Christmas 2012

This years Christmas was nothing short of amazing. I had the opportunity to be apart of two family Christmases this year which made things that more special for me. On Christmas Eve, we spent the time with Danny's Aunt and Uncle in Dayton. This was nice because I got to spend time with this side of the family more. Danny's cousin, Kristen is going to be a Bridesmaid in our wedding in March, so I had so much fun hanging out with her and getting to know her better. I also got to spend time with Danny's grandmother. Since I didn't get the chance to have grandparents growing up, it was so special to spend 1 on 1 time with her and talk with her. The Anderson's surprised me with a customized Green Bay Packers jersey with my future last name and Danny's college baseball number on it. It was quite the surprise that I was literally in awe. The rest of the night, we played games, ate good food, and even took a dip in the hot tub. It was a great night with my new family!


Me and Danny at the Anderson's

My Christmas present!

On Christmas, we drove to my parents house in Columbus to spend the day with them. Unfortunately, I had to log in and work from home for four hours throughout the day, but nothing was really going on, so it was no big deal. We preceded to open presents including a Bengals snuggie for Danny along with xbox games and some blu-rays. I got some really great gifts for my kitchen as well as things for our house!  Danny and I also got luggage to use on our honeymoon in March!  All in all, a fun Christmas morning!  There was a blizzard scheduled for that next day so instead of staying in Columbus to risk the possibility of being snowed in, we decided to leave that night for Cleveland.  Even though it was a short time together it was great to see my parents and share in the joy of Christmas.

Danny's new Bengals snuggie

At the Sharpnack's
Our attempt at a family picture with the cats

The weekend after Christmas, we concluded our Christmas week long celebration with Danny's parents at their lake house.  Since we had a blizzard in Cleveland a few days before that, there was definitely plenty of snow to go around up north at the lake house.  We got in Friday night and spent until Sunday morning with them.  We opened presents when we arrived on Friday which made me feel like part of the family with all of the thoughtful gifts they had bought for me.  Danny received a lot of IU gear to wear and for his future man cave! I received a lot of cute outfits that I can wear for work, including a major accessory, two coach wristlets! Both of our families definitely spoiled us this year.  We are so lucky to have family members that love us and know how to spoil us to make us feel loved! Thank you to everyone that made this Christmas truly special! It was an amazing holiday this year and it made Danny and I both feel so much more apart of each others families.


At the lake house with the Steele's

Giving back

I have a friend on facebook that decided to do something different this year for her birthday.  In light of everything that has happened lately, most recently the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings, she was inspired by Ann Curry's idea of 26 acts of kindness.  These 26 acts are to represent something good for each person or child who lost their life in that elementary school just a few weeks ago.  She started this movement by tweeting, “Imagine if everyone could commit to doing one act of kindness for every one of those children killed in Newtown.” My facebook friend took this idea and decided to have all of her facebook friends participate in one good act on her birthday to see all the good things that can come of a small act of kindness.  Once I was invited to the group, I knew it sounded like a great idea to get involved in and to help make a difference this holiday season. 

I went down through the list of ideas that my facebook friend had posted and I came across one that caught my attention right away:

I have always been an animal lover and animals have always been a part of my life.  I've had cats, dogs, fish, and hamsters growing up and I've been a vegetarian for 9 years because I can't stand the thought of eating an animal.  I spoke to Danny that day and we decided to buy bags of food to donate to a local humane society in the area.  I went on the Geauga's Humane Society website and they actually had a "wish list" of what they needed for their animals.  This list made it easier to figure out what kinds of specific food they need and what would benefit them the most. The next week, Danny and I went to PetSmart and bought two large bags of cat food (kitten chow and cat chow) and two large bags of dog food (puppy chow and dog chow). 

Last night, we drove out to the Geauga's Humane Society and delievered the food.  I stayed near the car since Danny thought if I went into the building, I might adobt every creature I saw.  However, it was still a wonderful experience for me.  Danny said they had a pile of donations that other families had bought for the humane society.  I felt really special helping out a place that helps out animals and I'm hoping one day we can adopt an animal from this shelter.  All in all, it was a good day for a great cause.  Danny and I loved it so much, we want to make it a tradition to donate to the local humane society every year around Christmas.  Its all too often that we lose sight of how much we actually have and not think of those that don't have those things that we take for granted.  For more ideas on the 26 acts of kindness movement, check out their facebook page.

