Christmas 2009

We hope everyone had a wonderful and safe Christmas! This year we spent Christmas with my family in Carmel and Jep was introduced to many of the Cwik Family Christmas traditions. Here's the rundown of our trip...

On Christmas Eve we went to church and then headed to a nice dinner at Sullivan's Steakhouse.

While at Sullivan's, we were surprised to see Peyton Manning who was sitting at a small table with his wife!! I have to say that this had to be my first run in with a famous person! I have never been lucky enough to spot a celebrity in person. It was so exciting seeing him especially since we were going to be watching him play the Jets a few days later!

Christmas day with my family is always a relaxing one...we get up, open presents, stay in our pjs ALL DAY, eat ALL DAY, and watch movies and football ALL DAY! We also introduced Mom and Dad to Apples to Apples this year and they LOVED it! As far as presents go, I think we all made out really good!! One of the big presents this year was a new laptop for my Dad--so my parents are FINALLY making the move from dial up internet to high speed! I don't know who is more excited--them or me?!

On Saturday it snowed!!! Photo op in the backyard!

On Sunday, Jep and I headed down to Indianapolis to watch my COLTS play. One of the Christmas presents from my parents was a night at a hotel close by the stadium. We got a huge surprise when we when we got to our room which had been upgraded to a huge suite!! Thanks Mom & Dad!! Before we headed out to the game, Jep and I exchanged our gifts to each other. I have to brag for a second because Jep did so good this year!!! He surprised me with the pair of diamond earrings from my mom's store that I had worn on our wedding day as my "something borrowed." I love, love, love them and was so shocked!!

After exchanging gifts we headed out to game. The city looked gorgeous with all the snow falling down!

We had a great time at the Colts game despite the fact that Jim Caldwell made the terrible call to pull the starters with only a 5 point lead ruining their undefeated run!!! Ugh, it makes me so mad still thinking about it!!!

Early Christmas for Dread

Christmas came a little early for Dread this year. I made the mistake of putting a Nyla bone in Dread's stocking not knowing that the little guy could smell it without even knowing it was in there. I tried to fake him out by getting a Milkbone and pulling it out of the stocking and giving it to him-- he was too smart to fall for that one. So, we gave in and let him have his presents early.

Waiting under his stocking

This past weekend we celebrated Christmas in Elba with Jep's family and got a huge surprise--his mom surprised us all with a cruise to Cozumel!!! So, we'll be setting sail to Mexico in February!!!

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas...

around the DuBose house!!

I was so excited to decorate the house for Christmas this year. Honestly, I was actually ready a couple weeks before Thanksgiving to start putting decorations up, but Jep put a stop to that. His rule--no Christmas decorations until AFTER Thanksgiving.

So, the Saturday we got back from Elba we went straight out to find our perfect tree. Once home, we got it all decorated with the few ornaments we own--the tree is lacking in the ornament department but I figured we have plenty of time to collect over the years--and the tree looked great!! After we completed the tree, we went outside to work on the outdoor lighting. Jep did a fantastic job with the outdoor decorations. He even got up on the industrial size ladder to hang icicles along the peaks of the house!!! It was nerve racking watching him up so high on the ladder so I really couldn't watch--but I did get a few pictures!!

Once, the decorating was done we got settled on the couch to watch TV and call it a night. And, the next thing I know, our 9 ft. Christmas tree has fallen over and crashed onto the hardwood floor--breaking the majority of my small ornament collection!! Looking back on it...it's funny now but at the time I was so upset! The ornaments that meant the most to me were completely broken to pieces. But, thanks to some Krazy glue...I was able to salvage what was salvagable. Now, each year when we get out the ornaments to hang on the tree, we can laugh at the broken ones and remember our first Christmas together in our first home. (Cheesy--I know!)