if you're my friend on facebook, you've probably seen most of the following pictures. but read on for more details of our christmas vacation!
tori & ron, my best friend from high school & her fiance, came to greenville where tori's parents relocated when we were in college. we got to show them downtown and take them to one of our favorite pizza places,
barley's. we're looking forward to celebrating their wedding near chicago on july 4th weekend this year!
we went to augusta for the first part of christmas week. there i got to see my other high school best friend, jessie. we had lunch at one of my favorites,
french market grille. here we are making snickerdoodles at her parents' house afterward.
we got to see chris' high school best friend, patrick, and his wife brooke. they moved to iowa this summer and returned to the south for christmas. we hung out with them the night they arrived in augusta- which was also brooke's birthday!
we spent the first part of the week with my family. we enjoyed going to see
a christmas carol and spending christmas eve together. here we are during an early christmas dinner on wednesday with my dad, mom, and brother andy.
christmas day we drove to chris' grandparents house in south georgia. there we enjoyed lots of time with his extended family. he has 11 cousins on that side...compare that to the 1 i have on my dad's side. i'd say i've adjusted to his BIG family. unfortunately, i didn't get a good picture of everybody. eva loved chasing chris' aunt & uncle's dog, jojo, who is a jack russell mix. i forget that even though eva is an inside dog, she LOVES having the freedom to run wherever she wants - not on a leash - out in the country.
my favorite gift of the year: the vest we got eva. i think chris thinks these types of things are mildly ridiculous, but he is a good sport and i promise she's needed it. this week has been quite cold in greenville! chris reminds me that dogs are bred for the cold weather, but he humors me and puts it on her when he takes her outside.
we rung in 2010 with friends from church, tim & blaire. i never seem to remember to get a picture of the four of us, but here chris & i are in their living room.
the holidays got to stretch on a little later this year. my grandparents from alabama came to visit my parents the week of new year's, and they all drove to greenville for the day saturday. it was wonderful to see them, and it was a nice not to have to drive anywhere. we enjoyed showing them our home and going to lunch.
our church's christmas eve service wasn't until 11pm, so after dinner we had plenty of time to drive around and look at lights. 
on christmas morning, we made banana pancakes and opened presents from each other. one of the things we got were study bibles. i am hoping this will help us understand the bible better and give us insights into some of the historical contexts. later in the morning we drove to augusta to visit our parrents. apparently, we missed a white christmas in greenville, but we had a beautiful drive to alabama the next day- there was snow on the ground and in the trees. we had a nice visit with grandmother and daddy buck. 
we also got to see my cousin ashley and her fiance, patrick. they got engaged last month and will be getting married in june! 
we came back to augusta and got to visit with some of chris' high school friends, the boxes and jessica...
and some of mine- lindsey & gerrit. (check out the dogs- they were playing at our feet and i didn't realize it would show in the picture!)
2010 has been a great year: we celebrated our third anniversary in charleston. we traveled to chicago for tori's wedding. we celebrated milestones with family- my grandmother's 80th birthday and our brother's & cousin's engagements. we continued to be active in our church, christopher with playing softball & coaching upward basketball and me with the women's ministry. we also started serving as AWANA leaders for third grade girls & boys. God is showing us new ways to use our resources to serve Him. one amazing thing that happened in 2010 was paying off my student loans and being 100% debt free! we have grown in the Lord through our bible studies. i prayed for God to reveal His character to me, and through a study of the patriarchs i was reminded that God is absolutely trustworthy, He is faithful even when we are not, His love is unconditional, and He pursues us because he wants us to have closer relationships with Him. i have many hopes for 2011, and i am eager to see what God will do in our lives over the next year!
