Christmas

I had a great Christmas this year. It was different. I missed having our whole family together, and it was different to spend it between my own family and Mike's family, but it was good.
We spent Christmas Eve with Mike's mom and sisters, and it was tons of fun. We met at Mike's house at 2(ish, since the snow storm kind of delayed part of the family) and then took a trip to Winco to get bulk candy. When we got to the store, Mike's sisters said they wanted Eggnog, so Mike and I headed off in search of Eggnog while they started picking out their candy. After having no luck finding Eggnog (would you believe they were absolutely, completely sold out of Eggnog? Okay, maybe not so surprising on Christmas Eve), we joined the rest of the family to pick out candy. Mike told me he wanted to get some Tootsie Pops and said I should get some. I was confused, and gave him a "Why?" look. He just told me he wanted me to go ahead and open up the Tootsie Pop bin. At this point, I glanced over and saw a sign in the bin with my name on it. I opened it up and pulled on it after being prompted by Mike and his mom and sisters. I was a little in shock, and pretty sure I knew what was going on, but not sure if I believed it. When I finally pulled up the box at the end of the ribbon that had been tied to the note cards, I was shaking so much I could barely get the box untied. Inside was the most beautiful ring I could have imagined for myself. Mike had asked me a while ago about my favorite cut of diamond and if I liked solitaire settings or little diamonds around the center stone, but we had talked about waiting until after we got married and had saved a little money, so I was really not expecting to get a ring. I'll share pictures later. It was so sweet, though and it made me feel so lucky and loved.
When we got back to the house, we discovered that Allison's dog, Spackle, had ripped open about half the gifts. Allison was really upset, but she and Trish managed to salvage everything. Even if it wasn't perfect, we had fun and laughed and played games. I'm excited to be part of their family someday soon.
Christmas morning we spent with my family. We opened gifts and then Skyped with Elyse, Adam and Keegan. Keegan was really excited about the mixer he got (he no longer calls it a pump and got mad and said "It's a mixer, mom!" when we called it a pump. Funny little guy). We went swimming in the pool at the hotel we stayed in (yay employee discount!) and attempted to go see Les Miserables ( funny story you should ask Wes about. He was a little traumatized, though, so I will let him share it). Then we had a prime rib dinner and spent the rest of the night playing Phase 10.
It was such a great Christmas. I'll have to post again to tell you about my awesome New Years, but I am tired and need to get some sleep. I hope you all had a fabulous Christmas with your families.