master baker.

Xander loves opening presents.

BeBot shirt!! that is what he calls robots :)

Mattie is really excited about presents.

He is so stinkin cute :)

Aaron really like Xander's little wind-up robots that Dad got him for Christmas.

presents were everywhere

The fun didn't stop here. After we cleared away all our wrapping paper scraps and played some of our new games, we headed back to Dad's to have Christmas with my Mom. That was tons of fun. Then we got to have more fun with our friends. Matt and Kourtney have a tradition of going to the 11 p.m. Christmas Eve service and then going and getting gas station food. It doesn't have to make sense because it is tradition and our friends are wonderful and weird just like us :) So we headed to there house for more Christmas and a sleepover!

Kourt looks like Mulan

I was talking in this picture and don't look as excited as I am. Kourt made JINGLE BELL bobby pins!! These are the coolest :) She also made homemade body scrub. Awesome!

Matt made homemade presents too.

Barbecue Sauce! cleverly disguised in a re-purposed Pringles can :) 

Mr. Meowgi wanted to be in the center of the activity so he could nap

watch for the change in Matt's face...

Priceless :)

What's in here?

Shoes that Kourtney adores which makes me very happy

She made an ornament out of and old scrabble game :)

French Press! I have used this so many times already. It is the bomb.

Now all of this was Christmas Eve. On Christmas day after we had orange rolls with Matt and Kourt we traveled home to Cincinnati to spend time with my new family. We had an awesome meal and were totally spoiled by our gifts. Margie made me my very own Christmas blanket. Blankets are kind of a big deal. Jason has a Duke one, Aaron has an IWU one and she has made a ton for Jason's friends in college. So I got mine and I told Aaron as soon as I opened it that it probably is going to live on our couch all year, even though it isn't Christmas all year :) We had a blast and played board games and saw Sherlock Holmes. The guys played lots of video games and both had interesting endings :) On Friday we set out again to Northern Indiana for the Rice Family reunion. I have been a part of one of these before Aaron and I were engaged and married so this was my first as an official family member. After such a great Christmas I didn't think things could be better, but this reunion was icing on top of the cake :)

First view of the inn

little stockings on our door :)

We had our own buffet

Genius.

 catching up with pictures

:)

There was an arcade

Aaron had an intense battle with the the pinball machine

Shawn tired really hard to win this game but it was tough

CRAFT ROOM! unfortunately I didn't have time to go paint :( ...

because we decided to play Monopoly

at the beginning I had money

This was the most intense game I have ever played.

Jason won. I went out first. Aaron wouldn't make any deals with me BUT I owned Indiana :)

cute decorations

red bird :)

Aaron was so excited for New Year's Eve. He is so adorable

It wouldn't be a Rice reunion without euchere

Sam, Melba & Margie. They had the best hats :)

<3  

there was a lot of dancing

I love this picture :)

Bubbles!

Everyone was decked out in New's Years apparel

Melba snacks with the real Melba in the background :)

Aaron and I took on Amy and Jason

This happened a lot :)

In the end Aaron and I prevailed and Amy and Jason went on to face Margie and Aaron. Once again they lost. Margie beat them on a loner :)

We had so much sparkling juice!!

Red and white grape, strawberry and apple-pomegranate. I couldn't keep the flavors straight!

waiting for the countdown...

still waiting...

cute lil baby :)

I didn't get a picture with all the ornaments on but we sent in baby pictures and then had to guess who everyone was. Right before midnight we all got our pictures and finally figured out who was who. It was a great idea and a lot of fun.

I haven't really changed much... I still have the same haircut from when I was little. I guess my Mom does know what looks best :)

Gene, Melba, Sarah & Sam

Right after midnight! I couldn't get my camera up in time to get a shot of the toasts and bubbles cause Aaron gave me a New Year's kiss :) I couldn't help but put this up though because of Ryan's face haha

This was such a great time. I got to meet family that I hadn't before and spend more time with people that I hadn't gotten a chance to really see or talk to since the wedding. We had a great time and stayed up way too late and now we are really tired but it was totally worth it. This is what the holidays are all about. Being with the people you love and making memories :) I am so incredibly blessed.