Christmas

I can't believe that Christmas is over, it seems like this year has gone by much too quickly. It was wonderful to spend so much time with family laughing, exchanging gifts and having fun and I wish that it could have lasted much longer.

Christmas Eve is the traditional Polish dinner with my parents, which this year was late because they sang at 6pm mass at our church. The food was wonderful and Andrew and I managed to score some pretty great gifts during the exchange: a gas card and home-made Christmas decor and muffin/cookie mixes. When we arrived home Andrew and I exchanged our gifts. We didn't do much this year because we had just bought new furniture so I received a new bird feeder, more tupperware for my set, lots of chocolate, gloves and candles.

Christmas morning we had breakfast and exchanged gifts with my parents, brother and his fiance. Things are so different now that I don't live at home, its strange to not wake up to my brother standing over my face telling me to get out of bed and then proceding to throw a cat on me, sometimes I miss that. Dinner that day was at my grandparents house and it was more relaxed than years passed with a nice dinner and exchanging gifts afterwards.

Yesterday I hosted the holiday gathering for Andrew's family and it was really nice to have everyone in our home. I don't realize how tiny our house really is until there are more than four people in one room, but no one seemed to mind. We snacked and ate far too many cookies and did the gift exchange as well. I have to say the gift Andrews mom gave to me (and the other girls in the family) was hands down the best of them all. She gave each of us two rings (she loves rings and has been buying them constantly since she got out of college) that were either hers or belonged to another family member. I received the first sapphire she had purchased as well as a beautiful aquamarine solitare that belonged to Andrew's fathers mother. Gifts like that mean more to me than anything else.

Though I'm sad to see Christmas is over, I'm excited to see what 2012 will bring and to get back into high gear with my working out and wedding planning. I'm sure that September will get here really fast!