Thursday, December 20, 2007

Christmas Cookie Exchange with the Brawn girls

About every 3 months I get together with the girls that I used to work with at Brawn Mixer. We always have a fun time catching up with each other and getting filled on what is happening over there yet. Only 1 of the 5 (we were missing one of the girls) of us still works there!

Sally had her house beautifully decorated for Christmas and had her finest china out and even had her daughter serve us...it was quite the treat!
Everyone brought a different kind of cookie for each of us to take home in a fun container...here is a look at the goodies I came home with. Yummy!

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

Christmas Memories

Saw this on someone's blog and thought it would be fun... join in and do your own!

1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate? I like both but supposedly you can't drink egg nog when you are pregnant. So I stick with hot chocolate.

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree? Santa doesn't come to our house. At least not yet...maybe in a couple of years when there are some little ones running around!

3. Colored lights on tree/house or white? White.

4. Do you hang mistletoe? Nope.

5. When do you put your decorations up? The day after Thanksgiving after shopping is done.

6. What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert)? My Aunt Betty's sweet potatoes.

7. Favorite Holiday memory as a child: Opening stocking gifts on Christmas morning.

8. How and when did you learn the truth about Santa? I don't remember...I just remember getting up one year and seeing my mom sneak presents into our stockings.

9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? Yes, we have in the past when we just can't wait til the next morning. I think that habit comes from my dad...he was always itching to open gifts.

10. How do you decorate your Christmas Tree? With white lights and silver and red ornaments.

11. Snow! Love it or Dread it? Love it as long as it isn't on the roads. See snow tubing pics below.

12. Can you ice skate? I used to be able to...not sure I can now. I remember my brother holding a stick for me to hang on to so I could learn.

13. Do you remember your favorite gift? The first Christmas Brian and I were dating he gave me a sign that says, 'Prayer Changes Thing'. It is up in our living room and always reminds me of God bringing us together.

14. What’s the most important thing about the Holidays for you? Spending time with family and friends. And eating lots of Christmas goodies. :o)

15. What is your favorite Holiday Dessert? Grandma's ice cream balls with lots of hot fudge.

16. What is your favorite holiday tradition? Decorating the house with Christmas decor. Although we don't have many people come over to see our house I still love doing it.

17. What tops your tree? Nothing....the star I bought is too heavy for real trees I guess.

18. Which do you prefer giving or receiving? Honestly a little of both. I do love to see peoples expressions when you surprise them with something they weren't expecting.

19. What is your favorite Christmas Song? O Holy Night.

20. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Whatever the gift fits in best. I do LOVE to wrap presents.

21. Real tree or artificial? Definitely real.

22. When do you put up the tree? The weekend of Thanksgiving...usually Friday or Saturday.

23. When do you take the tree down? The week after New Years.

24. Do you have a nativity scene? No, my mom has this really cool one from Mexico that I always loved to put out.

25. Hardest person to buy for? Probably any guy (Brian, dad, Mike, etc.)....their gift ideas are always too expensive!

26. Easiest person to buy for? My mom.

27. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? Can't think of one of the top of my head....I am sure one of those $5 or $10 gifts that probably only cost $1.

28. Mail or email Christmas cards? Mail...although this year I am being Scrooge and not sending any out. I figure this is our last year we can get away with it. I like to do a picture and last year we had a nice beach one....this year, nothing, so next year we will have a baby to show off!

29. Favorite Christmas movie? The Christmas Story...is that what it's called? The really old one where the kid gets his tongue stuck to the flag pole. It's on every year.

30. When do you start shopping for Christmas? The day after Thanksgiving.

31. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Yep! Doing it this year...just one of those $5 or $10 exchange gifts from last year that I came across. :o) Can you tell I don't like doing those? :o)

32. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Anything!

33. Travel for Christmas or stay home? Stay home...meaning Holland/Zeeland area. We are blessed to have all of our family in the area!

34. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer? Probably not...I could cheat and look online but that wouldn't be any fun.

35. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? Both!

36. Most annoying thing about this time of year? Crazy mean shoppers.

37. What I love most about Christmas? Spending time with family.

38. Favorite Christmas Traditions? Having a candle light dinner with my family on Christmas Eve and then opening gifts.

39. Favorite Christmas Memory? Seeing who has the best Christmas socks at the De Jonge party.

Monday, December 10, 2007

Weekend Fun

Saturday morning I babysat our nieces Karinda and Kylie. To them it's a treat to come to Auntie Kelly's and Uncle Brian's to see the kitty and play barbies. We ventured outside and the girls played on the swing set and then we decided to get out the snow tubes and go to the OAC to sled down the big hill. The girls weren't too sure of Auntie Kelly's plan at first but by the end they loved it and were going down by themselves.
Saturday night we had the Meeuwsen Christmas party. Our families are getting bigger so this year we held the party at Vriesland Ref. Church. It worked out great. Santa Clause even showed up and surprised the kids and the guys were able to get a game of basketball in.

Wednesday, December 5, 2007

Wintry Weekend in Chicago

This past weekend my cousin Justin married his beautiful fiance Emily in Tinley Park (Chicago area). The wedding and reception was a lot of fun and my Aunt and Uncle did a great job of taking care of us while we were there.
On Saturday my family went to the Museum of Science and Industry. It was a lot to take in and we were there over 3 hours. Apparently Brian doesn't get enough farming in so him and Mike had to sit in the combine to experience it. They had a new Farm Trend area.
After the Museum we headed to our hotel downtown, grabbed some snacks and headed out to go shopping. Well the weather wasn't exactly the greatest. It was sleeting sideways and was really cold so the 2 million shoppers were all in the stores. My mom, Brian, and Mike all had to buy hats because either their hair was wet and nasty or they were cold. We hit the Cheesecake Factory for dinner...YUMMY!

Sunday Mike and Kim went their own way to head to IKEA so Brian and I and my parents headed home but made the crucial stop at Cabela's on the way. We went to the new one in Hammond, IN and my parents were able to get some Christmas shopping done.

Brian found some friends to play poker with while we were there. :o)