A Christopher Christmas

Drew and I hosted our parents and Kristina this past Saturday for a mini pre-Christmas gathering at our house in Richmond. We missed Ryan but he was attending his office holiday celebration in Philadelphia (lucky him!). Drew grilled steaks, veggies, chicken and shrimp, Kris made awesome bruschetta, I made homemade pesto and feta pasta salad, momma j brought her awesome rolls, and mom and dad mascelli brought cheesecake covered with fruit for dessert. We also had great wine and some limoncello thanks to Drew at the end of the night. Drew and I had a wonderful time with our family and hope to continue the pre-Christmas dinner tradition. Gia also had a fabulous time getting extra treats from everyone. Christmas has officially begun!

Here are some pics-

Tacky Christmas at the Findley Farm

Sorry it has been a couple of weeks since we last posted a blog entry. We are finally done Christmas shopping and now have a few minutes to update everyone on what we've been doing.

First up is Stephanie and Matt Findley's Tacky Christmas Party which was held the weekend of Dec. 8 at their home in Harrisonburg VA near JMU. The Findley's are our great friends and were both in our wedding. Matt and Drew met at Virginia Tech and were fraternity brothers. As girlfriends of fraternity brothers, Stephanie and I formed a great friendship which has only strengthened throughout the years. Stephanie and Matt have a beautiful 1 and a half year old daughter Mailee, who Drew and I are the godparents of, and the Findley's really do live on a farm with cows, chickens, dogs, cats and other critters.

The party lasted from Friday to Sunday. Thank goodness their home is large and can sleep all 25 or so of us! We were able to catch up with great friends and sport the tackiest Christmas outfits in south western Virginia. Please pay close attention to Drew's hair- I thought his costume ranked among the best and so did everyone else as he tied Hunter for third place!


Enjoy the pics-






Mailee and I

Mailee chewing on the Dora phone we gave her.

Pug Play Group

Sorry for the delay in posts- I was sick all weekend but am finally starting to feel better. I've been laying low trying to get better but I did want to make sure I shared pics from Gia's first pug play group at a Richmond dog park this past Saturday. She made lots of friends and Drew and I got a kick out of all of the snorting that took place. Here are some pics of the adorable little guys-

Gia is the one drinking-

I also had to throw in this cute one of Gia chewing her bone (and Drew's legs - ha!)

Congratulations Meg and Steve!

The Mascelli family is getting bigger by the minute! Congrats to my cousin Meghan and her new fiance Steve on their engagement which happened this past Saturday evening in Old Town Alexandria. We are thrilled for them and can't wait to celebrate!!!

I'd like to be the first to request a Raw and Untamed reunion tour (sorry Meg!). For all who don't know, Raw and Untamed is the Mascelli Brother's Band (my uncles) and they only play for family weddings.

Here are two pics that Meg sent today of the engagement- the first is the couple after the proposal and the second was taken after Meg realized their friends and families were awaiting in the background. So sweet. Welcome and good job Steve!

Thanksgiving Scranton Style

Happy Belated Thanksgiving to Everyone! Drew and I are back in Richmond after a fun trip up north to Scranton PA to spend Thanksgiving with the Mascelli family at Aunt Cathy and Uncle Chuck's home. We love visiting Scranton and we had a great time catching up with everyone. We arrived Thursday afternoon to Aunt Cathy's Thanksgiving feast and spent the evening eating wonderful food, drinking lots of Italian wine and playing a exciting game of balderdash (there is no lack of creativity in our family). Gia and Harold spent the day chasing each other at full speed and played like pug cousins do.

Friday we spent the day relaxing, chatting, eating more, and more and more, and drinking more Italian wine. Drew, Kris, Jule, John and I hit the bars in Scranton late night but as usual, I was the first to head home! Thanks Aunt Cathy and Uncle Chuck for a wonderful time- we can't wait to do it again soon. Please enjoy our Thanksgiving in pictures-

The kids table (Kris, John, Matt, Michael, Jule, Drew)-



Adult table and sadly the only pic I have of Aunt Cathy and Uncle Chuck in the background walking-



Kris and John-



Dad and Mom-



Grandma, me, Aunt Donna-

Gia and Harold in the kitchen-

The Christopher's-

Dad and I-

Jule in her cute dress enjoying the wine-

Pug love-

Silly pugs-

Dad snuggling with Harold-

Dart champions out in Scranton-

Pictures

In an effort to organize and preserve our thousands of digital pictures, we are slowly migrating them onto a public web site sponsored by google. You can view our wedding pics and other fun pics here- http://picasaweb.google.com/amandachristopher1.

