{I Was} Home for Christmas...

Our Christmas began on Saturday night as we went to church for the Christmas Eve service from 6-7pm and then headed straight to Daniel's aunt's house to gather with 20+ members of his family. I love going there because her house is so cozy and it feels completely packed full of love and joy when everyone is squeezed inside. We danced, acted goofy, opened gifts and gave out our secret Santa presents. Somehow I ended up with a Home Depot gift card but thankfully Daniel got one from Target so we switched. Being married is great for so many reasons!

we danced (I'm the one in black on the left)

we waited impatiently to open gifts and...

we took TONS of pictures!

The fun for the night didn't stop there! In fact, we added even more excitement to the mix {i.e. Priya & Max) when we dropped by my mom's house to open gifts with her and my dad.

love always,

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{Marshmallows} Roasting on an Open Fire...

Daniel and I had 48 hours FULL of Christmas this year!
We were sleep-deprived and suffering through colds but as soon as our friends and family were in sight those struggles were quickly forgotten.This will be a 2-part series because there is no way that much fun can be summarized in just one post! So, I'm going to work my way backwards and start with Christmas Day, which leaves tomorrow's post to be all about our very fun Christmas Eve!  We had Danny's family and mine over to our house and opened presents with our parents, ate way too much food, gave the dog a candy cane (BIG mistake!) and roasted marshmallows i.e. the post heading! There is no holiday quite as amazing as Christmas to me because it is filled with so much joy, so many surprises and a boatload of excitement and fun!

Disclaimer: Our delightful weekend was only made possible by Daniel using his entire day off on Friday to clean the house, pressure-wash the outside, set up the gazebo, string lights, and vaccuum the floors. Who has the best husband? Undoubtedly, I do! ;)
As for the gifts, Daniel and I were both overjoyed with what we received. As for me, I got the watch I wanted, and the iPad 2 (from this post)! As for the Coach purse, not this time. My parents and hubster thought the seven I have are enough for me, haha! Instead, my mom got me two great pairs of earrings and an outdoor patio set for our gazebo! I also received a USF Bulls shirt and coin purse, beautiful picture frames, a silver and turquoise necklace from Peru, and my favorite....cash!!!

our Christmas tree..before the gifts were ripped apart :)

 

Christmas gift from mom

danny's grandma, Priya & my dad

moms opening gifts

Priya hoarding the candycane and Danny's poor grandma trying to avoid her

mom's preparing food and Danny waiting for a bite, haha!

YUM!

dads conversing

Priya snooping for any forgotten gifts (or candycanes)!

the crew

toasting marshmallows at our new fire pit!

 After the family left we went out with friends to watch the second Sherlock Holmes movie. The parts I saw in between dosing off were really great! Now don't get me wrong, the movie was absolutely NOT boring at all! I was just falling asleep because I had a cold, was catering to our families all day and it was the first time I relaxed. Not to mention, theater seats are quite cozy especially at 11pm, haha!

getting ready to leave for the movies and I already looked exhausted!

 Tune in tomorrow for even more fun with even more family for Christmas eve!

love always,

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I Want to Celebrate and Live My Life!

The minute I got in the car after my graduation was over I was ready to par-tay! However, my parents had different plans. We got in the car, made a short pit-stop at McDonalds and headed home. That's all. We went home, I opened their gifts and had a relaxing afternoon doing a whole lot of nothing. That's because....
My fabulous bash was the next day and, wow, it was a giant surprise! I had an idea of where it would be but I had absolutely no clue that it would be so well thought-out.  Let me just say, there was an 8-foot tall Rocky (the USF mascot) greeting me at the door, a surprise video from the hubster and tons of great food and decorations. But I'll let the pictures do all the explaining for me.

the outside of the clubhouse

another view of the outside along with Danny's nephew :)

they also had a theater room!

the foyer

walking in...about to be very surprised!

what I saw when I walked in the door

nephew, niece, friend

sis-and mom-in-law

Danny's dad and grandmother

time to EAT!

 and someone always ends up spilling something!

my beautiful cake

 

after much cropping we used this photo on our Christmas cards :)

of course no one could leave until they did a Bulls picture!

 I really did have an amazing graduation party that I will always cherish! Our guests were also in for an extra little treat! The slideshow that Daniel had prepared ended up not working so instead they got to see the surprise video and our wedding montage since this was also the weekend of our first wedding anniversary, which I'm sure they were thrilled about, haha!

Next week I will fill you in on our adventures across the seas, or at least to the Bahamas!
Have a joyous and VERY Merry Christmas! Remember, Jesus is the Reason for the season :)

love always,

Follow @AshasAspects