CHRISTMAS TIME!

We have been excited to get Christmas decorations out for a while. I took advantage of Benjamin working a couple Saturdays ago, and wrapped his Christmas gifts. He couldn't be outdone, so within a day or two, he also wrapped presents for me. We had two different piles of gifts, since we haven't invested in tags yet. But looking at a pile of presents doesn't lend itself to putting Christmas off until after the Thanksgiving holiday.

We finally got ourselves a Christmas tree! It's BEAUTIFUL. We decided to put it in the kitchen corner this winter, since our living room is so crowded.


(By the way, the angel on top was a Shopko buy in our Thanksgiving adventure! We're excited to have an angel to use this year.)



Ok, so this is what our tree REALLY looks like. We wanted to cut our own tree this year, and found out the closest place we could go to do it was in Price. AND we don't have a truck or anything to put a tree into. AND we are seldom at home before it's quite dark, which makes it less exciting to wander around the wild and chop/drag a tree home. We talked about it, and decided we'd go for a fake tree this year, since it's already a week into December, and we fly to Georgia in just two weeks. That's a lot of work for only a couple weeks enjoyment.
We were lucky to find this little tree at DI, and we won't feel bad disposing of it after just one year of use. I especially love our presents at the base.

Isn't he cute?

Thanksgiving in Idaho!!

Well, we're a little late in getting everything announced to the world, but we had a great Thanksgiving! Thanks for asking! We drove to Idaho, and played for a few days with our favorite Grunigs! Heather was my longest roommate from years past, and I was there when she and Trevor began to be an item...ah...the Brentwood!

So, we spent the big day in Pocatello at Trevor's parents' house, and then a couple days in Idaho Falls at Heather and Trevor's very own beautiful house. Someday, I hope Benjamin and I can be all grown up like the Grunigs. Both out of school, at least one real-life job, and a little Grunig to keep them laughing every day. Little James is a cutie, and I'm so happy that he warmed up to us before we left.

Thanksgiving dinner!









We saw the Idaho Falls Temple, where our Kotter grand-parents were married.










We helped get ready for the next big day.


Benjamin and I had our very first day-after shopping experience. We hit ShopKo first. This is the line at 5 am outside the doors... Some people are REALLY crazy...But we had fun, and even found a deal or two we couldn't resist.







Playing games with the Grunigs and Heather's siblings: Jarom and Amy.





Ahhh...the fun times!
Little James with a big cheeser!