Christmas 2012

Every year Ryan and I rotate holidays with our families, we do one family for Thanksgiving and the other for Christmas. As we spent Thanksgiving in South Carolina we went out to western North Carolina to visit my family for Christmas. For the first time we hit some traffic on I-40 driving west but it was rush hour near Raleigh and Durham so we should have known better! Even this rush hour was nothing compared to traffic in DC so we didn't mind too much.

When we got up to the mountains on Friday night it was cold! We left the coast and it was in the 60s, by that night it got down to 19 degrees and there was some leftover snow dusting the ground. Brrrrrrr. We unpacked our huge bag of presents and suitcases and settled down for a nice dinner with my family.

The next few days were relaxing and exciting as we waited for Christmas to hit. Ryan went running with my brother Stefan almost every day trying to build up his endurance with the altitude and Mom and I kept going into town for last minute Christmas surprises and stocking stuffers!

Lake Junaluska looked gorgeous with wreaths and candles. It was actually warmer this day, but still cold.

 In downtown Waynesville! Gateway to the Smokies.

 We had dinner at JRs one night and they had a gorgeous 40 foot tall Christmas tree.

 We also had some wonderful rainbows during the weekend. This is the view from my parents' deck.

 Driving back up the mountain later we saw this at the bottom.

We had some nice relaxing down time too. Ryan and the Dup had some fun....

 And Stefan stole my phone and took about thirty pictures...

 Rylie of course went running in the backyard and swimming in the stream regardless of the cold. The first time she jumped in was hysterical because she was not expecting the cold! But she gave up that worry quick enough and was digging up rocks and sticks to play fetch with us.

And then it was finally Christmas! Be ready for more of a massive photo bomb... sorry!

 Dad and Ramon staking their spots for the snacks!

 Chips, hummus, dip, crackers, olives, peppers and smoked trout with sour creme onions and capers! YUM

 Fettucini galore! There were six of us and we still had left overs. Crazy.

 Its an Italian tradition to burn a noodle in rememberance of those family members no longer with us.

 Our Christmas Even dinner set up. My mom wanted to start a new tradition and got us British crackers.

 The pups! Rylie was such an instigator and kept bugging Dippy.

 We all wore our paper crowns for the meal. We also got jokes, shoe horns, zipper pulls and large paper clips!

 My mom got a lobster bake on groupon for all the adults! YUM. Lobster tail, corn, scallops, shrimp, mussels and crab claws. The boys wouldn't touch it so they had calzones. Italian and Polish tradition calls for a meatless Christmas Eve so with the bake and the pasta with my dad's mushroom sauce we had a darn good meatless dinner!

 We wore our finest for Christmas Eve mass. Sad this was blurry but Ryan does not have the patience for multiple pictures on a camera.

 The love of my life... he looks so dashing in his suit!

 Siblings! I cannot believe he is taller than me. Sigh.

 Hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil.

 The Dup in her Christmas Collar.

 Family picture!

 Christmas morning means watching A Christmas Story over and over again.

 Look at all those presents!

 And stockings are a big thing in our family!

 My mom knows me too well, this was my wrapping paper this year.

I got an Eli Manning jersey, Uggs, a gorgeous signed Biltmore drawing (with our wedding date, names and song), a Kate Spade giraffe bag and a gorgeous crystal giraffe. I love giraffes!!!!

 Ryan said he purposely wrapped this ugly. 550 cord included. Oh boy....

 Mom got a shotgun... you put a Jersey girl in the South and she sure does acclimate!

 Daddy opening Rylie's stocking with her.

 Post breakfast casserole coma with presents. Ryan got a fishing pole too.

 The Dup couldn't handle the excitement and passed out.

 Our yummy dinner.... beef wellington with mushrooms or horseradish, caeser salad, and stuffed baked potatoes. Oh yum.

 We wore the crowns again.

 Dessert was a ton of cookies and summer berry trifle.

Rylie loves to cuddle with Uncle Stefan.

Aaaaand that's it! We left early the day after Christmas and unpacked everything. Now we have to undecorate. I do love this time of year, it is a bit of a let down when it is over! I hope you had a Happy Holidays and enjoyed time with family and friends.