Also, we will soon have the rights to our wedding pics and will be able to send a link for ordering them at a fraction it would have cost through the photographer. Will keep you posted. They are only posted at the web site above in low resolution which does not print well.

8k Run and Lazy Weekend

Not too much to report from this past weekend although it was pretty relaxing. Saturday morning I ran an 8k (5 miles) race with my friend Sarah in Richmond and had a great time, while Drew took his final grad school exam. One more class and that masters degree will be his! (We plan on skipping the Virginia Tech graduation though in early June for a vacation to the Dominican Republic. Looking forward to that!) Saturday night we went out with friends to celebrate our accomplishments from earlier in the day and had a fun time. On Sunday Kristina came to Richmond for a visit so we spent the day watching movies, reruns of the office, and grabbed dinner at a local Italian Restaurant that had Peroni beer to our delight. Monday Kris and I did a little shopping before she headed back and then of course I made Drew watch Dancing with the Stars with me! We are always on the run so it's nice to have a lazy weekend at home every now and then. Thankfully we get another one this weekend before we head to Scranton for Thanksgiving (we can't wait!!). Here are a couple running pics from Saturday:

Oyster Festival

Told you we had lots of blogging to do! This past weekend we had a great time aboard the Janet Faye (mom and dad Christopher's boat) which was docked all weekend at the Urbanna Marina for Oyster Festival- http://www.urbannaoysterfestival.com/. Oyster Festival is a great tradition in the Northern Neck which Drew and I have been attending together as long as we've been dating. We had a great weekend hanging out with friends and family, enjoying mama J's cooking, eating fried oysters and relaxing. Here are some pics.

The Christopher Men (Drew standing a few steps down)-

Sat morning after our first night on the boat

Mom and Dad Chris

Friends at Shuckers Bar in Urbanna

Bowling at the White House

This past Thursday we had the privilege of taking a private tour of the White House with my aunt and uncles, in celebration of the visit of our Italian cousins from Rome- Maria, Valeria, Ricky and Carla. While we were in Italy this past summer we had the amazing opportunity to visit Castel Gandolfo (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castel_Gandolfo) where my cousins are from, the beautiful town that is home to the Pope's summer residence. We were happy to return the favor by showing them around our nation's capital. First on the list was a private tour of the White House which Aunt Donna and Uncle Mike arranged. It was beyond fantastic. We spent some time bowling in the White House bowling alley, met the head Chef in the main kitchen and tasted some food he was preparing, visited the chocolate room and tasted chocolate they were using to make holiday pastries, and toured the east wing. Maria who had never bowled before in her life was the only one to bowl a strike. Everyone had a great time.

Afterwards we took our family to the Hotel Washington http://www.hotelwashington.com/dining.php for drinks and appetizers at the rooftop bar which has a wonderful view of the city. Kristina recieved a call which turned out to be a job offer while we were there- she started here on Monday http://www.ifes.org/ - congrats Kris!

We then walked to the World War II Memorial and afterwards finished the day with dinner alongside even more family members at Old Ebbit Grill, which Juliana set up- thanks Jules! It was a fantastic day and we were thrilled to spend time with the family. Ricky and Valeria and Drew and I made a pact to visit each other once a year so they can teach us how to cook, speak Italian and we can teach them English and about baseball :). Next on our list is to go skiing with them in Cortina hopefully next winter.

Enjoy the pics!

Ricky, my cousin Valeria's husband-


Aunt Donna-

Maria, Valeria's mom and the champion, with our tour guide-

Uncle Chuck, Uncle Mike, Val, Maria and Ricky

East Wing

State Dining Room-

Hotel Washington-