The most wonderful time of the year!!

Very Merry Christmas!

Well I get some bad blogger points for taking such a long break, but what can I say Christmas is a busy time and I knew I would have endless hours to get back on track once we were back in Italy.  We hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and New Year!  Is it really 2011...to even write that seems crazy!  

Being home is always a whirlwind from the minute I land till we take off the 26th (not so easy this year...more to come later) but I absolutely love every minute of being busy busy busy and spending time with my family and friends.  I also work most of the time I am home too, so squeezing everything in has become quite the art form. :) 

The weekend I got home was the FULL!  Saturday was the 2nd Annual Poe girl shopping where my Mom, sisters and I shop from opening till closing...it is so much fun and we seriously do shop for twelve hours.  We did stop to have a quick bite for lunch, but then we were back at it and got so much done.  It is so much fun spending all day with my Mom and sister...we have so much to catch up on and it is a day that I look forward to for about 3 months ;)

Then on Sunday we celebrated Kristin's 30th birthday with a family filled game day.  We ate, laughed, and of course got a little competitive in the games!  My Mom had great prizes for everyone and we all had a blast being together.  Such a treat to be there for Kristin's special day!

Then I started working on Monday and loved every minute of it!  It is so fun to work at Christmas time because everything is festive and we are busy busy busy.. The best part of working though is that I get to hang out with my Dad and Mom everyday...and our daily Starbucks trip are a must.

I kept pretty busy seeing friends and catching up on everything I missed while I was gone.  Then Tony got home on the night of the 20th and our first stop was Cheesecake factory (one of our favorite restaurants), then pretty much everyday was full from beginning to end :)  Tony's sister Lisa came home for a few days too so we had an early Binetti Christmas with just the fam and had dinner at home and then exchanged gifts.  The Binetti's headed out early Christmas morning for Buellton where Angela (Tony's sister) and her family lives...so it was good to get a few hours with just them since we weren't going to see them on Christmas day.

We were able to home for the annual Christmas party that Henry & Allison Level have at their house.  It is such a blast and the Level's do a super job of hosting everyone (about 38 people) and planning a bunch of games and a white elephant exchange.  We also have a dart tourney, and pool tourney.  We had a great time being able to see so many people in one night and we are so thankful they wait for us to get home to have it!  Thanks Level's!!

The next day was Christmas Eve which I spent working in the morning (favorite day of the year to work) and then on to our first Christmas Eve celebration with the Binetti side.  We had a delicious dinner and then off to 5pm mass at church.  After that followed Christmas numero due with the Poe side.  My Aunt Debbie cooks an amazing dinner of prime rib and all the fixings then we do presents!  Our relatives from Texas come up every year from Christmas and we always have the best time hanging out and definitely get a lot of laughs in :)  When we got home we also had stockings from Santa at the Binetti's house and opened a Garmin navigation!  Thanks Santa ;)

CHRISTMAS DAY!!!  Tony and I woke up early because he was taking his fam to the airport and I was heading over to my sister Sara's house for Christmas morning with my family.  Today was a special Christmas because Sara's kids were getting a puppy...so the excitement was in the air!  Our family are all early risers so we were all there by 7:30am and getting all our gifts under the tree.  Then my Dad showed up with all of our drinks from Starbucks...it was such a nice (and much needed) surprise.  Thanks Dad :)  SO then we started opening gifts and Tony joined us soon after.  We had a great Christmas and once again were super spoiled by everyone.  And then it was time for the BIG present to the kids from their parents...the PUPPY!  So we all gathered in the living room to see their reactions. It was priceless...they loved the puppy and his name is officially Butters.  We are not sure where Gwenny come up with that...but hey it is unique :)  We played outside with the pup the rest of the morning and had a great Christmas morning!!

Then I snuck in a visit with Jessie C. and then home to think about packing to leave the next day and get ready for the day.  Then off to the Bach's (my Aunt and Uncle) house for our Christmas with them.  It was once again so lovely to have everyone there (minus Chris Bach) in our entire family celebrating Chrsitmas.  We felt so blessed that we were able to be home and enjoy this time with everyone.

Then this is where the real fun starts.  Tony and I went home early from Christmas day to get packed and go to bed early as the alarm was set for 5am to go to the airport.  So we were up, packed and out the door at 6am to get to my parents so they could take us.  We get there and I scan my passport and it pops up that our flight had been cancelled....so of course Tony thinks I did something wrong and tries his...same thing!  Well there was a huge snowstorm happening on the East Coast and all flights had been cancelled!!  So then the ticket agent told us that we couldn't re-book International flights from the airport so we had to call customer service.  So my parents turned around and picked us back up because the earliest possible flight was the next day.  So then I called customer service and sat on hold for 3 hours (yes 3 hours with the phone next to me) and got "unexpectedly" dropped and when I tried to call again the operator told me to try again later because they are too busy now! HA..wow I was pretty much steaming mad...but there was one thing making me super happy...it was Kristin's birthday!!  So we were actually on our way to surprise her in Seattle!  She was supposed to have brunch with just my Mom and Dad, but we thought it would be fun not to tell her we got cancelled and just show up!  

So to finish our lovely travel experience, I finally got through to talk to someone and they re-booked us for the same flight the next day.  So at this point we knew we were going to be home for one more day and then Tony did something that completely shocked me in a good way...he suggested we stay at the WAC for the night!!  I was so surprised and happy!  If you know Tony at all you know this not something he would typically do with out the hours of persuasion from me.  So we had an awesome brunch at the WAC (a club my sister belongs to downtown Seattle) with the birthday girl and just enjoyed some free time with NO plans. Then my Dad and Tony went and worked out and my Mom, Kristin and I went shopping.  Then we after a relaxing afternoon Tony and I went and met up with Kristin and her friends to celebrate!  

SOOO we thought the travel story was over.  Now it is Tuesday morning and I wake up at 3am to check if our flight is cancelled...it is still on!  So up at 5am to get out the door and take the Seattle Light rail to the airport.  We get there and check in and eat breakfast...flight is still on time.  Right before we are supposed to board we get delayed two hours and the gate agent tells me that will miss our connecting flight to Rome.  So Tony called his team and had they had to get him on a flight direct to Amsterdam then to Rome.  The flight left in a few hours so we just ate lunch and relaxed and I actually got to hug him good bye at the gate! :)  

Then I got to have a whole extra day home on Tuesday since there weren't any flights for me until Wednesday.  Even though we didn't get to fly together it was a pleasant blessing in disguise to spend those extra days at home and spend it with my family. 

Now we are back in Italy and getting settled back in!  It is always an adjustment to come back here at first because things at home are just SOO easy and here there always seems to be an extra step involved when doing anything.  But it only takes a few days before I get used to it again.

That was a marathon post and I would be amazed if you are still reading!  But if so Tony and I hope you all had a great Christmas and Happy New Year!  We hope 2011 brings joy and blessings to you and your family :)

Ciao Ciao!!

Some Fun Christmas Pictures of the time home!

So fun to meet Miss. Blayne (baby on left) and see Kaylin, Katie and Jaelynn!

All ready to see Santa!

The cutest kids on the planet!!

My parents and sister and I all showed up to work in matching outfits..hah!

Annual dinner with the SPU girls! 

Presents anyone?

Her very own PANDORA bracelet!

Pure surprise and excitement

Welcome to the family Butters :) 

Happy Birthday Kristin!!

So glad I could be there to celebrate!

OK...so I got a few lip glosses for Christmas, they must know how much I heart them!