Christmas in NC!

Getting motivated on this lazy Sunday (although I did play two hours of soccer this morning and yesterday was most certainly NOT lazy) and catching up on some of our goings-on. This is a quick post with some photos from our fun Christmas in NC this year.
The prime attraction this year, of course, was our new niece, Claire. She cracked us all up - her favorite trick was peering at you very seriously until you looked at her and then smiling at you with her huge toothless grin. She's also getting very good at "reading" (chewing) on books, and loves to play with tags on anything. Tom's mom got a kick out of re-wrapping and giving Claire her Christmas present over and over every morning while we were there - Claire never got tired of pulling the tissue out of the gift bag and was always excited to see her new bibs and toys. We all agree that she will have a BIG personality!We were also looking forward to introducing Banjo to his feisty dog-cousin, Lucky. The two pups are just about the same size, but while Banjo is a white-brown terrier mix of questionable origin, Lucky is a black-brown hound mix. These two guys should be the poster-dogs for the humane society, both sweet, smart, and very loving. Highlights included some coooold morning walks, watching them both kick dirt furiously to "mark" their territory, barking in anticipation of tasty kibble, and a circular toy exchange where they would alternate which toy or bone they were working on. A success overall, and if we're invited back, Banjo promises not to pee on the easy chair next year. While we were there, some of the members of Tom's old youth group got together to reminisce. We had a great time (and a late night) catching up with everyone, but the best part was when Marki (the former leader of the group) brought out a big box of photos from when they were all in middle school. There were some really hysterical pictures of everyone, complete with braces, glasses, and funny hair styles. The next day, the whole Nichols family went to the "Moravian Love Feast", a Christmas Eve service that their old church has been holding for over 15 years. It included lots of singing, eating buns and drinking cider, and everyone got to "pass the candlelight" while we sang Silent Night to close out the night.
Some fun events from NC that we didn't manage to get pictures of included bowling with Tom's mom (who is a ringer), hiking in Duke forest in the rain with Tom's dad, going to the Carolina Inn to see their annual installation art rendition of the twelve days of Christmas, walking through downtown Chapel Hill, going to a very bizarre concert (although I almost bought a t-shirt because it said "Banjos are Neat"), going to a show at the planetarium, playing board games, and basking in front of the fireplace.