Perfectly Progressive Christmas Countdown...

Well, we FINALLY received our first snow...not a whole lot- just enough to cover the ground and look festive ! I love the snow so much! It makes everything look clean and pretty. The thing we have to be careful with is "Black Ice." If it rains and then freezes, an invisible sheet of ice will form on the asphalt causing our cars to slip and slide all over the place. I had my first experience with black ice last Monday. I spun out into a field near our house. I was okay, but it was scary!

This week was such a blast! First I want to start off with congratulating our Indianapolis Colts for setting the NFL record for the most consecutive wins in a regular season!!! Woo-Hoo!!! Here are Liz and Elise posing in their Colt's gear :) Gangstas Sabrina and Brian...LOL Me and Lisa :) Baby Elise watching the game-She is definitely the cutest and littlest Colts fan :) Ryan and I never watched football until we moved to Indy...I swear, football is a way of life out here. Sunday is football time- it is an expectation that you WILL watch the game. People even wear their jerseys to church...IT IS CRAZY!!! After the game, these cuties came knocking on Eric and Liz's door...Christmas Carolers!!! It was the most adorable thing EVER!!! We NEVER had carolers come to our houses in California as kids or adults...It was so cool to see everyone in the holiday spirit! On Thursday night, we had our first annual Progressive Dinner with our neighbors. We had originally called ourselves the "BLERBS," (which was an acronym we had made with our initials), but our group has grown, so now we call ourselves the "Rowdie Bushes" (after the name of our subdivision, Roudebush Farms). Here is a picture of our kitchen island prepped and ready to go the night before our big celebration....

So what is a Progressive Dinner? It starts out at one house, and you move on to the next house and then the next house, and so forth for each course of the meal until you are finished. Since we hang out with our neighbors ALL the time, we thought this would work out great!

We started the evening out at Zach and Kristin's house, where we had appetizers and drinks...

Zach and Kristin :)

Here is Zach and Kristin's tree...Here is everyone leaving Zach and Kristin's en route to Brian and Sabrina's...

"The ants go marching one by one hurrah, hurrah....." Brian and Sabrina's house... We ate salad and bread at the Gilbert house... Here is Brian and Sabrina's tree... Yum!!!

Me and Lisa :)

Brian and Sabrina :)

Mmmmmmm...Good Friends, Good Food, Good Wine- Doesn't get any better than that! After we finished our salad, we were all on our way to the Beckner house for the main course... Liz and Eric's dining room...Since Liz is home on maternity leave, she graciously volunteered to make the main course of our dinner...ham, scalloped potatoes and green beans! Not to sell Eric short, he made his grandma's homemade noodles for us to enjoy... Eric and Liz's tree... Having a great time... Liz and Elise in her "First Christmas" Santa hat :) Eric, Liz and Elise :) All the girls: Sabrina, me, Liz, Lisa and Kristin :) Cheers!

Yum-Yum!!!After our fabulous dinner, it was off to Steave and Lisa's for dessert...

Steave and Lisa's tree...

Steave and Lisa :)

It was delicious! We had apple pie and chocolate turtle pie...

Last but not least, we were off to our house for after-dinner drinks and the gift exchange... It STILL cracks me up that ALL 5 couples have the SAME floor plan and 3 couples have the SAME outside elevation...

Me and Ry :)Ryan made hot buttered rum for everyone- After sipping our piping hot goodness, we congregated into our living room to do the gift exchange... Layne :) Ryan :) Sabrina :) Liz and cuite pie Elise :) Our dinner was a success and hopefully a tradition we can carry out in years to come... On Friday night, Ryan and I went to my work Christmas party. It was held at our custodian Edmundo's family restauraunt called "Spuds." There was a White Elephant gift exchange where Ryan won this "Beer Snuggie" blanket...Well, actually I stole it back for him because he just HAD to have it- LOL I have some really sweet co-workers at my new school, but I still miss my friends at Bear Valley soooooo much!!!. Here I am with my friend Laura (Special Ed teacher), Blaire (Title 1 teacher), Erin (Speech Therapist) and me. Well, we only have one more week of work to go and then we have made it to Christmas Break!!! The time off is the BEST part of our profession! I can't wait to spend 2 weeks relaxing with my love... Until next time...xo