Holiday Happiness

Here's hoping everyone had a wonderful holiday. Ours was stress-free and filled with family and friends. Earlier this week my sister, Lynn, drove out from Blacksburg to spend a couple of days with us. It was a short visit, but we did manage to fit in some fun thrift store shopping and movies. The weather was quite balmy so we took Wilson down to the beach as well. He's not very impressed by sand, but you can't visit Va Beach and not at least look at the ocean. This photo was also supposed to be one of me and Lynn, but Wilson managed to steal the shot at the last second.
On the 23rd, we went to Joe's cousin Rachel's house for a family Christmas auction. The premise of the Christmas auction is that everyone brings some items they are getting rid of, which are then presented to the group and auctioned off to the highest bidder. Everyone starts with an equal amount of Monopoly money. :) What a fun idea! Such a great way to find a new home for items you're not using any more, and have blast at the same time. Emre was our illustrious auctionneer (seen here modeling an antique pair of aviator glasses, a very hot item) and kept a lively pace. I spent most of my money on big ticket items - namely a wooden box made by Howard and a hand-printed denim jacket by Melodie. Joe managed to snag a vegetarian cookbook and a pizza cutter.

On Christmas Eve we went to Joe's stepmom's house for dinner, where I managed to capture this rare photo of Joe and his siblings, Tommi and Max.

Christmas day we opened presents with Joe's mom. All of my sister's gave me cooking related items, all of which will see MUCH use. Jenny made me a BEAUTIFUL apron (I don't have a photo yet), so pretty I'm afraid to cook in it for fear of messing it up. Instead I wore it as an outfit accessory for the rest of the day, and received many compliments. :) I gave Joe a pressure cooker, something we've been wanting to get for a while. As you can see, food is very important to us. Joe managed to surprise me with an "Eco Media Player", an iPod of sorts which is powered/charged by a hand crank - the perfect accessory for off-grid living. :)

Having Wilson around at Christmas is almost like having kids. He's not quite sure what is going on, but he's very excited by it all. He was especially thrilled when we followed each round of gift giving with a treat from his cookie jar. Last year Lisa gave him a stuffed frog, a present he is still having fun with a year later.

Later in the afternoon, we went to Joe's uncle Tony's house for a delicious Wareing family tradition - Grandma June's pizza! I was too busy eating to take any pictures. :(

All this Christmas socializing really wore Wilson out. Good thing he has an entire couch full of warm pillows to sleep on.