Christmas and New Car

We had a very nice Christmas. We had a lovely Christmas Eve party at my parent's house with food and friends and music. It was extra special because Michael has been working hard over the last month to convert all of our old Christmas VHS takes to DVD. We got to finally watch the old Christmas movies and they were great. It was also extra special because we finally found the recipe for a White Martini. We discovered the White Martini on our trip to France in '04 and had never been able to replicate it till now. Look for the recipe in an upcoming post.
Christmas was so much fun. We were with both sets of our parents and the kids were in heaven. The day flew by with champagne, new kindles for everyone, a cardboard, life-size cut out of Edward from Twilight, christmas dinner for thirty at my grandparents, toys and toys and more toys, a new fancy vacuum and a love note from my husband.
On the day after Christmas we headed up to Austin to pick up our new car. Michael had taken his old volvo in for it's maintenance on the 23rd and they had informed him that it needed several serious repairs. We had already had the car repaired so many times this year, that we decided we needed to trade it in and try our luck with a new one. He bought an '08 Volvo C30 which had been a loaner at the dealership and had in fact been loaned out to Michael during one of the many times his previous car was in the shop. It is just the car he wanted and we are very pleased, despite the fact that we now have a new car payment. If only Santa could have fit that in his sack.
And now we are at the beach. We took down Christmas, downloaded all the Christmas pictures, organized the new toys and went grocery shopping. Then we loaded up the minivan and headed for Port Aransas. Michael had the week off and since we haven't been anywhere yet this holiday, we were ready to get on the road. We love the beach winter, spring, summer or fall. We cozy up and watch the waves and ride bikes and chase birds. My parents are here now and we have really been enjoying their company. Our friends Cheris and Rob and their kids will join us tomorrow and the party will continue on. Enjoy the pictures. XO, Amber