Sniffles, Snowmen, & So long 2010!

We had a healthy, happy Christmas this year! But sickness reared it's ugly head during the week after. We stayed in Greensboro, splitting time between our two families, but a horrible cold claimed Will and myself and is now unfortunately spreading through my side of the family. In fact, I'm so stuffed up all I've really felt like doing all day is catching up on blogging, which is why you see so many new posts below. But I figure, 2011 is almost here, and it's about time to be finished with 2010 posts anyway.
Will seems to be on the mend, and we finally let him out to play in the snow, even though much of it had begun to melt.

He loved it... the crunch under his boots and the coldness on his little fingers! He would have stayed out all day if we'd let him. I still can't believe this little guy is going to be 2 in just 2 days!

He even helped Gigi make some repairs to her snowman, who had begun to take a bow to the sun. After setting his head on straight (ha!), he looked good as new!

It's been a blessing to be surrounded by so many helping hands while feeling under the weather, and just in the course of today, I can tell I'm through the worst of it. Goodbye sniffles, here's to a healthy start of 2011!

Gift Exchange

Christmas Day would not have been complete without a visit to Nana and Papa's. We arrived in time for dinner, meeting up with the other half of the Nethery family.
This year we decided to try something different in terms of gift giving. In the past, every person bought for every other person, and with our growing family it had begun to get a bit overwhelming. So, we agreed to a Dirty Santa exchange. We set a $50 limit and each person brought a gift according to their gender.

This is the "man" gift pile. Aaron was pretty proud of his gift presentation (the large box wrapped in scraps of leftover paper).

Matt was the one to pluck it from the pile. A shiny new shop vac (a Black Friday bargain)... but would he get to keep it???

As the ladies made their choices, Joanna picked my gift...

I made a winter wreath and decorated it with gift cards to Target, Krispy Kreme, Chick-fil-A, and Payless Shoes. Joanna did manage to keep it in her possession, after some major shuffling occured. At the end of the evening, Nana ended up with the shop vac (Matt walked away with a camo snuggie and Home Depot gift card), I got a $50 Target card, and Aaron a box of filet mignons from Omaha Steaks.

It was definitely a lot of fun, and made opening gifts much more entertaining! I think we're all already dreaming up what to bring next year.

And I couldn't resist including this picture of Will and Papa stomping around in the kitchen. It was waaaayyy past Will's bedtime, but he was still having himself a good time.

And this is our Nethery family picture for 2010. My mom took this at Thanksgiving, and since we didn't take one this Christmas, I figured I'd include it now. Trust me, we were one jolly bunch! Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

Winter Wonderland

On Christmas Day we were enchanted by the softly falling snow. It began in the mid-morning and continued to fall late into the evening, laying down more than 5 inches of fluffy white powder. How beautiful and majestic it was to have a white Christmas! It was the first one Aaron and I had ever experienced in North Carolina, and come to find out, this was the first time it's snowed in Greensboro at Christmas in over 50 years!
The scenery truly made for a once in a lifetime winter wonderland!

Sleigh bells ring, are you listening,

In the lane, snow is glistening

A beautiful sight,

We're happy tonight.

Walking in a winter wonderland.

Gone away is the bluebird,

Here to stay is the new bird,

He sings a love song,

As we go along,

Walking in a winter wonderland.

In the meadow we can build a snowman,

And pretend that he is Parson Brown.

He'll say: Are you married?

We'll say: No man,

But you can do the job when you're in town.

Later on, we'll conspire,

As we dream by the fire,

To face unafraid

The plans that we've made

Walking in a winter wonderland.

In the meadow we can build a snowman,

And pretend that he's a circus clown.

We'll have lots of fun with mister snowman.

Until the other kids knock him down.

When it snows, ain't it thrilling,

Though your nose gets a chilling.

We'll frolic and play, the Eskimo way,

Walking in a winter wonderland.

Christmas Morning

We awoke to a beautiful Christmas morning! Presents wrapped and snow gently falling!

Nana and Papa joined us for breakfast before we opened gifts. Will was excited to see what Santa brought him. He really loved his new sippy cups... more than Santa ever could have imagined!

