A Christmas Story: Part 2

Early Christmas morning was reserved for our little family gift exchange with Ellie and Bootsy! Both of them were clearly ready for the presents!



We all missed the Whittakers in New Orleans (on Christmas Eve too!), but were with them in spirit - sending lots of love & holiday wishes their way!



By mid-morning, we were headed to my dad's for more gift opening and breakfast casserole, made by Jeff (a Christmas miracle?) We all caravanned to Matthews for more gifts with mom, dinner, and lots of games at Yiayia's!



The festivities didn't end there, but with a few drinks at Angry Ale's to get us warmed up for Shiva's birthday! Fortunately, Lindsey hopped off her flight home in Charlotte to celebrate too. We had way too much fun playing Beatles Rock Band at Sarah's house on Saturday night... The picture is a little blurry, but it shows all the girls rocking out together for Shiva's 26th!



We topped off our week of Christmas cheer with a visit from my brothers, John & Richard, and nephews, Caleb & William, on Sunday night. We had another big family dinner - with siblings, grandparents, cousins, the whole crew! I also lost (badly) to the 6 and 7 year olds in Wii.

Our first Whittaker family Christmas was so full of holiday happiness... We are blessed by such wonderful family & friends! Most of all, it was perfect to spend it as husband & wife!

A Christmas Story: Part 1

Merry Christmas! We had the best first Christmas together, with lots of visitors, family & friends!



We kicked off Christmas on Sunday with the Christmas pageant at Church and the arrival of my Aunt, Uncle, and cousins from Houston.

Christmas week continued with a combined Kelly birthday and Whittaker Christmas celebration on Monday night. After a delicious dinner and birthday cake, we exchanged gifts. Now if only we could find those pictures of Kelly modeling her new Snuggie!

On Tuesday, my sister April and her family came into town for a big family spaghetti dinner at my dad's house (18 people in total). Wednesday night was girls night at our house, complete with melted snowmen (my favorite holiday beverage) and the Masonboro Boys at the Gin Mill.



Christmas Eve was spent wrapping a few final gifts, and a quick visit from Santa for Ellie!



We spent the evening at Church and my Yiayia's house, before heading home to tuck the pups into bed before Santa came!

Tis the Season

Although the season is almost over, we still wanted to post a few pictures of our first holiday!

Last year, we were given an ornament shower (best idea ever!) around the holidays. So, needless to say, we were excited to put all of our beautiful decorations out together! Here are just a few examples...





After receiving these great '12 Days of Christmas' ornaments at the shower from my mom, I set out to buy a tree stand to display them. Unfortunately, the stand at Crate & Barrel is around $80! So we found this great substitute at a yard sale last year... We were so excited to finally put it all together!



Aside from decorating, I also did a bit of holiday baking! With lots of help from my mom and Sarah, we put together these goodie boxes with homemade baklava and Christmas cookies.

Earlier this year, I seriously lucked out in finding a cookie press at (another!) yard sale. It worked perfectly and came with all the attachments to make the tree, snowflake, poinsettia, and wreath cookies.



Having the house decorated and lots of baked goodies certainly helped our Christmas spirit... and got us started on a few new traditions of our own!

Overdue Updates

We're sure that you've missed our posts so much! The time since our last update has been so incredibly busy! To catch everyone up on the last couple of weeks, here is a long overdue update...

Going all the way back to Thanksgiving weekend (Jeff's favorite of the year)... The Masonboro Boys played a great show on Friday night at the Visulite and Erin & Bob were in town! Not to mention that Jeff was out in full force for Black Friday sales (up and out by 4 AM!) On Saturday, Jeff and Ellie went on the annual Thanksgiving weekend camping trip (much to Jeff's dismay, I stayed at home in our nice, warm house) We also bought our Christmas tree and did a lot of decorating! Pictures to come of the house during our first holiday season soon!




Last weekend, we were so lucky to celebrate Kelly and Nick's engagement and the meeting of the families! The Chappels were so much fun, and we can't wait until the wedding in June. Lots of love and congratulations to the soon-to-be bride and groom!




This weekend, I am working on a research paper, reflection paper, and a group project.. In between lots of fun Christmas activities! Hope to have some holiday-themed posts up next week! Until then, wish me luck!