Pre-Christmas at the Johnahues

This past weekend, we celebrated pre-Christmas at our home,

hosting the whole Donahue clan for dinner.

I had a grand time decorating our new dining room

"Martha Stewart" style with a table set for 10!

Just for kicks, I did the kids table up too~

I was surprised to learn that we indeed had enough chairs!

All the guests brought a little something to share;

Julie brought this adorable cheese!

It was too cute to eat - we just took a picture of it.

The cow seemed to watch over our appetizer table for the rest of the night.

Gifts were shared and laughter was heard; it was a terrific dinner with family.

Our china is now fully broken in and all the nieces

raised their champagne ciders to toast to the holiday season.

We are off to sail the Virgin Islands for the holidays!

Wish us well against the Pirates of the Carribbean

We are sure more adventures are sure to await us in 2009!

Stay tuned...

Graduation!

The time has finally come that I can say I've gone and graduated...again. This time, I'm excited to say I've completed my MBA in Nonprofit Management at Suffolk University. It's been a 3 1/2 year process, going part time at night/on weekends while working full time during the day.

This past weekend, we celebrated with a dinner downtown;

a number of my classmates from the Germany trip were there also!

Our graduation gift was a pen/business card holder set.

Congratulations to the graduates of December 2008!

Christmas photos

We had our first snow (just a dusting), and Sox was very curious about this "white stuff" on the ground. He had a grand time in the snow last year, but he was so small it often was hard to play in. We're hopeing for some great pictures of a bouncing snow pup later this year.

It's that time of year to get the fun family foto taken for the Christmas cards. This year, we decided on a little retrospective - last year at this time, we were finalizing the deal for our new home AND our new puppy! So it was last year's photo and this year's edition that both made the card. It was great to see how far we'd come in a year ... and to see how much our little Soxie had GROWN! We knew he'd be big, but he went from 25 to 85 in his first year with us. I remember when he graduated puppy kindergarten...sniff sniff! My how fast they grow up.

Here are a few favorites from us by the new pellet stove. Sox just LOVES to stare at it. He watches the flames fly with his ears perked, or just snoozes in front of the warmth. Either way, it's adorable. Hope your days are filled with as much warmth and love as our house is nowadays!! XO

Turkey Travels, Birthdays and International Relations

What a wild and crazy Thanksgiving full of family and friends! We traveled to Falmouth Thursday morning to dine with the Donahue clan. All of Mike's brothers, sisters and nieces visited "Nana and Papa's" house! It was a crowded table...in a good way!

After an early afternoon dinner in Falmouth, we traveled back home to Holliston to host Amy's parents, who drove in from Indiana! Luckily there were leftovers from the Donahue's, so the Johnson's got to eat the same meal...only later.

Friday, Mike and Amy went to work, while the Johnson's visited Grampy in Somerset. He was in good spirits and they spent the afternoon and dinner with family there. This was good for us, as the finishing touches were still being put on the hearth pad. :)

Saturday was a big day for Grammy Esther - we all celebrated her 98th birthday! It was a great celebration, with 4 generations of family there. She heard us all singing happy birthday to her and she clapped and smiled - it was such a beautiful sight. We are all so blessed to have her in our lives.

Sunday, we said goodbye to the Johnson's as the headed back to Indiana and HELLO to our friends Rich and Steph who were visiting from South Africa! Unfortunately for them, they hit the brunt of Thanksgiving traffic traveling northeast from Connecticut and suffered the wrath of those without a FastLane pass...waiting and waiting to see someone about a toll. The 3 hour trip took twice as long and although spirits had sunk a bit (what with all that car talk...) we certainly livened things up with a dinner out together. We caught up on the politics in both countries, current and future job prospects for all and generally got caught up since our wedding. A late night turned into a late morning where we enjoyed cheesy sausage eggs and coffee in a leisurely fashion. Love those lingering pajama mornings...

It was a wonderful weekend of visitors and family events - even Sunny and Sox cuddled up together for some together time. (awww) Sox had turned his head all backwards and jammed up against the corner of the couch. How did he do that???