How Sweet It Is: Holiday wrap up 2011

It's about time I close out 2011 and move on into the exciting new year!

...So the hubs and I went on a frantic scramble to find our camera this morning before our pre settlement meeting for the house. (We settle in TWO days!!) This means, we thought the camera was accidentally boxed up, which also means I got my memory card reader out while we opened the "office" box! So without further ado.. here is a holiday wrap up post containing Thanksgiving through New Years Eve. Enjoy!
Thanksgiving was spent at my parents house.

Hubs and I on the porch

Hub's Aunt Barbara and Uncle Ralph joined us for dinner, a tradition since we've been together.

My "Mom-mom white hair" and her great grand pup, Dutch :)

My Dad and I

Maggie girl

This year, we set the table with my grandmother's China from Scotland. We've never used it before and my Mom thought it was about time it gets some use. Such a beautiful place setting.

Aunt Barbara and Mom

The main guest

The night before Thanksgiving, my brother and Dad decided to dig into some cookies and milk. (Sure, let's pile poor eating on top of poor eating!) ;)

The day after Thanksgiving, we put up the family Christmas tree. It seemed like the perfect time, since the little bro was home from school on break and Hubs and I were up for the weekend. We have a tradition. Dad and Andrew put hooks on the ornaments, Hubs, Ma and I decorate.

Andrew and Maggie

Hubs putting up the angel

Mom hanging an ornament

Dad being "the Grinch"

Me hanging an ornament

Little brother

The Saturday of Thanksgiving weekend, we went out to dinner and drinks with on of my best friends and college roommates, Ariel and her husband.

The following week, hubs and I put up a "tree top" in our apartment. We didn't want to get a whole big tree and drag out the decorations when we should be packing up the place! We are such Christmas fiends, we couldn't resist putting up something small.

Mini-tree

cheesy

distracted by cuteness in lights

The weekend after Thanksgiving, my BFF and our moms got together for a day of cookie baking. It was so much fun!

All the butter for ONE cookie recipe. Good thing calories don't count around the holidays. ;)

My ma and I

Julie and "mommy Kim". Our parents are best friends, which is how Julie and I became best friends. Since we grew up together, we've always called each others parents "mom" and "dad". They are definitely family to us.

Kitchen Pimp

Don't burn the cookies, or she'll beat you with a spoon!

YUM!

Two weekends before Christmas, hubs and I went to "34th Street" downtown. They really go all out in the decorating department. It's like each house tries to out-do their neighbors.

The next weekend, we went home to visit with our friends Chip and Kristin. We had a great time visiting Winterthur. Sadly, I forgot my camera. The next day we headed on back to Maryland and had Christmas with Hubs's family. My MIL hosted and we had a great day. I didn't take too many pics, but I did make sure I got a few shots of our superfreakingcute nieces playing pin the nose on Rudolph.

Now for the main event, Christmas!

My cousin Katie and I on Christmas eve eve, along with the pup

(pic of my new bangs, which I love)

Cousin Kay, Katie and I for Christmas eve eve dinner.

My mom's side is Italian, so we do the feast of the fishes for Christmas eve. It was finger lickin' good. And yes, we did have a rousing rendition of Dominic the Donkey being sung in the dining room as Uncle Al, My mom, brother, Aunt Di and I got our plates. Hubs probably thinks we are nuts.

video taping my Mom-mom opening her gifts!

Finally it's Christmas morning! We always start with the dog presents... Maggie got a ginormous bone and Dutch got a new memory foam bed.

Aww brotherly love :)

Parents <3

Family picture

Now it's time to wrap up this holiday post with some NYE. Hubs's Aunt and Uncle surprised us with tickets to the Nations New Years Eve party at the Gaylord National in D.C. Oh my all the glitz and glitter. It was amazing. My three favorite college bands were there to help us ring in 2012: Mr. Green Geans, Kristin and the Noise and Jeffe. Yes, I did relive my UD days... and there isn't anything wrong with that!