Thanksgiving and Christmas

Thanksgiving and Christmas seem a bit like a blur. I arrived back from Africa a few days before Thanksgiving and pretty sure I was jet lagged while eating turkey. I got home on Monday and Wednesday afternoon, Mike and I drove down to Virginia Beach to meet the rest of the Squires who were staying at the beach condo for the week. We enjoyed a chilly, but beautiful sunny Thanksgiving on the beach. In sticking with tradition, Thanksgiving morning began with a run on the beach and then a food fest mid afternoon. I always do my own "turkey trot" to have a guilt free Thanksgiving! Sadly, we had to hurry back to DC and we left later that afternoon.

I spent the rest of the weekend recovering from jet lag and catching up on life while Mike was at an all weekend ping pong tournament. His mom and sister and I joined him Saturday afternoon for a walk through the ice sculpture display.

December passed by quickly. There are always tons to do around this city around Christmas time, but schedules and weather always seemed to get in the way so we didn't check too many things off our list except for hosting a Christmas party. It was our first "married" party and I think it was a success!

My parents are in Austria on a mission so we decided to stay put this year. We celebrated our first married Christmas! I kinda liked being in charge and choosing exactly what traditions I wanted to keep/start. We did Christmas morning by ourselves and opened our presents and then later that afternoon, Mike's mom and sister joined us for dinner. We ate and opened more presents. We loved our first Christmas in our cozy apartment!

 Christmas Party Spread and Decorations

 Trip to Mt. Vernon, we had our own nativity, with camel and all!

Lights at Washington D.C. Temple Visitor's Center. We go every year for Christmas music and to look at the nativity displays. As our nativity collection continues to grow, we hope to be able to have one of ours on display!

 Christmas Eve

Our make do stockings, love my down elf slippers!

 

Christmas Morning

 Nothing says Christmas like watching "Little Women" It's a tradition that my sister Laura and I started years ago, and even though we're far apart, we try to watch this every December.

Happy New Year! Welcome 2014!!!