Yuletide Cheer

Happy New Year, everyone!

Peppermint Patties! 

We had a great time with family and friends over the holiday.  We went back to Lima to celebrate Christmas with Joe's family and ended up being stranded for an extra day due to the snow blizzard that came through on Christmas night.  It was packed full of family fun, great food, yummy peppermint schnapps, and lots of memories.

Our adventure began on Sunday morning.  Joe picked me up from the hospital after I worked the night shift.  The car was packed full of presents, and the backseat was a makeshift bed that Joe had put together just for me to sleep off my work day in the car.  There was even a toasted bagel on my pillow for breakfast, and a lunch packed for later.  Let's just say, I was very touched.  It's lovely to be taken care of, even better when that person is your best friend and future husband.

Santa Came! 

I digress.  Joe drove through the day and we ended up in Lima just in time for dinner.  By Christmas morning, the whole Flarida brood was there-- all four kids and their significant others.   Santa had also stopped by, and the result was absolutely epic! We must have been nice this year, because we got a HUGE tent from Santa.  It sleeps up to 8 people, so that means that come springtime, we'll be looking for willing volunteers to come camping!

Later, we went over to Joe's Grandpa's house in the afternoon for Christmas celebrations with his extended family.  Cue yummy drinks and white elephant games! Joe made out with a Christmas-themed cheese plate and I got a Shaq bobble head. Winner, winner!

This Would Qualify as "Other Shenanigans".
Joe attempted to hide under the couch cushions to scare Brett.
It didn't work out exactly like he planned. 

That night there was a huge blizzard.  I was supposed to go back to work the following day (we were to leave early in the morning), but they had called level 2 snow emergencies in Columbus, Pittsburgh, and the entire route 69 and 78 was covered with snow.  Easy to say that our little Toyota Corolla, Louise, would have stood no chance.  We decided to place it safe and stay an extra day. We ended up having fun playing in the snow amongst other shenanigans.

We hope everyone else had a great holiday filled with family, friends, and fun!  We love and miss you all.

Blake and Joe :)