Christmas...Drinking Season :)

It has been TOO LONG since I have blogged.  As we say at work... "SLACKER!"  I guess I've gotten wrapped up in the holiday season...okay I'm just going to use that as an excuse :)  I have had the opportunity to see a lot of friends recently, and I am basking in the glory of how amazing my friends are.  

My sorority sister Megan was in town on the 16th and I went over to our friend/sister Anna's to see her and do some chatting.  She is someone who I have really grown to respect and admire.  She is such a passionate person and truly follows her dreams no matter what anyone tells her.  She was just home from an internship in St. Lucia (I know, jealous, right?!) so we got to hear about her experiences there, what is left of her grad school, and of course some good old-fashioned gossiping.  We might get to have her in Minneapolis soon!

At my bachelorette party 

Next comes Christmas weekend.  Woof!  We headed to my parent's place on Saturday to start the weekend.  That night, we headed in to town for a party bus, yes...in Litchfield.  Carmen got a bus into Litchfield and we hopped on for a super fun night.  We picked up whoever we could at the VFW in Litchfield and cruised to Zorbaz in Spicer for drinks, dancing, and lots of talking.  It was a fun mix of HS friends in about a 4 year range, and some of Carmen's friends from college.  I caught up with a friend I taught in drumline, a friend who lives out in Montana, and of course plenty of others!  We had such a fun night!!  Let's just say, "dirty Litch kids" know how to party.  The bus dropped Mike and I off at home, too :)  It's never boring when we all get together and I always have a blast with them!

Jake, Haakon & Bryce

Mike, Brad, Paul & Katie

Hilary and Katie

On the 23rd, my brother brought his girlfriend over so we could meet her for the first time.  My mom and I were under instructions from Mike and my other brother to be nice and behave ourselves...so we did.  Boring, right?!  She was pretty quiet, but everyone is when they first meet the parents.  The good thing is my brother was acting normal, so I'll take that as a good sign.

Christmas Eve we always go to my grandma's house to open gifts and have dinner with my mom's family.  Only her brother's family comes now, but we will leave that for another blog.  We had delicious hotdish (my gma makes the best), the usual goodies, and my grandma made CRANBERRY SALAD!!  I freaking love that stuff, mmmm!!  She made it just for me too :)  I'm Special!  I forgot to mention...my grandpa has a slot machine in his office.  Like a real one.  That he bought online.  Ahhh, to be old.  Hah!  So we indulged in that a bit, too.  It was a laughter filled night and we enjoyed ourselves.

My bearded men, Mike & Dad

Christmas morning...AKA Mike's 26th BIRTHDAY!  This is our first time in 5 years spending Christmas and his birthday together.  It pretty much made my year :)  My mom mad french toast from actual french bread, wow...that was delish!  We opened presents with just my parents (Jake was busy) and it was such a fun day.  We got some games, a card table and chairs, and some other good stuff, too.  My parents really did a great job this year with gifts!  I am known as being an ungrateful gift receiver :( but this year was awesome!  We played the game Trouble for hours and enjoyed the day together.

A short week of work brought us to this weekend.  I'll keep this one short.  Friday we went out with my high school girls to celebrate Anna finishing her Master's in Occupational Therapy (woohoo!).  A friend in med school who we don't get to see often came and it was so great to see her.  We hung out in Uptown and had an easy night catching up and laughing.  I always have a sore face after I leave because we laugh so much.  Congrats Anna!!

Anna, Katie, Carmen & Brittany

Saturday consisted of laundry and cleaning, as usual.  Our friend Jake, who lives in Denver called us up and invited us out.  His family and extended family are in town for the GB/Vikes game (going on now, Vikings are winning currently) so we got to meet a lot of his cousins.  Meeting his family...explains everything.  Haha!  They were a fun bunch and we hopped around DT Minneapolis for a few hours.  I'm so glad he included us!

Jake and Mike, love you guys!

Needless to say, I've gotten my fix of needing some friend time.  And it has been absolutely fantastic.  And I would love some more!  We don't have plans for New Year's Eve and I don't care.  We have spent some amazing time with friends and family lately and I feel so lucky to have such amazing people in my life!  

I hope that everyone's holidays were as great as ours and that you got to spend time with people you love!!