But he was even more thrilled to unwrap a tricycle from Nana and Papa.

Even though his feet don't quite reach the pedals, I'm sure it'll be no time before he's cruisin' around the driveway on his new trike.

Papa and Kate, taking a break from unwrapping, enjoyed looking on ...

Will's wide-eyed excitement peaked when he opened his train set! He was one happy little boy!

It was a very, Merry Christmas morning indeed! While outside, the snow continued fall!

Christmas Eve

After the Christmas eve service at Aaron's home church, we continued our annual celebration at cousin Amy and Phil's house. Their son, Bradley treated us to some beautiful Christmas carols on his trumpet and then the feasting began.
We got to spend more time with John, Meredith, and Aiden. The boys had a great time playing together with the Little People and VeggieTales nativity sets.

This year, Amy had the kids and adults play a pass-the-present game. Music plays, and the gift is passed around. The music stops, and a layer of giftwrap is peeled off. So on, and so on. The person to unwrap the last layer gets the prize! It was lots of fun for everyone.

Will even received a few birthday gifts, like this Little People tractor, which was a big hit!

It was another year of cherished family time, with the joy of our Savior's birth filling our hearts.

Candy Cane Cookies

I made cookies for the Kiser family Christmas eve party. I just love playing with royal icing! And I've started to find myself day-dreaming of cookie designs. Seems like there's the perfect cookie for every occasion, don't you think?
I think one of my New Year's resolutions is going to be to improve my cookie-icing skills. In fact, I might just enroll myself at the University of Cookie! That sounds like a resolution I might actually keep.

In the meantime, I just love how these sparkly little candy canes turned out!

Christmas Warm-up with Grandma & Pappy

Grandma and Pappy came down from Pennsylvania to visit the weekend before Christmas. We had a great time! Pappy helped us with finishing touches on our new place, from finishing the fence and raking the yard to tightening loose hinges. Grandma helped me in the kitchen and they both were wonderful at entertaining Will.

They brought Christmas and birthday gifts with them, and Will was thrilled to pieces! He really enjoyed unwrapping everything...
and loved his Elmo "iPod" and...

the Hotwheels transport truck!

Besides playing with new toys, we enjoyed a fun dinner at Wilbur's famous barbeque restaurant, visiting Santa (see previous post) and playing Dominoes.

It was a short visit, but lots of memories were made...

and we enjoyed the privilege of spending time with such loving great grandparents!

Meeting Santa

So, my mom, Grandma, and I took Will to the mall to meet Santa...
He was pretty interested in the snowy scene, and waited patiently in line.

He happily said hello and gave a friendly pat to the nearby elves and reindeer.

As he caught a glimpse of Santa, he even kept saying "Ho!Ho!Ho!"

But by no means, did that mean he had any intention of sitting on his lap.

Sorry Santa, maybe next year!

Kate's Christmas Open House

Back in the fall, my sister, Kate, ventured out on her own and bought her first house! And may I say, it's just absolutely darling! From the start "it had good bones," but the interior needed some freshening up, so after many, many hours of painting, recarpeting, and general fixer-upping by the whole family, she was ready to entertain for the holidays. And now that we so conveniently live close by, we were able to join the fun!

Before heading to town, I whipped up a batch of Christmas cookies. Yet again inspired by the Cookie Mama, I made these for the dessert table.
A great gathering of Kate's family and friends showed up, from fellow colleagues, to church friends, and former teachers.

And of course, the party wouldn't be complete without a house tour. So, we begin in the living room. Isn't it cozy?!

Then, the master bedroom. I love how she blends traditional furniture with unexpected colors and bold prints...

Especially here! This is her office.

And guest bedrooms.

This is the guest bathroom, with more fun fabric for the shower curtain.

And a final stop in the kitchen... for a bite to eat. Apparently, I was distracted by the food because I forgot to take a picture of this room's decor. But trust me, it's adorable too! She uses blue and white china, with apple green accents.

Lots of deliciousness to be had here!

Will took up sentry by the food table and surely swiped a sugar bacon or two!

An evening of merriment was had by all!

I'm so proud of Kate and her happy little home! I hope she enjoys having a space of her own, and of course, we'll be back to visit!