christmas vacation

the huge perk of being a student again: christmas break!!! 

nate got about a month off school, and we filled that time right up.

the lawler sibs all came out to durham for christmas this year, and my dad joined us for a few days too when he came for nora's blessing. chandler and stephanie were conveniently in cary visiting her fam, so we got to see them a few times. 

we played tons of greed, cities and knights, mafia, bananagrams, wits & wagers, and rook. we took everyone to mapleview farms right as the sun was setting over the fields. it was all pretty perfect as we sat in the rocking chairs eating peppermint ice cream in waffle cones. we ate at the pit (my fave NC barbeque so far) in raleigh, grabbed gourmet burgers at bull city burger, tasted pizza at mellow mushroom, introduced them to the crème brûlée donuts at rise, and brunched at foster's market. we toured duke and the american tobacco district. nora and i stayed behind while everyone went to watch jabari play ball in greensboro (we missed the game at cameron indoor. boo). 

a jumble of memories from my iphone and camera...

and everyone snuggled N. i mean, i'd do this all day if i could.

at the end of christmas break when all our company had left, we took the girls on a little date to see frozen. sage's (well, and nora's) first movie, and that sensitive soul sat on nate's lap the entire time and cried when the snow monster roared. we didn't buy popcorn or candy or anything, so S still has no idea those are part of the "experience". we're just giving her more to look forward to later in life.

our break ended with nate in san francisco meeting with different potential companies. i think we'd both be in heaven to land an internship on the west coast this summer.