christmas weekend 2011

Well, if that wasn't a crazy weekend, it wasn't a holiday weekend.

Nic and I left Minnesota at 3:30 this morning to return to Iowa in time for Nic to get to work (lame-sauce!). Our holiday weekend was full of family, fun, a few friends, a strict schedule, and much much love.

Friday::

On Friday we loaded up the car and hit the road around 5:30. After quick stop for dinner at Noodles and Company in Iowa City, we boogied up to Rochester for a quick visit + gift exchange + beer with my friends from college. Although the visit was short, I was happy to have time to catch up with them (even though they wouldn't let me wake up their daughter, who is by far one of the cutest kids I have ever met and one of the only ones who makes me want to have a kid of my own someday...).

We got to my mom's around 1:00AM and got to bed. Our schedule for Saturday was jam packed and we had not a minute to waste on sleep.

Saturday::

We shared our first gift with Mom at breakfast, and spent the next 20 minutes convincing her that, I did in fact, make the marmalade and did not buy it from some Amish lady. I still don't think she believes me.

On our way to Nic's family's house, where we were spending the afternoon, we stopped to drop off some cupcakes with our friends, Laura and Josh. Vegan cupcakes for all! {or at least for as many people as we could cram in to our schedule}.

The next chunk of hours were spent hanging out with Nic's family and a short visit from Nic's friend Greg and his girlfriend, Christina. 

I watched in awe as Marissa wrapped gifts for the kids and strategized with Barb on what to give each kid, and made sure each of them had about the same number of items to open. I always knew this was a challenge for parents, but never did I realize it was that hard. Just the thought of it makes my head hurt!

On the way back to Mom's for dinner, we stopped at Leah's to deliver some more cupcakes and get a baby fix. Isaac and I played with a new toy for a bit and Ezra was all smiles for us. A short visit, but happy to have been able to connect!

Back at Mom's, Maddie and I prepared an easy Christmas Eve dinner of soup (squash + tomato + roasted yellow pepper), balsamic glazed brussel sprouts, and bread. Dessert was a tour of cupcakes that we split between the five of us.

I made four different varieites from a new cookbook: 

Gingerbread cupcakes with lemony frosting & almond mocha cupcakes with coffee buttercreamMexican hot chocolate cupcakes & maple cupcakes with creamy maple frosting

The favorite was the maple cupcake with creamy maple frosting and sugared walnuts. The flavors of Fall in a cupcake - how can you go wrong?

Sunday::
We were up before the sun on Sunday so I could fit in a run and Nic could walk Maia. We headed back over to Nic's family's so we could run/walk around our old stomping grounds.

It was a beautiful morning and I ended up getting in about 6.5 miles at a respectable pace.

Merry Christmas to me. While Nic's family was at Christmas mass, I headed out to enjoy my version of mass and loved every minute of it.


I planned my route to run by the family's church about the mass was about to get out. Best part of my day. I was sure I had missed them, but they spotted me, pulled over and cheered as I ran past. Nothing beats a whole van of crazies (kidding, of course!) cheering for you on a standard morning jog.

The next five hours was full of unwrapping gifts, kids playing with toys that make noise, eating, kids playing with toys on Maia, Kajsa and I reading the gifts we exchanged (a cookbook for me, a farming book for her), and fun. It was also a very very good dose of birth control.





We stopped off to see Nancy and Nick 2.0 on the way back to Mom's to give Nancy her birthday gift. Nothing like crashing another family's Christmas gathering!

Most of the family were at Mom's for Christmas lunch. We ate a ton of delicious food, exchanged gifts (white elephant exchange, guy exchange, girl exchange), and played Apples 2 Apples.

Showing off very exciting white elephant gifts






The hippie nutcracker was the hot item of 2011


Family photo!


This is what happens when you balance your camera on your car's roof rack in an attempt to get a group photo...luckily, no lenses were harmed in the short fall, although Nic might have had a slight heart attack.


Mom loves Ike the most. Neither Maddie, Nic nor I, had a banner waiting for us when we got home.





Monday::
Nic and I got back to Iowa at 9:00 this morning and were happy to see that Santa had indeed stopped by and left us with stockings to open.

Santa knows us very very well...



While Nic works, I have quite a bit of reading {and perhaps cooking} to do - thanks to my family, who knows me so well and sent me home with no fewer than five cookbooks.