A heartbreaker in Miami

Well, congratulations to the Saints! It was a great game, and even though it didn't end the way I would have liked, it's hard not to be glad for the Saints.

At the beginning, the Colts looked solid, but after halftime, it appeared that the Saints had figured out their game, and beat them fair and square. The on-side kick opening up the second half was brilliant (only because it worked though). Manning's interception, the offensive pass interference, and the Colts' inability to score a touchdown on 4 consecutive plays pretty much sealed the deal. But, as we are used to saying here in New England (or we WERE used to saying) - there's always next year! It was a good game, and the Saints came out on top. The Colts and their fans should at least be glad that they lost to a team of the Saints' caliber.

Our potluck party was a ton of fun. Everyone brought dips or some other kind of chip/snacky food, and instead of ordering pizza, we ended up making potato skins, which were delicious. For dips, we had onion dip, buffalo chicken dip, hummus, spinach and artichoke dip in a bread bowl, and this really yummy Mexican salad-like thing.

Before the game started, we played the game Things, which if you've never played it, you should give it a try - it's a ton of fun! I received it as a birthday present from a friend, and it's been our go-to party game for the past few get togethers, even trumping Apples to Apples.

Here's some pictures from the party.


It's always nice to have our friends over. One of the perks is that MK and I clean the house from top to bottom (well, maybe except for our bedroom) - vacuuming, straightening, putting things away. I'm not saying our place is wicked messy, but it's nice to have everything cleaned up and neat.



This is my cousin Kate and I, wearing our matching Peyton Manning jerseys!

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Christmas celebrations

This picture is from Christmas day, and is probably one of my favorite pictures from the Christmas this year! Although to be fair, I wasn't as picture-happy this year as I usually am, but still. This is a picture of a bunch of (second) cousins on my dad's side of the family (my dad's dad's side of the family, to be exact). I spent part of Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with this bunch, and it was so much fun!

I knew some of these cousins from before, and by "knew", I mean had met a couple times when we were really, really young. You may recognize one of my cousins as the same one from our Indianapolis trip. She and her mom kindly invited me to their Christmas celebrations after I mentioned how nice it was that she and the other cousins were so close. I was actually really nervous about going, because it was basically like meeting a bunch of new people, but everyone was incredibly nice.

They welcomed me to the party just like any other member of the family, and I'm kind of embarrassed to say I've been fangirling over how fun they are (but only a little!).

In other Christmas stuff, MK and I stopped by a friend's "ugly sweater" party. We don't own any ugly Christmas sweaters, but we swung by Target quickly before we headed over to the party (sadly, there was no Wal-Mart in the area). MK got this wicked cheesy t-shirt to wear. We didn't even realize that the t-shirt has an outline of a sweater vest until we took this picture back at home.

MK and I also hosted our annual holiday party. I love this tradition - it is probably one of my favorite things about the holiday season. This is the fourth year we've had this party, and I'm so glad that it has really turned into a tradition. Basically, we get all of our closest friends together and they come over, and we have a sit-down dinner and do a gift swap. In the past, I've cooked the entire dinner, but we did it as a pot-luck this year, and it was really great.

MK and I made the main course (some kind of beef roast) and a couple of sides (mashed potatoes and green bean casserole), and everyone else filled in the gaps - appetizers, beverages, desserts, more side dishes. All the food was delicious, and it was great that it was more of a collaborative dinner - and less stressful! Here's a picture of almost everyone chowing down. (One friend was in the kitchen, checking on the mulled wine.)

MK and some of the guys played this drinking game called Wizard Stick. They kept taping their empty beer cans together to make a long stick, and there was a full/in progress beer on the top of the stick. Our friend Mike ended up with the longest chain of beer cans.

As for Christmas festivities, we actually hit up 5 different places over the course of 2 days. We went to MK's mother and stepfather's house, my uncle's house, my cousins' house (same cousins from above), all on Christmas Eve, and then my parents' house and another cousins' house (but still same cousins from above) on Christmas Day. It was a lot of driving, but it was really nice to be able to see so much family!

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