Meanwhile in DC...

Between all of the holiday celebrations we did manage to enjoy some fun around our neck of the woods as well (no pun intended, read on).

At the beginning of December we hit another one of the PATC cabins with Chris and Rosie for a much needed weekend in the woods. We got a nice dusting of snow when we were up there and had a great relaxing time. Only real noise was the not so far off ring of shotguns in the distance...ahh country life. I made out okay for a pregnant lady in the woods, but I must say the constant pee-ing when an outhouse is involved is less than ideal. Mike and Chris may have come close to perfecting the Hot Toddy. Well even if they didn't after sampling so many, they wouldn't have known the difference.

We also made it over to Brian's place for some holiday revelry that included fireman's carries and barefoot races in the parking lot. The video can only truly be appreciated by those in attendance. In the end I can't even remember who won and the video doesn't actually show the finish...I'm sure Brandon and Owen remember.

A few days before Christmas we finally decided it was time to make our own home a bit more festive for the holidays. We pulled out all 10 or so ornaments we had, bought some extra lights and candy canes and decorated what is actually our first Manella Christmas tree. As we've always been traveling for the holidays, we never really saw the point. Thankfully this year, Aunt Barbara gave us a few cool ornaments for Christmas so I think we're up to 15 for next year. Also for those of you with a keen eye for detail, yes that is one of Clay's prints next to the tree and yes those are the starfish caketoppers from our wedding. So as they would remain a family heirloom, Aud turned them into ornaments, clever devil that woman.

Our other holiday project was our little gingerbread house kit. We're not ready to take on my mom's level of gingerbread house/lighthouse/birdhouse production, so we'll stick to these types of things for now....

Yes we are in our pajamas and yes we are quite proud of ourselves.

We picked up a few more decorations after the holidays so that next year for Baby Girl Manella's first Christmas our place will look more like a legitimate place to celebrate a family Christmas.