Snow, snow, snow

Is it still Christmas? This is the longest holiday I've had. We drove downstate for my mom's birthday on the 22nd, got together with my dad's family early on Christmas eve, and then my mom's family that night. We exchanged presents with the folks on Christmas day and then drove 2 1/2 hours across the state and caught a late night get-together at my fiance's Aunts house. Today we had a 6 hour get together at his grandparents house. At the rate we're going it's going to be Christmas until New Years!
It is nice to see family, even if all the to-do wears me out a bit. And of course, I love exchanging gifts. Being poor college kids, we had to be sort of creative this year in flexing our thrifty muscles. For my parents I painted an old jar and stuffed it with candy. We told them they can re-purpose it for just about anything, it works as a vase, or a holder for spare mechanical parts, since my dad is a mechanic. We stuffed stockings with an assortment of cheap junk food, which is the norm for my family, and fruit, which is traditional for Shawn's family. We dropped a little bit of money on each other, I got him a tool kit for around the house and working on his car, and he got me an adorable fox puzzle and some paintbrushes. For my mom's birthday we framed this picture since she loves cardinals:




How's that for some color amongst the drab of winter photos I've been posting lately? Speaking of which...








I'd say that's the last of them, but it's just not true. But to spice it up, the next post will be a series of pictures that I edited all by myself! Aren't you so proud?

Also, apparently the paint brushes and the puzzle were not my only gifts. As I've been writing this post, Shawn and his dad are downstairs with a table saw (or something just as loud) making me another present! What could it be?