S'mores Popcorm Mix

This year for Christmas, things were a little different.  Since this is our first christmas together, Danny and I split the holidays with our families.  Ever since I started dating Danny, I heard about the famous Christmas Eve nights spent with his cousins playing song games, eating finger foods, and exchanging Christmas presents with his mom's sister's family.  This year, I wasn't sure if I would be able to make it, realizing that I would have to work until 10 pm on Christmas Eve, however, my coworker came to my rescue and decided to work the holiday shift for me.

I wanted to do something special since this was my first Christmas with the Brickner's.  I looked up on pinterest recipes that I could make and I came across a blog for holiday popcorn mixes.  If its one thing this family loves, its popcorn.  When I met Danny and first went to his apartment, I remember vividly he had a case of beer in the fridge, 10 boxes of popcorn and a bag of animal crackers in the cupboard.

I wanted to make a recipe that everyone could eat so I tried the S'mores popcorn.  The ingredients are just popcorn, Golden Grahams cereal, mini marshmellows, and chocolate chips.

This recipe was so easy to make.  You simply pop the popcorn, mix all three ingredients together (popcorn, Golden Grahams, and mini marshmellows) in a large bowl and then spread mixture evenly on a cookie sheet.  Then you melt the chocolate chips in the microwave and drizzle over the mixture.  After the cholocate dries, the mixture is complete.  I put the popcorn mixture into Christmas tins I found at JoAnn's.  They make a great package and keep the popcorn fresh.  Check out the popcorn blog for this recipe and other great holiday popcorn recipes (Danny wanted to try them all!).  Merry Christmas friends!

Friends, Food, and Fire

Last Thursday night, Danny and I went over to our friends, Doug and Melissa's house.  They bought their first house a few months ago and moved in 3 weeks ago.  Their house looks amazing! Not only do they have a house now, but they have a new family member too.  Melissa has been excited to get a kitten as soon as she moved out of their old apartment. Her name is Lily, she is 8 months old and the most adorable little kitten.


Lily - 8 months old

Doug and Melissa made us a wonderful dinner comprised of homemade pizza and fresh salad.  After dinner Doug and Danny hung out in Doug's new closed-in front porch, while Melissa and I caught up about our upcoming weddings and life in general.  Melissa and I have been friends ever since freshman year of college.  She lived in the dorm room across the hall from me and we were in the same major.  We stayed in touch, but after freshman year we joined different sororities and had different friends.  We became close again when Melissa and I decided to study abroad in Europe with the business school.  Because of all of our adventures in Europe like navigating our way through Paris or getting pick pocketed in Pisa, we've remained close.


Melissa and me in Cinque Terre, Italy in 2008

That night at Doug and Melissa's house, Melissa and I built a fire for the first time in their new house.  It was a fun experience since I used all the tricks of the trade that my Dad taught me as Scoutmaster of the Boy Scouts, he would be so proud!
All in all, it was a great night with the future Hogan family! I'm looking forward to the next time we can see each other!

Our First Christmas

This year marks our first Christmas together as a couple.  We did a lot of special things this season to get ready for holidays.  We set up our tree in the middle of November because we were both just too excited to wait any longer.  Danny had to deal with my color coordinated tree and did not hesitate to tease me about it.  He thinks I'm going to make our kids only make red, green, or gold Christmas ornaments because anything else just wouldn't go with the tree.


Our Christmas Tree 2012

We had a fun night of decorating the tree, watching Christmas movies, and even baking chocolate chip cookies.  The kitties loved watching us put up the tree because they love playing underneath it so much.  They are constantly underneath it up until it gets taken down after the holidays.  Hence, the main reason for shatterproof ornaments.


Teddy and Rosie underneath the Christmas tree

I also tried a Christmas craft this year.  I was in the mood to make something for the holidays, but I didn't know quite what I wanted to make.  Luckily, this is why Pinterest was invented.  I came across a craft to hold Christmas cards.  This was perfect because I always have Christmas cards, but I never know what to do with them or where to hang them.  After I took a trip to JoAnn's for all of the supplies, I put together my Christmas craft and was pretty proud of how it turned out! The actual instructions for this craft can be found here.



Christmas Card Holder