Christmas SWAG

What a Christmas, what a Christmas! Brent and I loaded Bonnie the Barbarian into the car on Christmas Eve and went home to Hickory Hill Drive. Rob and Candace ate dinner with us and then we all played The Office dvd game that they gave Brent and I for Christmas. We enjoyed smoking Mom and Dad who occasionally watch the show but haven't turned it into an unhealthy obsession like the rest of us. Perhaps they're the real winners in the end. We went to the midnight service at Trinity per the usual and then came home to wait for Santa!

Christmas morning finally came and Mom opened up the beautiful, hardcover book entitled Bob and Big Lou - Livin' the Dream; Season One: September 2007 - September 2008. Yes, I turned her blog into a book. Blurb lets you import your blog into a template and then all you have to do is format and arrange the pictures. Really it's just a simple three month project. She loved it, there were tears, and Rob shot me this sideways "Great, thanks a lot for giving her a gift that evokes tears" look. The giving part of Christmas is so much better than the receiving.

BUT, speaking of receiving, I cleaned up. Santa has never had a problem finding me and this year was no exception. Both my husband and my parents bought me a pair of Ugg boots, so there will be no more whining about not having any. Now I have two pairs! One has to be returned because they won't zip up over my ripped calves, but that's neither here nor there. I also got a cute pink coat and a new black North Face. I am lucky!

Here I am in my Christmas SWAG (Stuff We All Get - you know, from The Office?).

Brent in his SWAG.

Rob and Candace came back for Christmas dinner which was SO GOOOOOOD and then we hung around the rest of the evening. Hanging out was a common theme of the whole trip, which means we watched the dogs play together a lot. Bonnie is so agressive and Maddie was a real trooper. Brent and I also spent some time planning our trip to Italy in March and making some hotel reservations. For the last month or so we've had plane tickets but no real plans. For those of you who know my husband, you probably can imagine this is killing him. We're going by ourselves without knowing any Italian or how to even find the train station, so this will be quite an adventure for us.

No, Bonnie is not humping the Amazing Barking Dog, just attempting to bite her back. Come on, what kind of pup do you think I'm raising here?

On Friday evening Brent and I met Ashley, Laura, Christa, Mel, Andy, and Justin for dinner at Casa Grille and drinks later. I sadly forgot to take pictures of this event. It's always good to see this crew!

Nice arrangement! Did you know that Crate and Barrel has those stems half off now? Don't plan on buying the red ones...they're sold out. :(

Although it's always sad to go back to work after Christmas, I am grateful to have had such a relaxing three days at home with my family. PLUS, it's only a three-day work week, so who can complain about that?

Feliz Navidad, Bloggers.