Christmas in New England

Lindsay and I had a most wonderful first Christmas as a married couple at Lindsay's parent's house in New Hampshire. We had an amazing time! The Coles live in Brookline, a small town a short distance from Nashua. Brookline is a little out in the country, and the Cole home is surrounded by pristine woods. Ryan (Lindsay's brother) and Ryan's wife Haley flew out from Utah so the whole Cole family (plus those adopted into their family, like me) were together on Christmas. I know Lindsay loved spending time at home with her family and the Coles really helped me to feel at home as well. They even  participated in some Madsen family Christmas traditions, like gumdrop candles and eating by candlelight on Christmas eve.  Here are some pictures to show you how much fun we had. Enjoy!

While the picture is a little fuzzy, this is us eating Chinese food from Lilac Blossom by the light of our gumdrop candles. The Cole tradition is to order out Chinese every Christmas eve.

Another shot of the Christmas Eve meal

A couple people are smiling after the meal

Outside the Cole home on Christmas Eve night

I don't think I had seen so many gifts under a Christmas tree in my entire life! With eight kids, a son-in-law and a daughter in law home for Christmas, the gifts start to pile up.

Another fuzzy picture, but it gives you a sense of the mountain of presents under the tree.

We are looking bright-eyed and bushy-tailed on our first Christmas morning as newlyweds!

Tracey helpfully sorted the gifts.

 Everybody's stockings by the fireplace! Lindsay's is the one with the large snowflakes on it...

...and this is mine!

The Coles traditionally have a big breakfast on Christmas morning. These are cinnamon rolls with green-colored icing organized in the form of a Christmas tree. With a star on top to boot!

Looking over some of our gifts!

Lindsay and I felt truly grateful for the generosity and love of Lindsay's parents, Ryan and Haley, my parents, my brother Mike, my sister Lindsay, and of course, each other for all the wonderful gifts we received!

The day after Christmas a big blizzard blew into New England, dropping about a foot of snow at the Cole home. This is Ryan and I on the shoveling crew after the snow stopped. 

This pathway gives you a sense of how deep the snow was. The snow was just a tad late for Christmas but it was fun being in a wintry wonderland in the woods of New Hampshire.

WE LOVE DC!!!

These are pictures of Lindsay and I exploring our new surroundings in the nation's capital!

In front of the Washington Monument

At the World War II Memorial--one of my favorite monuments

The fountains at the WW II Memorial are lovely

Home state pride!

Shout out to Utah!

We were supposed to get the White House in the background but Steve's head is blocking it

The Vietnam War Memorial

Outside the Lincoln Memorial

On the steps of the Lincoln Memorial...has to be one of the most amazing views in America

A hunk and a babe with Honest Abe

Our Apartment!!

The kitchen--all new counter-tops and appliances

our bed and bedroom--with Aunt Janeth's lovely quilt adorning

Our wardrobe and dressers

The living room

The view as you walk in the front door

The view from the kitchen

These are the pictures of our apartment we promised to post!

Entering the blog world...

So Steve and I decided to join the blogging world.  We figured that everyone is in great anticipation to know all about our adventures here in DC and so we didn't want you all to to suffer anymore :)  Steve and I have settled into our apartment and are enjoying Alexandria so far.  However, we are still awaiting the most important part of our apartment (according to me) the bed.  We have been spending a month of our precious evenings that are reserved for blissful sleep on a lovely air mattress.  Which was lovely for the first couple of days but has lost its loveliness in my eyes.  Steve knows how crazy I am going without having slept in a real bed for a month now.  I am forgetting what it is like to sleep on a wonderful and comfy mattress.  Oh the days of sleeping in a bed.... just a few more days till we can experience it again!  :)

Well Steve started law school three weeks ago and is loving it!  He was pleasantly surprised to find that he really enjoys his classes and all the material they are brainwashing, I mean teaching him, j/k.  He has been keeping busy with his case briefs and I have been keeping busy catching up on TV shows while doing some job searching here and there. :)  I have been applying to all sorts of jobs and am hoping to soon hear back from some of them.  We have really enjoyed Virginia so far and are excited about all of the adventures that we will have here on the east coast and sharing them with all of you!  All of our friends and family are in our prayers and in our thoughts.  We hope to keep in contact with and hear from many of you on our blog.  We love you all!!