Whirlwind Christmas!

A belated Merry Christmas to you all!

We have been going nonstop since last Wednesday, the 22nd. I spent the morning at my new gym (LOVE!) and then spent the afternoon with my sister and adorable nephew shopping. MrHoppy and I were prepared for the first round of his family we had coming into town that night. It was a late night full of catching up, eating, drinking (too much) and laughter.

Thursday started with a headache and a morning spent with my sister-in-law. The men-folk were out pheasant hunting so they were gone by the time we woke up.We lounged around and I whipped up some delicious breakfast burritos. After we finally showered for the day we went to get pedicures. Ahhh I loved it. I was in dire need of one as well! The guy who did mine gave me the most amazing foot/calf massage. Then we decorated cookies and got to baking! I was actually into the baking this year. Weird right? And can I just say that it's pretty easy to entertain a very sweet 14 year old. She is not the typical teenager - still very sweet and innocent so we had a great day together!

Christmas Eve-day was spent preparing our delicious dinner feast. The beer and wine were flowing, the family all arrived and our tree was overflowing with presents. 10 of us fit perfectly at our table (after adding a folding one to the end!) and dinner turned out perfectly. We had an amazing night. We opened gifts with my family and it was fun for the 2 families to catch up. We all get along so well which is amazing. The ONLY downfall of the night was when poor MrHoppy started feeling sick. Like really sick. Like he's starting ANOTHER colitis flare and he had to go to bed sick. I was sad, I cried because I was so worried about what another flare might mean for us and the coming months...

But... he woke up Christmas morning feeling much better. We put together our amazing quiches and got to work opening presents with his Dad, step-Mom, brother and sister. Everyone has been so generous this year and we all got amazing gifts. I felt really blessed to be part of their family. MrHoppy was getting pretty antsy by the time we finished brunch so we decided to take the dirt bike out for a ride in the fields by our house. We had fun, just the 2 of us. No falls and I got to practice more. His Dad wasn't feeling well that day (he has colitis too) so we just relaxed, played games and watched Christmas Vacation. My favorite holiday movie for sure!

Sunday morning they all left super early to catch a flight to WA to visit MrHoppy's sister, husband and their 4 week old baby, my new niece J. By 11AM his Mom and step-dad arrived and we opened presents with them and had brunch. Then we got to sit in club-level seats for the Bronco game! And our beloved Broncos came back for a 4th quarter win. It must have been a Christmas miracle! :)

And I'm not going to lie - I am really glad to have our house back. It's a lot of work to entertain and have houseguests for that long! I was so busy I didn't take many pictures. I'm so mad at myself and bummed but I'm hoping that I'll get some email photos from family. I do have a few that I'll get to posting tonight or tomorrow. Once I catch my breath... :)