Christmas 2015

Merry Christmas 2015! We've made it through another year and have been blessed with a few days off.

Dillon and I took off Wednesday through today and have enjoyed doing not really a whole lot. Wednesday Dillon and I went to see the new Star Wars movie and yesterday we spent a lot of time in the kitchen and prepared for Santa Claus. We baked cookies for Santa and stayed up until 8:00 watching Ernest Saves Christmas.

We did have some terribly strong thunderstorms on Wednesday night. Lightning and thunder that shook the house. When I woke up yesterday morning I went to turn on the t.v. and it made this loud screeching noise and the screen was black. Lightning had killed our electronics. Dillon, Luke and myself ran to Best Buy at 8:30 in an effort to beat the Christmas Eve crowds. We got a pretty good deal on a t.v. and it took poor Dillon most of the day to set it up.

Other than that excitement, we've had a relatively quiet Christmas. Santa did come last night and ate cookies and drank milk. He left Luke his desired Mac truck from the Cars movie as well as a few other toys. Luke has talked about that Mac for the past 3 months and he was so excited to receive it this morning.

We've had prime rib for lunch and ate to our hearts desire. All and all it's been a good day!

Merry Christmas to all!

Our haul from Santa last night!

Dillon's been saying since we've been dating that he wanted a lobster claw oven mitt. Surprise! Amazon has everything.

Maw and peepaw took Luke to Lowe's one day and they found where you can build a monster truck. Luke and Dillon spent some time building one on Wednesday.

Maw and peepaw let Luke open up his big gift from them on Christmas Eve Eve.

And it was a ride on Mater! We've got to wait for a dry day and then we're going to tear up the sidewalks!

Luke requested some hot chocolate... I didn't have any Swiss Miss so my mom gave me a lesson on making scratch hot chocolate from cocoa.

And my big gift! A Ninja Coffee Bar... I've already made Dillon and iced coffee and will get creative with it soon!

Kestner Family Christmas '15

We spent this weekend with Dillon's family in Virginia. Yesterday morning, we woke up bright and early and headed up the mountain. It was a busy, but fun-filled weekend with lots of family time and LOTS of presents.

We started off having a delicious lunch at Dillon's dad's house with chicken, greens, beans, macaroni salad, baked macaroni... you name it and that food was probably there. We all visited and Luke got to open his presents which included a sleeping bag, a tent that fits nicely over his bed, a flashlight that looks like a Caterpillar construction truck, a box of dinosaurs and a little green push car. Whew! Luke loved ripping the paper off and keeps asking when he can open more presents.

After this we headed over to Dillon's mom's house where the Kestner kids had their annual cooking competition. This year, the challenge was to make the best grilled cheese sandwich. For the third straight year, Mackenzie was the winner! Jon and Dillon called foul, but I think Kenzie won fair and square. It looks like next year's competition may be for the best taco. Dillon and I already have a plan that is down for the win.

Afterwards we opened presents. Luke got even MORE gifts which included a pretty green coat, two Dino Trucks, a book and a plate that includes construction trucks. We got to enjoy a fun party afterwards where Dillon's extended family came over. We ate even MORE good food, did an ornament exchange and then played a few games of Catchphrase.

Today consisted of having breakfast at Dillon's dad's, visiting some more and traveling back to Asheville. When we returned my mom and I went and got our groceries for Christmas Eve and Christmas day. I only work two days this week and then the remainder of my time will probably be in the kitchen! (And maybe a few hours off to go to see Star Wars with Dillon).

I'm excited for Christmas and can't wait to see what Santa brings everyone!

Luke's new favorite thing is to be just like daddy... :)