Happy New Year!

Seasons greetings!
Wow! December went by so fast!
My semester wasn't over until December 22, but Jason had about a week after his killer week of finals to relax. Of course, relaxing for him includes studying for hours a day, sleeping until 6:40 am, cooking, cleaning, and catching up on other things around the house. Sounds relaxing, right?

December 22 we took off for Nashville. We had an overwhelming "Christmas Eve" dinner that night, then woke up the next day, and celebrated Christmas morning!!! We got tons of great stuff from the Caswells-and Santa! Jason's parents got new stockings for the whole family this year- Saints for the boys and Vera Bradley for the girls- check it out.. SO CUTE!
After another gouging of more incredible food, we took off again on the journey to Saint Louis.

We spent the night at Grandma Dee's playing games. The next day we got to spend some quality time with Grandma and Grandpa Platten.
Click here for a hilarious video of Grandma and Grandpa Platten and K&J Caswell
That night, of course we went to the annual Platten Family Christmas Eve Bash. We played Reindeer Games. (HA HA- see picture below!)

The next day we went to my Uncle Kevin's house for the Christmas Day party for my mom's side of the family.

Luckily the Legrands were able to meet us for lunch as we were leaving Saint Louis, for our annual Legrand/Platten Christmas lunch. It was full of laughter and good memories, and of course missing Jonathan, Laura, Hayden and the kids.

After driving to Nashville just in time to watch the Saints play, we got to sleep because we had to catch a flight to New Orleans in the morning. It was an easy flight, and Jason's Godmother picked us up at the airport. The days in New Orleans were filled with extremely filling food, fun games, quality time with family, and making memories. Jason's grandparents are such special people, and we are so blessed that we were able to spend time with them this week.
We also took a trip to Abita Springs, LA to tour the Abita Brewery. We had a group of about 25! We also went to the famous Acme Oyster House, the French Quarter, and the French Market. One night we celebrated the birthday of Jason's Uncle Dennis-and the whole week it seemed we were celebrating the exciting news of the engagement of cousins Jeff and Nadja.

The only thing at Acme Oyster House for a girl who doesn't eat any type of seafood. 

Unfortunately on New Year's Eve we had to fly back to Nashville- so we missed the Gravois family New Year Celebration. But we had our own celebration. Maybe it sounds lame to you, but we spent it exactly as we wanted... We were home by 8, in our pajamas by 8:30, drank hot chocolate, played rummikub on the floor, and watched the ball drop.

When we got to Nashville the Caswells had left us champagne, 2 flutes, and 2 Happy New Year hats. They are so thoughtful!!


2011 has honestly been the best year of our lives. We wait with joyful anticipation of all the blessings that are to come through our most Gracious God in 2012. I hope your holidays have been filled with as much family, friends, and blessings as ours.