Christmas 2009 - Part 2

The second half of our Christmas vacation was spent in Pigeon with my parents. Once again the primary focus was on relaxation, but we squeezed in a few other activities. We went to church, played Sequence (congrats mom on winning the championship), went to the movies, did Jillian Michaels' workout, hung with family, went to my dad's uncle's 90th birthday party, toured my dad's future office, and opened some gifts (round 2). This time I only have pictures from when we got home from church.

Us all dressed up for our first Christmas as a married couple.

The parents looking sharp.

We decided to get some photos of me looking distinguished.

I wasn't sure what pose to use.

I think I'm getting farther away from the goal.

Christmas 2009 - Part 1

The first part of our Christmas vacation was spent up north with Dem's family. The number one thing we did was relax...which we both enjoy very much and are plenty deserving after a busy year. We played games, did stupid Jillian Michaels' 30-day workout (its actually really good), hung with her family, and obviously opened some gifts. I only have pictures of the opening of gifts.

Dem excited about opening one of her gifts...I think that is what the look is.

Cal (the dog) got a chance to open up his gift....plus attempt to open up other's gifts as well.

By the end Cal was pretty tired.

Christmas Prep

With Christmas just ahead I figured I would share a few photos, as usual, of Dem prepping for Christmas...the difference is now we are decorating OUR apartment. There are several key items that must be pointed out to illustrate why this is a great picture: (1) my beautiful wife, (2) our awesome green couch, (3) our Christmas tree up and ready to be decorated, and (4) the Red Wings young, good goaltender Jimmy Howard giving an interview after the game.

Me looking good in my Simpsons pants decorating the tree.

Our first Christmas as a married couple.

Christmas Vacation Recap

My Christmas vacation was really nice with a lot of relaxing with Dem and our families. Since I'm still not interested in writing I will make use of my pictures to recap what we did over the vacation.

The only bad part of the trip was the driving...basically everyday that we had to drive the weather was horrible. I didn't actually get to drive the speed limit until we were driving from Pigeon back to Ann Arbor at the end of our trip. There was a ton of snow and quite a bit of wind during the drive, but we made it every where we needed to go safe and sound in relatively good time considering the conditions.

View of the snow piling up in front of Dem's parent's house.

While up by Traverse City we spent most of the time playing wii, watching tv (Freaks & Geeks, Red Wings, football, etc), celebrating Dem's mom's (dinner and bowling), and relaxing. We had an early Christmas at their house opening gifts. Not too many pictures were taken of this but I did capture Cal (the family dog) opening his gift.

Cal opening his gift.

The last night Dem's parents and us played a very close game of Scrabble.

For most of the game I thought I was totally out of it, but then I was able to go out first resulting in everyone else having to subtract their tiles and giving me those points. In the end I won by a very narrow margin...Dem's dad = 135; Dem and her mom = 136; Me = 137.

The Scrabble score sheet.

We then made the difficult drive to my parent's house. We got there in the evening of Christmas eve giving us just enough time to go to the Christmas Eve Service at St. John's Berne. I really wanted to go to that, but thought that with the weather there was no way we could make...in the end we decided that it was a miracle that we arrived when we did.

Dem and I after the Christmas Eve Service.

I don't really have any pictures from my stay there so there isn't much to recap. But the time was really great with us basically doing the same thing we did at Dem's parents. We watched a lot of tv (House, NCIS, Red Wings), went to church (got 3 services in), did some exercise (played some bball and ran at the gym), opened gifts for Christmas (with parents, TC, and Chad), spent time with family, played Wits & Wagers with my parents (super fun game) and got some wii playing in. Overall our time was very relaxing and enjoyable.

Dem I think had a good time...looks like she did.

In the end we got some well needed relaxation time, spent some quality time with families, and got some great gifts.

Some of the gifts I got, clockwise from top left: toolbox, wii accessories, Michigan football book, Wits & Wagers, and a new box spring for my bed (curtousy of my dad's gift).

Happy Birthday Jesus

Matthew 1: 18-25

18This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. 19Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.

20But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, "Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins."

22All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: 23"The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel"—which means, "God with us."

24When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. 25But he had no union with her until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.