Christmas Recap

So here's what we did over Christmas... and a little taste of some things we gave and some things we got.. We are SO BLESSED, we had such an AMAZING, AMAZING Christmas and we couldn't be more thankful for all of our family and friends!

Wednesday night, December 22, 2010: Matt's Dad, Jim and his family came over :) I prepared like a crazy person for three days trying to clean and grocery shop and wrap presents perfectly. finally the day of, i gave up on the house and just cooked. The food was really good actually! I made pork tenderloin, crockpot mac n cheese, green beans, mashed potatoes, and rolls. Sam and Perry played some Wii and then we opened presents. I cant BELIEVE amidst all the hustle and bustle I forgot to get out my camera... we didnt take ONE picture this year :( boo! We had so much fun, though!

We gave: A Ruth's Chris Gift Card, A donation to St. Jude
We got: Workout Clothes, A super-cute coat, Best Buy and Victoria's Secret gift cards :)

Thursday .. we ventured over to Clemson to Mimi and Grandy's house and had Christmas with The Kingsmore's. Always one of my fave parts of Christmas. We had a potluck dinner of sorts, has some drinks and crab dip, of course, had an in depth..too serious...discussion about Clemson athletics.. ugh! Then moved on to opening some fun presents. Then headed back home. Here's a picture of the beautiful tree and the ridiculous amount of presents!

We gave: A blanket, an iPad case, Clemson playing cards, A figurine of the Clemson Entrance
We got: Clothes, Gift Cards, Cash :)



















Friday .. Christmas Eve... I had to work from 10 to 1. Sped home from work, took a shower, got ready faster than you can say "Rudolph!" then went to meet Dad, Susie, Mimi, Grandy, and Tyler at Newspring in Anderson for Christmas Eve service. It was such a good service!! I really think you should all watch it if you get a minute.. Newspring Christmas Eve Service. We rushed (all the way) back from Anderson .. and made it to Mom's just in time for dinner. We ate.. opened presents.. where the theme for the night was "cameras..."then went on our Christmas traditional trip to the movies to see "Little Fockers." It was really cute!!! Matt and I made it back to our house around midnight and made sure the stockings were hung by the chimney with care.. then made it to sleep around 2 am.

We gave: PFG shirts, Coach wristlet, Benefit best-sellers make up case
We got: a tempurpedic pillow, a point and shoot camera, a camera lens for my big camera, sheets!




































Linds... do you have anymore pictures?? this is all i have... why dont we have any together on my camera??

Christmas Day ... I woke up around 8:30 am. **RAISE YOUR HAND IF YOU KNOW HOW CRAZY THAT IS FOR BRITTNEY K BOLT** insanity! I was happy about it :) Then I went downstairs, started Matt's coffee, set out the presents, then ventured outside to take some "before" pictures of our house, since i KNEW it was going to snow :) Here's our house BEFORE the White Christmas ...












Then Matt and I opened our presents and stockings and we gave those pretties (aka: our dogs) some bones and treats and toys. They were thrilled!! Then we rushed to get dressed, so we could fly out the door and head to Easley for Christmas with Dad and Susie.

Some highlights of our THIRD christmas morning as The Bolts (also insane): A Keurig coffee maker, Brighton necklace and earrings, Slatkin & Co. candles from Bath and Body Works, a polo shirt, lottery tickets




































Ok, so then we headed to Easley. Where we ate a little bit of breakfast (only because we were about to head to Matt's mom's afterwards where we were having more breakfast). Dad made eggs, bacon, and croissants. Then we opened presents while continuously checking out the window to see if the snow had started yet.

We gave: A Ruth's Chris giftcard, an iPad case, a coach wristlet
We got: UGG boots, Best Buy gift card, Dick's giftcard, a hairdryer, and the sweetest thing.. Dad and Susie gave me the first ring that Dad ever gave to Susie because she hardly wears it anymore and everytime I'm with them I talk about how much I love Susie's David Yurman things.. love it!





































SO... after Dad's we packed up all our goodies and headed back to Greenville to go celebrate with Ciny and Kelleigh ! We had some delicious breakfast casserole in front of the fire and were glued to the weather channel since we were supposed to go to Bishopville, SC within the hour. The storm was looking worse and worse. We were really nervous about the roads, but decided to turn the tv off for a little while, open our presents, and see the latest updates afterwards. The pictures from Cindy's are on my little camera that I haven't uploaded yet! I will be sure to get on that asap.

We gave: Pinot Noir, wine glasses, Coach wristlets, a stocking full of goodies for Cindy
We got: An a/v receiver and blu ray player for our living room, Perfume, a jcrew bracelet, Scrabble!, a cookbook, a sewing kit

After going back and forth back and forth back and forth about whether or not to go to Bishopville, we had to decide against it, since we ran the risk of getting snowed in and matt and kelleigh having to be back on Sunday and since we thought the roads may be really bad. We were really sad to not get to go see everyone !! :( By the time we left Cindy's around 3, the snow was falling, and I was crying. I have been dreaming of a White Christmas since I can remember being alive. I LOVE snow and i LOVE christmas, and what better than to have them together?! It was truly magical... MAGICAL! I loved it!! Matt and I got home, and while he worked on setting up the a/v receiver for THREE HOURS in the living room, I sat on the couch and stared out the window at the snow. It was very relaxing. (minus the occasional cuss words flying out of my husbands mouth as he tried to wire everything up) :) He took a quick snooze and I went outside and snapped some "after" pics of the snow ...
























THEN .. as if we hadn't traveled ENOUGH already. we decided to go over to mom's to hang out with the family and watch a movie. We ate leftovers from their big lunch earlier. and watched Transformers, which neither of us had ever seen. I actually liked it. After the movie, we went outside to admire the STILL FALLING snow and took a few pictures. I think Mom or Lindsey have those on their cameras so I'll have to post those later.

I can't tell you what happened on Sunday yet.. but it is exciting news for SURE and I'll be posting about it tomorrow night :) Needless to say, it was a very very busy, very very exhausting, very very AMAZING Christmas weekend.

John 1: 16 says this, "From the fullness of his grace, we have all received one blessing after another." Is this the truth or WHAT?! Whether you did or didn't have the perfect Christmas this year, remember that no matter what the hardships, we have ALL received endless blessings from the Lord, and that is a gift that we can surely be thankful for!

I hope you all had a VERY MERRY Christmas and a safe and happy new year!!!

Love and Peace

B