Happy Boxing Day!

I had a great holiday with my family and Danny. I took charge of Christmas Eve dinner (my dad did help with the turkey), and we had my sister, aunt and uncle over for dinner and some gift exchange. They stayed late and I was too tired to wrap Danny's Christmas present - whoops. Fortunately, he was off to church with my mom the next morning, so instead of sleeping in, I got up and wrapped his gift (Caps tickets) and helped my dad get breakfast together. When they got home from church, Danny made french toast and my sister and her boyfriend (and my dog-niece) came over for breakfast. We carried our mimosas over to the family room and went through all of the presents. Even though we'd decided on a specific budget for gifts, there were tons of them. My sister and I were given the task of completing a gingerbread house that my aunt had brought over the night before - some friend had given it to her, and she didn't want to decorate it, so she gave it to us. Well the friend asked my aunt to send her a picture - eek! So my sister and I got it done and it looks great ;) It took a bit longer than we'd planned, though, and Danny and I had to scramble to get ready to head out to dinner at the place he stays with their family. We got a couple of gifts from them (and ate some of the best reindeer-shaped cookies ever) and headed home where we busted out my season 1 DVD of Vikings. It was a great day :)

Another beautiful Christmas behind me, another new year to look forward to. Usually the time between Christmas and New Year's feels sad and lonely to me: my mom and Danny go back to work (no rest for the weary!) and even though we keep the tree and mantle lit up, it's just not the same. This year, though, I'm determined to enjoy every ounce of my winter break and I think keeping busy will help me not feel like these days just go by in a boring blur. Even if that means I start working on my rotations schedule for next year!