Well I know it's a little late, but Happy New Year everyone!
I hope the new year has treated everyone well thus far. A lot of wonderful things have happened this last year & I for one am excited to see what 2011 has in store! Here is a small recap from our Christmas & New Year celebrations.
*Christmas*
Chase & I both worked Christmas day so we did our best to try and soak up as much holiday tradition as possible. We wanted to do a proper Christmas morning together where we had a breakfast full of yummy traditions & could open presents with our girls & each other without being rushed off to work after. So Christmas Eve, mid-day, we did just that. Poor Chase also worked the day before & was hit hard with calls all night so after just a few hours of sleep I coerced him out of bed with biscuits & egg butter :) For those of you who don't know that is a breakfast that Chase's mother has made for years & is a pretty big deal to Chase. I do my best to make it, but I have to admit I don't quite have it down. Either way, I made it to the best of my ability along with the Drake tradition of sausage balls (yum!). So just before we slipped into a food coma we sat down with the girls & opened our gifts to each other & from Santa ;)
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| The girls waiting for the "okay" to open their gifts |
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| Bailey doing her best to get through the shrink wrapping. Annie walking around, half scared & half excited. |
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| Aw, sweet success! |
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| Kristen & Allan's gift to Chase. It makes a nice addition to our Game Room filled with treats :) |
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| The aftermath. |
Of course since I was the picture taker I don't have any pictures of myself, but I can assure you that I looked adorable ;)
After we did "Christmas Morning" we cleaned up & headed to the candle light service at church & then to my Aunt's for our traditional Christmas Eve dinner & celebration with my mom's side of the family.
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| Nana & Grandad with all of their grandkids (and spouses) |
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| Tracy & Shayne |
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| This is the only picture that I have of them without a play station controller in their hands... |
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| At this time, the future Mr. & Mrs. Keith Hernandez-Argueta |
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| The Culpeppers |
We also had a Christmas dinner at our home a couple days after Christmas. I prepared a lovely feast, if I do say so myself, and we sat around the dinner table chatting & ended the evening exchanging gifts. It was a great night & a fun new tradition that we're excited to do again next year.
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| Enjoying apple pie & opening presents! |
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| All the kids went in on an awesome camera for mom & pops! |
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| Me with my amazing apron and bread board from none other than the best SIL! |
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For whatever reason Chase ended up showing off his new AR...
Let's just say the testosterone was swirling. |
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| Oh the men in my life :) |
*New Year's Eve*
This will be a short post since I am the photographer & had to work New Year's Eve & Day I missed out on pretty much all of the celebrating. I was lucky enough to get someone to come in a bit early to relieve me at work so that I could make it to our traditional New Year's Eve Rockets Game. Chase & I have gone to the game for probably the last 5 years. We went with Shannon & Keith & had a great time! I had hoped to go with Chase to our neighbor's house after the game to ring in the new year but as soon as I got home I hit the bed hard. So no midnight happy new year kiss for me, but I hear it was a fun time & I hope to make next year's awesome! Here are a couple of pics from the game.
I hope you've enjoyed our holiday recap as much as we enjoyed the holidays. We are looking forward to another amazing year full of many more celebrations!
XO-The Culpeppers
