Christmas!

Oh my goodness, Christmas went by so quickly!!  I can't believe that December is almost over, and that Christmas is over!  McGee and I went to CA this year for Christmas, and it was so amazing to be with my family for the holiday.  It was perfect! The time flew by SO fast though, so that's always sad.  It felt like we arrived and blinked, and then it was time to get on the flight back to PA!  We were busy, but we also had some relaxation time.  It was so great to get to see some friends and family while we were in CA!  The time always goes by way too quickly.

The day after we arrived in CA we drove to Yosemite!  We had never seen Yosemite in the winter, my dad felt up for the drive, and we had one free day, so we went for it!!  The weather looked a little iffy, but not tooooo bad, so we figured we'd go for it.  Well, the weather turned out to be worse than predicted.  It was snowing before we got to the gate of Yosemite, but luckily the road was in pretty good shape thanks to all of the snowplows.  Well... Turns out the snowplows don't run INSIDE the gate of Yosemite.  So we got to the gates, the roads were TERRIBLE, and the park ranger said that the roads would be like that all the way to Yosemite Valley.  People were trying to put chains on their tires, but were having trouble even getting enough traction to get the chains on... so we made the decision to turn around.  It would have been amazing to drive to Yosemite Valley and see everything all covered in snow, but that drive would have been really long and dangerous.  We had my parents' dog Maggie with us though, and she had never seen the snow, so we had a ton of fun introducing her to the snow!  She loved it.

 

Maggie's first time in the snow!!  She was so excited! 

 

This is the front gate of Yosemite!!  The plows went right up to those buildings (where the Rangers are to take entrance fees, etc.), and then past that point was totally un-plowed! 

Maggie! 

Me and McGee!

My mom and dad and Maggie!! 

Sweet Maggie getting some much-deserved sleep!!  She's such a sweet pup.

My parents' Christmas tree!!  Love it. 

I was terrible about taking pictures of present opening!  I only got this one picture of my cousin Nick and Kim and their little guy CJ (you can only see the back of his head...), and then Cassidy and Addison are helping him open a gift! And my mom is in the background! 

Luckily, Amanda took this amazing picture of Addison and Cassidy with CJ!!  This is SUCH a cute picture, so I just had to steal a copy of it :) 

And now I'll just post some pictures from our time in PA before we went to CA!!   

This is our window at our house a few weeks ago!  We had a nice snowstorm.

Our new glasses from my parents! So cute.  We thoroughly enjoyed these on our snow day.

Guinness looooves the snow! 

Our fireplace!! 

Kevin was wrapping the gifts for his staff, and Guinness decided to try to help! 

Guinness checking out his stocking! 

We got him a tennis ball bone!  He's obsessed with tennis balls, so we knew this would blow his mind.

I hope you all had a great Christmas!!!  I can't believe 2018 is almost here!!!  

Christmas is Coming!

Wow, it's December 10th already!!  I have been soooo busy trying to finish up my last 2 weeks at my previous job, and starting my new job!!  Time has just been flying by.  My previous job gave me a HUGE project for my last two weeks of work, so I had a LOT of really long days trying to finish that. And I started my new job last Monday (so I had no break between the two jobs... haha), and it is going GREAT so far!!  I'm really liking the job and the people and the environment, and I think it's gonna be SUCH a great change for me.

Other than job stuff, we've been keeping busy with the holidays!! Thanksgiving was tons of fun - It was quite relaxing and the food was great. On December 1st we drove to Frederick, MD so I could drop off my work equipment (that was technically my last day of work)!  Kevin took the day off and drove there with me, and it was so nice to have him there for that last step of that horrible job.  While we were driving back home that evening, we decided to stop and buy our Christmas tree!!  That was such a fun way to end the day.  We were too tired to decorate it that night, but we got it in its stand and everything. 

That Saturday afternoon we went to see our friend Timmy's show!  He's in the Philadelphia Gay Men's Chorus, and they had a Christmas show that was AMAZING!!!  They were seriously SO talented and awesome.  They sang lots of classics and some newer songs too, and it really put us in the Christmas spirit!  The show was at this really cool theater in the city, and it was right near the Philadelphia Christmas Market!  So, we stopped by after the show and walked around for a bit.  It was soooo pretty and Christmassy! After that we caught the train to go back home!   

These amazing and hilarious dancers came out for a few songs!  This one was Jingle Bell Rock, and they did all of the choreography from Mean Girls.  It was FANTASTIC.  And you can see Timmy's face in this one!  If you see the dancer on the right, Timmy is JUST to the left of that guy's face. 

And this one was All I Want For Christmas Is You, and this guy's voice was SPECTACULAR.  Everyone's jaws dropped in the audience as soon as this guy started singing!!  Oh and the dancers were back for this one!!  They were super fun. 

There's Timmy!  He's like the 3rd row up, and the 2nd guy from the left? 

Timmy again!  He was so great! He's right in the middle of this one. 

City Hall looking beautiful for the Christmas Market! 

Christmas Market! 

Christmas Market! 

The light show on the side of City Hall at the Christmas Market! They had fun music and everything.

That night we listened to some Christmas music (Bing Crosby... oh that voice), and decorated our Christmas tree!!  It was such a fun evening, and our tree is so pretty :) 

Our tree!  With Bumble on top!  

This weekend we had quite a snowy weekend!  December is kinda early for snow here!  I'll do a separate post in a day or two about this weekend!  It's been kind of amazing and so relaxing. I hope you're all doing really well, and having a great December so far!!