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.