Holiday Visitors

Starting on Christmas night, our house turned into a bed and breakfast for a whole host of family and friends. It was the best kind of chaos, and left us feeling so blessed to have so many great people in our lives.

Sunday night, Matt's sister Karen visited us along with her daughter Madi, her boyfriend, and her boyfriend's daughter. They also brought two dogs with them. It was so fun to watch the three girls -- ages 8, 3, and 1 -- play together despite the huge age gaps. Madi is especially good with V and is such a wonderful big cousin it makes me proud of her. It was also great to watch the pups play. Piper and Hannah love canine visitors! We had a delicious dinner with them (honey baked ham, mmmmm!!), and they stayed until after breakfast the next morning.

After they left, Matt, Victoria, and I got ready to drive to Duluth for lunch with Iowa friends Tom, Steph, and Henry. We have known them for many years, and it is always a treat to catch up with them. They lived in Washington D.C. until recently, and had much to share about their new home and Steph's new job.

That night, we were joined by California friends Brittany and Chris. We took them to Mexico Lindo for dinner, played with Victoria, then played a game of Settlers after she went to bed. I met these two my first year in college, and was so happy they were able to see our house and meet Piper and Victoria. I hope we can get to California sometime in the near future to see them again.

Tuesday night, South Dakota friends Kyle and Kati Jo, along with their four kids, arrived. We traveled to South Dakota last August for their wedding. Matt and Kyle are old gaming buddies, so of course part of the evening's conversation would revolve around various games. At times Kati Jo and I just looked at each other knowingly and shook our heads lovingly at our geek husbands.

We had a couple days' break, and then for New Year's Eve, Erika and Aaron came from the Cities for a three-course fondue dinner. Fondue is such a social feast, and I love how encourages lingering conversation and lots of wine drinking. They arrived at 6:00, and I think we finished dessert around 10:00. A couple more drinks, and before we knew it, midnight had arrived! Totally my kind of way to spend New Year's Eve.

All together, this week was a perfect way to end 2011.