christmas 2013!

i'm very overdue for my christmas wrap up post, but i have been laying in my bed for the past 5 days with a nasty combo of viral bronchitis and an ear infection. one would think this would leave me plenty of time to update my blog, but i literally felt so bad that the thought of typing exahusted me. but i am happy to report that i feel like a normal human again as of this morning!

christmas came & went quickly but was awesome none the less. work was kind enough to give us monday off too, making it a 5 day weekend.

saturday night i went to a party that my friend jackie hosted at her condo for all of us from work! there was lots of yummy food, awesome drinks, and a surprise visit from my sweet friend brett!

 

{the whole gang!}

{view from jackie's condo in noda}

sunday afternoon we watched the panthers beat the saints in the pouring down rain to clinch a spot in the playoffs for the first time since 2008! sunday evening we did christmas with my mom. normally this is a christmas eve tradition, but mom & b headed to new jersery early this year. we had a huge & delicious brunch for dinner, opened presents, and drank lots of champagne! santa was oh so good to me and brought me a new patagonia, a pair of duck boots, earrings, and some new running gear!

i can't remember what i did on monday... how sad. 

on christmas eve, i headed down to my dad's house around 1pm. we double churched it - we went to our church, new charlotte, at 3pm. it was an absolutely incredible service - probably the best christmas eve service i've ever attended. then we went to calvary at 6pm with my grandparents - i don't think i've missed this service since i was 3 years old! after church, we headed to del frisco's for dinner. while the service was pretty slow, i enjoyed the extra time with our family, and the food was amazing as usual!

christmas morning we opened presents which consisted of the most beautiful frye boots i have ever laid on and an ALASKAN CRUISE!! we set sail on july 4th, 2014! 

we enjoyed a day with family & a ridiculous amount of food celebrating the greatest gift we have ever received. i hope you had a wonderful christmas!

i went back to work for one day before spending the last 5 with these guys. i am very thankful to be feeling well again today!

girls gift exchange!

last night caitlin had us over for wine &  a christmas gift exchange! we were instructed to bring a $10 gift and an appetizer or a bottle of wine.

i picked up a pair these awesome "cheers" glasses at target last week for my gift.

 and i made my normal cheese ball recipe, but turned it into a snowman! i used bacon bits for his face.

caitlin had her placed decked out for the party - it was awesome!

i ended up with a starbucks giftcard and a mini coffee candle - the perfect gift for me! we drank just about all the wine in charlotte & had a great night with our friends! i'm lucky to have such a great group of girlfriends here in charlotte. we ended the evening with this sketchy ipad selfie... a true gem.

 

merry christmas!