because i adore Christmas and because sadly it's over, i've decided to dedicate this week's favorite friday to my top 15 favorite Christmas break memories.
1. The Bo-Ryder Christmas Caroling Party
every year our friends and neighbors, the Bohlingers and Ryders, throw a caroling party to sing to our neighborhood. singing, eating, and friends are at the top of my favorites list so you can probably see why i love this party so much. plus, it's tradition. traditions can never be broken in my eyes. this year was especially fun because it was the first time i was able to see some of my best friends since being home from college. and not to mention the fondue at the end was to die for...
erin and i caroling
this is us on a good day...
2. Goat Farm
have you ever been to a goat farm?! They are so neat! My cousins own a goat farm in Danville and we went to go visit it on Christmas Eve day. The baby goats were my favorite. There were also donkeys which were way awesome. The house was awesome too. My favorite part? Definitely the golf carts. I wish golf carts were the new cars. It might take ten times longer to get from one place to another, but it would for sure be ten times more fun than driving cars.
the farm house!
3. Christmas Eve Charades
i have been in charge of Christmas Eve games for years. it's another tradition and I can't let it be broken. this year i chose to play Christmas charades. the game was great, but what was even greater was watching my grandma play it. i was lucky enough to have had my camera out while it was her turn and captured her sticking her middle finger out at us. you might not think its very funny, but if you knew my grandma you would die laughing like we did.
santa never gets old. i still get butterflies in my stomach right before we run out to see our gifts because i am so excited. this year was no different. here's a video of a typical Duvall Christmas. it's pretty long, so i won't be offended if you don't watch the whole thing. things to ignore:
- my outfit. i'm known for always having weird outfits for Christmas. let's just say the outfit doesn't get much better as the video progresses...
- the blurriness. my mom took the video and she lacks technology skills (sorry mom!)
- i sound like a man. it's reeeeal early
- the pretty weird noises i tend to make
it's my favorite Christmas song and movie so to actually have one was so great! how often do you actually get snow on Christmas day?! hardly ever so that's why this was so fun.
snowwww!
see the snow behind us?!
6. Christmas in Winchester
we left the snow and headed to the mountains where there was actually no snow. i always enjoy being with this side of the family. my granddad is the youngest of 16 so needless to say there is a lot of us Duvall's. Christmas there with grandmother and granddad, uncle mark and liz, and shane was great fun and everyone was way too generous as always.
don't ask why, but i really wanted a johnny cash cd for Christmas.
this was my expression when i opened it and saw walk the line and ring of fire were on it.
one of my favorite gifts!! thank you so much uncle mark and liz!
morgan with the grandmother and granddad
7. Phase 10 Playing
i have never played this game so much in my life. i love it so much though. the best game i played was with my grandparents. 1 game and 4 hours later Morgan was declared winner. i don't know how that happened considering she was on phase 2 when we were all on phase 5, but she made a tremendous comeback and took the title of phase 10 champion.
ledo's is sooo good and i miss ours at home!
they make the best chex mix
8. Trish's Richmond Hangout
my friend, sarah, and i road tripped it to richmond to stay with our sweet friend, julie, in order to see all of our jmu friends. we had such a great time hanging out at trish's house, playing signs, listening to cd's made by daniel, and talking all about our breaks.
LOVE this.
9. Italian Dinner and Game Night
on our way back from richmond sarah and i had the brilliant idea that we were going to cook dinner for our friends back at home. let's just say sarah + perrin + cooking = do not exist. no, i'm kidding. we survived and made a delicious (or at least i thought so) italian dinner. later we played an awesome game of Taboo for at least a couple of hours.
10. Ringing in the New Year
new years eve was very low key this year, but it was also the perfect way to begin 2011. erin, sarah, kelsey, and i went to erin's to eat a scrumptious dinner and later made southern living's red velvet brownies with cream cheese icing (which i highly recommend you make) before going to rob and stacey's (Young Life/small group leader's) house to hang out. we got back to erin's house just in time to pop open some sparkling cider and watch the ball drop.
11. Sewing
don't laugh because this actually happened. who knew i could actually sew?! my mom is a pro at sewing so i told her i was ready to learn because i wanted to make an apron (for all the cooking that doesn't take place in college). so we got a pattern, fabric, and dusted off the sewing machine so i could make my apron. it was great fun, but sadly i had to go back before it was finished. so when i do finish it i will surely post a picture of it :)
12. Spending Time with my Boyfriend
i bet you just read that and thought, "what?! perrin has a boyfriend?!" i wish i could say it is false, but it simply isn't. trey and i have been dating for 3 years (as of January 7th) and our relationship is still going strong. he may only be 3 (as of January 7th), but our times together are so sweet. they consists of watching Cars, coloring in coloring books, and riding our tricycles together. we're getting married one day...he's just too young to realize it.
aren't we cute together?!
13. Small Group Hangout
my small group from back home was able to get together at stacey's house one night over break and to just catch up on our crazy semesters. it was awesome to get to see everyone again. we also whipped out the taboo game (again) and played a great game.
this is us acting normal...
oh wait...this is us acting normal.
14. Tea Party
they were fun as little girls, but they're even better as 18 and 19 year olds! we went to a tea room in a place in downtown norfolk called Rowena's. it's adorable. we sipped on our tea, ate our cucumber sandwiches, and enjoyed our last day together before heading back to school.
15. Angelina Jolie Movies
why angelina jolie?! we did not plan this, but it seemed that every movie we watched over break starred her in it. my mom, dad, and i went to see The Tourist is theaters and i looooved it. italy, beautiful outfits, johnny depp, and a surprise ending made it amazing! then we happened to rent Salt one night which was just as amazing. she is great in action movies. how she jumps from car to car and still looks beautiful i can't seem to figure out?!
have a lovely weekend :)
xoxo,
erin with a p and a double r
LOVE IT! i am in your top 15 three times. we must be best friends or something :) haha
ReplyDeleteps this post idea was really really awesome :)