Well we made it halfway through our first Christmas holiday and we are still alive. We drove up to my parents house on Friday night after work and drew names that evening for our Gag gifts. The rest of the weekend had many activities planned for the family and for Eric to get confused by all the people he met.

Saturday night we went over to our family friends, the Harrison's home for some food and games. Yet again the girls were beaten by the boys in Taboo. Eric brought it home in the last round getting seven cards!?!

Sunday, Eric was blessed enough to meet my dad's side of the family. Which actually wasn't that bad and we stayed a little longer than expected, only to later brave the Winter storm back to my parents home.

Christmas Eve, we had church and just squeezed into the 3:30p service. Then we headed to my cousin Kris' house to spend time with my mom's side. Eric walked around their house saying over and over that we need to move (hint: they have an amazing house). We all came back home after the gift opening to my parents house for Gag gifts and our gifts to each other. We all did quite well on our presentations but nothing could compare to my dad's gag gift to Eric. My dad got a little crazy and explained to us why he was laughing so hard the night before by himself as he put the gift together. Eric recieved the special tools he really wanted and he got me a label maker. Such love, huh!

Christmas we woke up to a special breakfast and then ventured to the movie theater to see National Treasure Book of Secrets. We all liked it and thought it was pretty decent. There are even some signature Nicholas Cage looks in this movie. We had lunch, and Eric and I were back on the road home, to work the next day. We hope you had a great Christmas and we will keep you updated on the Zapchenk Christmas this coming weekend!

This weekend Eric and I ventured into the art of Gingerbread houses. Our friend Carly got me a kit for Christmas and I was able to dable in my creative skills. I was also able to sit myself down to finish our thank you cards, which needed to get done.

Early Sunday morning Eric and I awoke to sauna like temperatures in our bedroom. Finally, after Eric went to check the thermostat he realized it was at 28 degrees, trying to heat up to 65. Luckily it was only the thermostat and nothing more serious like our heater. We went over to Menards to get a new one and as you can see it is pretty schnazzy.

Also, we have decided on our new home church - Westridge Community Church. We both really like the pastors and think it is a great place to start out our marriage.

We are very much looking forward to the Christmas season and spending the first weekend up in Wisconsin and New Year's in Illinois.

Merry Christmas Love, Danielle and Eric