Christmas/Christmas Eve with the Witts

We were really fortunate this year to get to have Christmas with my side of the family and Matt's! Not as easy to pull off when our families live in different states...and we live in another one all together. A couple of days after I got back from Pennsylvania, Matt's dad, mom and two sisters, Nicole and Courtney arrived at our apartment EARLY Christmas Eve (4AM). They had a LONG drive out with some slippery, snowy conditions the last several hours. We were so grateful they made it here safely.

On Christmas Eve, before going to the Christmas Eve service, we went to this home that lit up in sync to Christmas music. It was quite impressive.


We were cruising around in Dad & Mom Witt's new (to them) Lexus.


Then we went to Louie's Pizza for dinner! Louie's is the little pizza joint close to our apartment.




We were surprised how many gifts ended up under the tree!


We couldn't resist so each of the kids opened one gift that night.




We played a little Price is Right on the Wii before bed.


Christmas morn! Nicole deserves the award for being the most festive in her Christmas PJ's!




Matt excited about his Spurs Mr. Potato Head.


Courtney's sweet new Ivy Tech Graphic Design tee that Nicole made for her!


Courtney trying out her new fleece. Nicole looks like she really approves, doesn't she? ha ha.


Nicole's sweet boots.


That afternoon we went sledding!






The race is on.


Matt and the girls!


Matt & Courtney wrestling after a competitive run!




Cooking Christmas dinner in my fancy outdoor apparel.


Dinner's ready!
Complete with sparkling cider.


My first successful Christmas meal! Great times with the fam.

More Christmas in PA

David, Age & Colin surprised us by picking us up in Harrisburg at the airport on Saturday. The clip below begins with Colin serenading us in the car on the way home. He is too cute! He is singing a song from one of his favorite movies...Curious George. The rest of the video is just a few other clips of him from the week...including our family Christmas at David and Adrienne's.

On Monday, the day after the Berry Christmas, Matt and I headed back to Pap & Gram's for an afternoon of game time. Pap was entertaining the whole time...my gut hurt from laughing so hard.


I love this man.


That night, we headed to Grandpa & Grandma Melhorn's house with Dad, Mom & Colin. In fact, Colin took this picture!




Playing games with Colin that I used to play as a little girl at Grandma Melhorn's.


Tuesday night we had our family Christmas at David & Age's house. Check out this cute family!


This is the picture Colin took of his dad and grandma in the video above.


Matt found these swords at Target and thought Colin HAD to have them for Christmas!




Colin was in LOVE with this guitar he asked for for Christmas.


Colin was waiting all week to play legos with Uncle Matt!


Colin in his new fleece from his aunt & uncle! :)


Family shot.


Dad was playing a new hunting game on the Wii and Colin is sitting by him in support. Look at his little hand on his Pappy's back? How cute is that?


Age & Mom


Awesome photobook Age made for my parents.


Age & I


And us.


Matt wanted to try to get my parents some channels with a digital antenna. So after coming back from the store with 3 different contraptions...we found one that caught a few channels. Of course, this was not enough for the MEN. So Matt and Dad propped a ladder up against the back of the house and rigged the antenna up in the sky as high as it would go!
They got a few more channels. :)


Colin & Matt on the deck.


At the car wash. Matt, Dad & David.


A satisfied Kleen Mist customer!


Dad & David at the car wash! Good looking men.


Matt flew back to Colorado on Wednesday to work the rest of the week, and I stayed until Sunday morning. Actually, I was supposed to fly back on Saturday night but a huge snowstorm came through Pennsylvania on Saturday, so to be safe I switched my flight until Sunday morning. I say that now as though it was no big deal, yet I was on hold for 3 hours in the middle of the night Friday trying to switch my flight. Thankfully, my mom woke me when she heard the representative on the other end of the line say, "hello? hello?"

So I flew out fairly early on Sunday morning and was very lucky to get out without a hitch. There were dozens of people at the Harrisburg airport who had been stuck there since the day before and couldn't catch the next plane until around 11am. I ran into my cousin, LaDonna, from the Melhorn side of the family at the airport. I didn't even know she worked there! It was a nice surprise...and "THANK YOU, LaDonna for bumping me up to a first-class seat! You are awesome. I have never flown first class and I absolutely loved it! Please tell your friend who hooked me up thank you as well. You made my day :) "

Berry Christmas in Pennsylvania

Matt and I went to Pennsylvania to celebrate Christmas with my family the third week of December. We love doing it this way so that we don't miss out on spending time with my family, and still get to be home in Colorado for Christmas instead of traveling during the Christmas rush....and risking the chance of getting stuck in the airport!

My Pap & Gram Berry's Christmas with my mom's side of the family is always a couple of weeks before Christmas day...so we get to see everyone when we are home!

All of the girl cousins! (and cousin 'n laws...if that is a word)

Pap & Gram opening their Christmas presents. Pap was so funny. He kept taking pictures of their gifts...before and after opening them!


The newest addition to the family...Vivian! Jen's second daughter. Just a few days old.


All six great grandkids!


Pap wanted all of the pictures of their 5oth anniversary digitally so Matt made an awesome slideshow for them of the entire day's events. Everyone gathered in the basement to watch the show.


The kids were excited to see themselves in the slideshow.


Matt & my cousin Jessica

It's always SO good to see all of the Berry's!! Love and miss you all!

Kleen Mist Car Wash

I don't know if I have ever mentioned this on here...but my family owns a full service and a few self-service car washes in central Pennsylvania. My parents and my brother, David, run the operations. Kleen Mist Car Wash now has a website! David has done an awesome job creating it. You can even become a fan of Kleen Mist on facebook! Check it out here!

And stay tuned because after our trip to PA for the holidays some more pictures should be posted!

Snow!

This morning Matt and I woke up to about the fourth snow fall this year. It was a pretty snow and it continued for the most of the day. In these picture I tried to get some of the snow as well as Matt's lighting job on our deck!


Matt's car under snow!




It was a great day to wear in my new blanket...that also zips up around me! Thank you, Sam's Club! :) (And Matt!!!) Oops. It looks like I still had my scarf on from church!


Here is our apartment from outside. Didn't Matt do a nice job with the lights?


Our apartment is on the top right...behind the tree branch!




For Grandma Johnson...pictures of the lighted garland we put up over our window!


Can you see Matt's lights outside?


And a few gifts I got wrapped this weekend. I wonder who they're for?


We bought this for the window that looks into our kitchen. It looks so pretty when you light a candle inside of it.


View through the opening...also so Grandma Johnson can get a closer look! We also wish you could be out here and inspect every nook and cranny, Grandma J!