Christmas with the Newells

This past weekend Trey and I went down to Raleigh to visit with the Newells and the Battersbys.

It was quite cold on Saturday. Very cold. Trey essentially had to drag me to go running with him. I had not brought appropriate cold weather running gear. It was very, very cold. Later that day, I met up with Sarah and went to go see The Nutcracker. The men had begun a boycott of The Nutcracker several years ago, probably while we were still in college, though truthfully, I'm not entirely sure. Trey refuses to go, and Brian just wants to listen to the music and not watch. Both are unacceptable.



After The Nutcracker we had plans to meet up with the hubbys at a local restaurant called Market . This is the second time we've attempted to eat here. The first time we went on a Sunday and of course, they are closed on a Sunday. This time, was a Saturday, and we knew from the previous time that they were open on Saturday. So, we drove there and yes, they are open! Just not to the public. Someone was having a wedding reception or some other nonsense there. So, our plan was thwarted again.

We went to Tir Na Nog. It was okay. Trey flung his wedding band at a group of girls who drunkenly thought that was his way of asking them to marry him. The pub was also having some sort of Santa Pub Crawl. I'm pretty sure we were the only ones not in costume.

We went out for pie at PieBirds to console ourselves. They had a chocolate cream pie that was delicious. Trey had some sort of Bananas in Pajamas pie, so we all sung the theme song to that horrendously-awful show. Which led to Lambchop's "This is the song that doesn't end."

On Sunday we did presents with the Newells. Hope gave me a book on death and obituaries that has been fabulous so far. We got a set of monogrammed towels (LFN) and a bird feeder that is hanging outside in the trees as we speak. I also got a vegetarian cookbook (The Accidental Vegetarian) and we've already made one dish from it that was yummy (see Recipes we LOVE for the recipe).

Oh, almost forgot. My FAVORITE thing about this weekend was that we got to see Tyndall (our niece). She has grown up so much and is so freakin' adorable. She held my hand the whole way to dinner on Friday night; it was the sweetest thing! She would take Trey's hand and pull him towards the piano where they would play duets together. And she has such a happy disposition! It was really a great weekend.

I can't believe Christmas is only four days away. This year has really flown by, especially these last several weeks. And tomorrow is the first day of winter. Uck.

Maybe it will snow this year!!

Happy Holidays, everyone!