Christmas Capers #2

Here are some more pictures of Christmas with Chris' family. Oh, and I forgot to mention one of my personal holiday highlights in my last post, that is, going to the Morehead Planatariam at UNC to see their "Star of Bethlehem" project. I'd been wanting to go to the Planatariam for a long time, and this was certainly the perfect occasion. Education, beautiful, bible, stars...what more could you ask for?

Christmas Capers #1

Wow, Chris and I've had a very full holiday and I'm not quite sure where to start. In fact, we have yet another Christmas celebration ahead of us on Wednesday, when we will be having a "Christmas on New Years" with my family in Goldsboro.

To start the Christmas week, we had a great Sunday morning on the 21st, celebrating the savior over a delicious breakfast, in beautiful music, and with bountiful fellowship. That night, my family(who spent Christmas in Florida) took us out to dinner and stoped by for a few pre-Christmas gift suprises(pics below). Monday and Tuesday were slower days at work, unsuprisingly, and looking back I am so grateful for the refreshing time off!

On Christmas Eve we were privileged to enjoy a "Love Feast"(cinnamon buns and apple cider) service at Providence Baptist Church to even further celebrate the season.

Christmas morning was just for the three of us, though we soon headed over to celebrate the day over a delicious dinner with Chris' dad's side of the family. Lucky us, we got yet another Christmas celebration with Chris' mom's family and Grandparents on Saturday. More to come in pictures later. I forgot that we also did one of my most favorite things in the world on Christmas Eve-ice skating! So keeping with the spirit of chronological order, I'll start with those pictures first. Of course, I have tons and tons...my parents gave me a much needed(and up to date, lol) camera this year, which I am wholly grateful for and have already gotten much use from. Stay turned for more Christmas posts!

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Promise to Remember event

Last night Chris and I attended the 6th annual "Promise to Remember" event at the Carolina Theater. The event showcases arts in education and centers largely on Durham public schools. It is hosted by and in tribute to the Matthew Paul West foundation, a cause very near and dear to our hearts, my husbands especially. I had so much fun getting dressed up and seeing all of the wonderful performers, from ballet, to modern dance, opera and even the Durham youth Symphony Orchestra! And of course, I was so proud of my husband who sang "Dancing with the Angels," as seen in the video below(please excuse the quality, my camera-not video mind you- is pretty old!). I know he's been wanting to sing this song at this event for a long time, and I was so excited for him to perform it. :)


*This is the second half of the song...I thought it would be a bit long to blog the whole thing, but trust me it was good :)

Visit www.thematthewpaulwestfoundation.org to learn more.

No clever captions, just a cute Christmas puppy

A 24th B-day and a Guitar Cake

Yesterday we celebrated Chris' 24th birthday :) In true Chris fashion, I made him a guitar cake, a breedlove guitar at that! I was so happy that it did in fact, resemble a guitar AND tasted super delicious! It was alot of work, but I had a ton of fun baking and decorating, and I was so happy to be able to make the perfect cake for my hubby on his special day. It was the perfect "icing" on an amazing dinner at Kanki-unfortunately we were soo stuffed we hardly had enough room in our bellies for cake-that's okay though, I don't think it's going anywhere anytime soon. Happy Birthday baby!
Piper-My faithful kitchen helper, always by my side, counting on my messy baking and frequent crumblings of icing and batter. He is quite the unbiased taste tester. :)

Adventures in Buttonholes and Ric Rack

I just couldn't pass up the opportunity to make this o-so-cute jumper for a certain cousin of mine. And while it's not without its share of novice mistakes, I'm pretty pleased with my first adventure in adorable jumper sewing :)
For this project, I mustered up the courage and learned how to make a buttonhole- as opposed to taking the easier velcro route. I was so excited to learn that my machine has it's own buttonhole function; it made the job so much less intimidating. I'm so glad I took the tortoises way on this one, and I'm happy to report that while it's certainly a learning experience, sewing a buttonhole was not all that scary!

In addition to my first buttons/buttonholes, I also pulled out the Ric Rack on this one. "Ric what?" It's that pink, zig zagy trim at the bottom of the dress, and one of my new favorite accessories. I just love my new hobby...who would've thought fabric could be so fun!

A Thanksgiving Medley

Chris and I had a wonderful and restful Thanksgiving weekend with family. A few of my highlights, aside from a delicious Thanksgiving feast in Goldsberry, would be:

*My first experience in pie making-pumpkin and chocolate pudding to be exact. I actually made two pumpkin pies, considering that Piper got his sneaky paws on the first and devoured almost half of it before he was caught. Lesson learned-don't put out pies to cool on the edge of the counter! Needless to say, I got some extra practice in, and the second was better than the first if I do say so myself:) See Exhibit A: RIP Pie #1.

*Decorating the Abrahamson family Christmas tree. I'm was so glad to take part in this special family tradition even though I'm married and "grown up" now...it's such a blessing to be close to family, and I'm so glad we can advantage of it during the holidays :)

*Going to dinner at one of Chris' favorite restaurants, Texas Roadhouse, with mom and grandpa. Grandpa lives in FL, so it was a treat to see him over Thanksgiving.
*Shopping! While black Friday didn't turn out to be a sweep for us, I was able to get some great deals on a few Christmas presents. On Saturday, my mom and I spent the day shopping in Durham with my beautiful cousins Gara and Vive :) A leisurely lunch at an all time favorite PK Changs definitely iced our day.

Another milestone of the long weekend was having my mom spend the night at our house-a first in our married/grown up/homeowner life. It was alot of fun and I can't wait for our next get together. All in all, a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend-topped off with another great Sunday in church, playing with the kiddos and getting to know a friend better in the nursery:-)