We were very blessed to have family and friends to spend the holiday season with. Chad was fortunate enough to get both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day off. Which was a huge surprise, but it was very welcome. Some very good friends of ours invited us over for Christmas Eve so that we could still have a family experience. They were only expecting me since Chad was originally scheduled to work. So they were also very excited to have him there. We had our first deep fried turkey courtesy of our friend Jason's dad, Chip. Delicious. Then we were able to go to the Christmas Eve service at our church. After the service we went to The Festival of Lights in James Island County Park, which was fabulous. They have wonderful displays!
Christmas morning was just Chad and I. We were kind of like little kids. We woke up early, took a few photos, and tore into our presents! Our families were so good to us. We were hooked up with Fresno State gear, movies, video games, home decor, and gift cards. Chad surprised me with a keyboard and all of the necessary accessories because he knew that I was wanting to get back into playing piano, along with a pair of Sanuks (shoes I've been wanting). I gave him a pair of custom Oakleys since he's been wanting new sunglasses for about a year, a video game, t-shirt, and some movies that we found on Black Friday (thank you Jason for taking us this year, we got some great deals). The rest of the day we relaxed and enjoyed the day off. For dinner I made us cornish game hens with a raisin cream sauce, rice, and french green beans. It was pretty good!
The day after Christmas, my family flew in to visit from California. So we had Christmas all over again with them! It was a lot of fun having them here. Chad was in the middle of transitioning between shifts so he was having to stay up all night and sleep during the day. We did what we could with him, like going out to dinner. I took the family to downtown Charleston to show them Battery Park, the mansions, and the Market. We also took the ferry out to Fort Sumter to explore that and learn more about the history of the fort. Before we left Patriot's Point where the ferry is based out of, we toured the Yorktown, looking at the aircraft and going through the Medal of Honor museum. It was really nice just to have them here and spend that time together.
