Christmas decorations...

are all officially down.

(hopefully)

sometimes they randomly appear in our house...

ahhh feels good to have them put away... along with a clean house.

Oh, you fancy, huh?

T brought home fancy strawberries for Christmas.

Beautiful small pieces of art.

Christmas 2011

 

 

 Christmas day is always spent with the Wasko side of the family...

eating, drinking, and being merry.

Christmas Eve

Evening Mass.
(silent night gets me every time)

Dinner.
 (chicken lasagna...num num num)

Traditional Christmas tree photos.
(and a few funny ones)

Exchanging gifts.
(best gift = dad's alaska scrapbook)

Anticipation for Santa to vist.
(guess i was bad this year...just kidding)

Dinner & Gambling

Last night we went out for dinner with the Smith family followed by a little gambling at the casino.

We walked into the casino feeling lucky...

but no winnings for any of us.

Great night of fun and good conversation.

Thank you Smith family! Hopefully we can arrange a game night before the end of break.

oh my fudge...

be jealous t & j.

our family friend, diane, brought over her yummy christmas goodies.

seriously, that fudge is sinful.

let the baking begin

well...i have been home for approximately for 48 hours...

time sure goes by a lot slower here.

recap of my sunday:

i lifted over 1,000 pounds of wood pellets for my father, helped him put up a snow fence, and assisted with other farms tasks as assigned.

helped mama wrap presents, make dinner, and began Christmas baking

currently listening to my parents argue over what they want to watch on TV.

Our Christmas Party

 The roommates and myself decided to throw a Christmas party for our close girlfriends.

We had lots of Christmas goodies ranging from Oreo balls to almond bark pretzels to hot apple cider to nutella hot cocoa.

(Too much sugar...!)

We told the girls to bring a gift for the gift exchange if they wanted to participate.

Gift exchanges works so well.

It beats buying several gifts.

We played pin the nose on Rudolph, thanks to Racheal's incredible artistic skills.

 We had a sugar cookie decorating contest...

(although we never truly declared a winner)

It was fun to see people's creative sides come out.

The best part of the cookie decorating contest was that a plate full of cookies was taken to the correctional facility in town.

Service project...check.

Natalie lit a fire in the fire place and a few of us stayed up until midnight talking.

So much fun.

I love Christmas!

and I love all of my wonderful friends!

The best way to spread Christmas cheer...

 is dressing up in holiday gear!

... and playing card games as loud as possible for all to hear!

We had a get-together last night with friends.

Complete with fajitas, Christmas clothes, and an intense game of spoons followed by Gestures.

christmas TREES

the Christmas TREES are up.  Yes plural, not singular.

Two.

Dos.

Not one, but two beauties.

One white.

One green.

I had such a wonderful weekend.

Screamed my heart out at the Bearcat playoff football game on Saturday.

We won! Whoo hoo!

Screamed my heart out when a bird flew into our house this evening.

I opened the back door to shake out the rugs and BAM a bird flew in.

Fluttered all around the house.

My friend describes it best in her Facebook Status:

Imagine this: Rosalind Thiel with a broom chasing a bird, Angela Wasko under the coffee table calling Brady Fleshamn to come to our rescue, me and Natalie Bannister crawling on the ground, and Rachael Bannister whistling to lure the bird outside. This just happened.

Christmas

Christmas consisted of...

red velvet cupcakes and lots of other sweet treats...

tractors, tractors, tractors...

a 24 pound turkey...

Christmas aprons...

presents... (lots of chocolate for Grandma)

and customized 'Wasko University' shirts.

Hope you had a happy holiday filled with laughter and love!

Christmas Eve

The Waskos attempted to take some non-traditional sister photos. We ran outside for 30 seconds and then ran back in, it was way too cold!

Christmas Eve was spent eating dinner, Mass, and then opening gifts from each other.

My favorite gift: Vera Bradley Large Tote! Can't wait to fill it up and take it to Washingon...and then fill it up even more with clothes from H & M!

25 Things I'm Thankful For

Merry Christmas Eve! Here are 25 things that I am thankful for this Christmas season...

(in no particular order)

1. Straight teeth and having 21 years without cavities (dentist appointment yesterday)

2. Having a roof over my head at home and at college

3. A fridge full of food

4. Professors and staff at Northwest who have helped me become successful

5. Having two roommates who hold the same moral values as myself

6. My health

7. A body that can walk, run, jump, skip, etc.

8. Internships that have given me lifelong friends and real work experience

9. My heated mattress pad on my bed at college

10. Parents who allow me to follow my dreams

11. Social networking sites that allow me to keep in contact with my friends

12. The people that God has put in my life the past year who have challenged me in more than one way

13. Sisters who understand my quirky sense of humor

14. Planes, trains, and automobiles

15. The Bible

16. My ability to read, write, and learn something new everyday

17. Seeing, smelling, tasting, touching, and feeling

18. Computers. (Technology in general)

19. My talents

20. Turning on the faucet and being able to drink clean water

21. Music and singing

22. Living in a safe country

23. Clothes that keep me warm

24. Forgiveness

25. Celebrating the birth of our Savior and remembering what a gift He is in our lives.

It is beautiful here in Iowa. A light white snow has covered the ground...

Merry Christmas to you and yours!

Goodies

One of my favorite Christmas traditions is consuming uncontrollable amounts of Diane Smith's yummy Christmas goodies. Her fudge is a-ma-zing.

As well as her Carmel's, turtles, peanut brittle...

peanut butter balls, Oreo balls, cookies, etc.

They are all delectable . I think I will grab another piece of fudge now...it is addicting.

Thank you Diane for always filling our tummies up with your wonderful homemade goodies!