No Longer DREAMING

I'm dreaming of a white Christmas
Just like the ones I used to know
Where the treetops glisten,
and children listen
To hear sleigh bells in the snow

I'm dreaming of a white Christmas
With every Christmas card I write
May your days be merry and bright
And may all your Christmases be white

I'm dreaming of a white Christmas
With every Christmas card I write
May your days be merry and bright
And may all your Christmases be white


As one of three girls in a very musical home we spent every Christmas season singing and watching "White Christmas". We loved the movie and knew all the songs by heart! This Christmas the movie came to life for Chris & I.

A few weeks back Chris found a special at The Mountain Top Inn of Chittenden Vermont. So we booked it and have been looking forward to seeing the sites and experiencing a New England Christmas - just the two of us! We headed out on Tuesday the 23rd. It was a short 4 hour drive with lots of beautiful scenery along the way. We arrived at the Inn and got everything unloaded and into our Ike's View Luxury Suite! That's right we stayed in the room where President Eisenhower spent many of his own vacations. The view was amazing! We then made the short drive to Woodstock Vermont and did some shopping and walking and eating. Woodstock is such a cute little town and the perfect place to be at Christmas. Just a week before we arrived the area had gotten about 2 feet of the powdery white stuff! It was beautiful! That evening we had dinner at The Prince & the Pauper. Great food & a great atmosphere. Afterwards we walked over to the Woodstock Inn to look around. Then we headed back to our Suite for the night.

The next morning we drove back to the Woodstock area to Quechee Vermont. Quechee is home to one of only a few Simon Pearce galleries. Simon Pearce is a famous glass blower. The work these craftsmen produce is unbelievable! I could have bought every piece in the whole shop (although it would have cost me millions!). They also dabble in pottery and we spent a few minutes talking to one of a few potters. I probably could have watched he and the glass blowers for days. It was so interesting to watch. The tools and molds they use are fascinating! There is also a restaurant on the premises so we did lunch there as well. The food was great and the view was awesome! All of the Simon Pearce workshops are hydro powered and very environment friendly. This location sits on a waterfall and right next to a typical Vermont wooden bridge. We took in a few more shops in the Quechee area and a few in Killington before we drove back to the Inn for the evening.

Christmas Day was WHITE! It snowed all morning! We slept late and then laid in bed just enjoying the snowstorm. I was kidding around with Chris and asked him where all my presents were (we traditionally only exchange an ornament - this year we bought them together in Woodstock). He reached over to his side of the bed (I had no clue what he was doing!) and pulled out a box from Simon Pearce! What in the world! He totally got me and it was a wonderful surprise! Our entire afternoon at Simon's I had been eyeing these little Christmas trees of glass. We even had them on our table in the restaurant so I took a picture to remember them. He snuck out at lunch to "go to the restroom" and he bought me one then he hid it in the car! Seriously he is the best husband ever! The little Christmas tree made my day :) We did lunch at the Tavern downstairs at the Inn and then Chris did some serious sledding! That afternoon we snuggled up in our room and just relaxed. About 5pm we went over to the Activities center for our horse drawn sleigh ride. It was cold! But we really loved it! Such a special way to spend Christmas! We had dinner reservations at 7pm in the Dining Room.

Christmas 2008 was the kind dreams are made of.

We hope all of you had a wonderful Christmas and are looking forward to 2009.

Merry Christmas....Happy New Year

We want to wish all of you a very merry Christmas! May God bless you in 2009.

GO COWBOYS!

Life in The Meadowlands can be rough....but we have survived and now we have overcome! We watched the Sunday night game with our Giant loving friends the Horn's. Everyone devoured some hot wings, french fries & even a few Christmas cookies. It was so much fun! But I am probably biased because the COWBOYS WON! It was a rough game, but a win like that is still a big win. Josh and Heather were great sports! Alyssa on the other hand changed her ways and cheered on the COWBOYS much to her parents dismay. She loves Chris and at least for Sunday night showed her love for the COWBOYS!

Brad & Emily

This past week Brad & Emily came to visit. Emily's birthday is TODAY, but we all celebrated early with a few evenings in NYC. We had dinner on Wednesday night here in NJ at Nellie's (our favorite pizza place), Thursday we all met up at Union Square and had dinner and most importantly dessert at Max Brenner - Chocolate By The Bald Man, and Friday we hit Virgil's for some local BBQ. I think we probably all vote Max Brenner as the best! The smell as you walk through the doors is AMAZING! Brad would say you could "lick the air"! For dessert Emily & I shared an ice cream bar dipped in chocolate sauce, nuts and chocolate candy. What a great combination! Chris had a Concoction - not sure what all was in it but he basically licked it up! Brad was the brave one. He had the Mexican Hot Chocolate. Yes that is hot chocolate with a pepper kick - weird but he loved it :) In between all the food we had some wonderful conversations and caught up on life. Christmas time is so exciting in NYC! So many decorations to take in and the shops are buzzing. We visited Rockefeller Center to see the Christmas tree - it is beautiful this year! At Union Square we stopped and look at the holiday shops. They are my favorite! The Christmas Season is officially here!

Thanks for a wonderful week guys! We hope to see you again soon!

THANKSGIVING - Texas Style

We are so thankful to have spent the past week and a half with our families in Texas. We left NJ on November 20th and returned just last night. It was a wonderful time with friends, food, family, football & a few other things in between. By the time it was all over we had eaten THREE Thanksgiving dinners! Needless to say that will make up for not being home at Christmas.

We hit Dallas first to see Chris' family and our first Thanksgiving dinner. That Sunday we had lunch with several friends. It is always so nice to catch up with everyone. Monday night we had Thanksgiving dinner with my old Life Group. They cooked a fried turkey and it was so tasty! Due to my October and November work schedule I was able to attend 3 Life Group meetings - AWESOME! One night we managed to do dinner with all the siblings at RA and then dessert! We had a wonderful time and wish we could do that more often. I guess we will have to hope that they come visit us in the big city soon!

Wednesday we made the short flight to Lubbock to see my family. Thursday we spent the day at my aunts house stuffing ourselves with STUFFING! We watched the COWBOYS win, and Chris watched his Aggies lose. I guess maybe those even each other out :) Then Friday my sister and I braved the early morning black Friday sales. Mostly we did it just to say we had. I can almost guarantee it will never happen again! Chris slept in and so did Drew. Saturday we took family pics and then headed to the TECH game. It was chilly, but we had a great time! Sunday we ran a few errands and then headed to my moms for a Chicken Fried Steak dinner - Chris' favorite (my mom loves to spoil us). Then we made our way back to Dallas in route to NJ. We filled ourselves up with the last Texas food we could get and the flew out.