Fenton Fire Hall & Christmas Eve 2015

Hi friends, I hope you all are coming off of a great weekend!

If you happened to celebrate Christmas, I hope you were able to spend the long weekend surrounded with family get togethers and loved ones. Scott and I weren’t able to make it home this year, but we ended up having a great couple of days in The Mitten.

Christmas started on the early side for us with performances in our church’s Christmas services. I got to dance alongside my best friend, Alex! It was a lot of hours of rehearsals leading up to the services, but it was very much worth it once we got to showtime. We had a blast!

We were in a series of numbers that also involved a live band and actors that told the story of a man desperately searching the mall for “the perfect gift” for his wife on Christmas Eve. The photo above features our costumes for the finale where we are supposed to be working in the food court.

And, might I add, they nailed our favorites on the head. Starbucks and pizza? Absolutely.

Scott and Alex’s fiancé, Alex, came to watch us in the services on Wednesday, which was the day before Christmas Eve.

The performances went really well, and it was a great way to kick off the holiday!

We met the boys in the lobby and said hello to friends after the service. We didn’t take too long though, because we had a dinner date to get to in Fenton.

Scott and I had never been to Fenton, but we’ve heard there’s a handful of great spots to dine in that area. We’re looking forward to visiting again soon, and our first experience out did not disappoint.

 

Fenton Fire Hall

We made the thirty minute drive from Clarkston to Downtown Fenton and chose to eat at a really unique spot called Fenton Fire Hall. It’s located in the exact location of an old volunteer fire station from the 1930s!

The kitchen is visible from the dining area, and there is a pit in the back of the room. It felt so cozy! It was neat to see the original fire station glass panel garage doors, and the ambiance was really cool. There’s rooftop seating if it’s warm enough, and it’s a great spot to visit whether you’re with a group, on a date, or even want to catch a sports game on the televisions.

We ordered a round of drinks and split the fried pickled chilies to start. They were delicious!

Wanting to try a little bit of everything, I finally settled on my order of the vegetarian white chili… (yum)

… followed by a small baby kale salad and a side of cornbread stuffing.

And when they said “small” salad, they really meant gigantic. I had enough leftover for another whole meal the next day!

We obviously had to leave room for dessert, and the waitress didn’t have to try too hard to sell me on the house made white chocolate candy cane ice cream. Oh my goodness, was that good.

We practically had to roll ourselves out of the restaurant, but it was worth it. We will be back for sure!

(By the way, don’t ask what’s going on with my sweater in this picture. It looks like I’m three times my size and nine months pregnant? Weird.)

 

Christmas Eve 2015

My Christmas Eve started on a productive note by getting to the gym extra early to blog before my 8 a.m. client arrived. I don’t know what’s been up with our Internet connection and the Wi-Fi on my laptop, but it seems to connect when it wants to. And, that usually means any time but when I really need it to.

Anyways, I started my morning off with a quick shift at the gym before Scott dropped me off at a high school for a busy day of services. We had three shows!

We spent the day performing and enjoying some down time in between services. It was nice to be able to chat with other performers and unplug for the day. Directly after the last service, Alex took me to her parents’ house, and Scott met us there to spend the evening celebrating Christmas with her family.

It’s a good thing that we came hungry because there was so much food!

Scott was in charge of bringing a vegetable tray, so he got creative and brought Santa himself.

(Isn’t it cute? He made a giant parmesan crisp for Santa’s face.)

We all gathered and stuffed our faces while we waited for the rest of their family to arrive. Since we couldn’t go home for Christmas this year, it was so nice to be surrounded by our Michigan family!

Thank you so much for opening your home to us, Jon and Rene!

Once everyone was present, we had a (not-so) friendly white elephant gift exchange. I never know what to bring to those (especially when there is a $10 spending limit), but it was fun to see the big steals included an adult coloring book, a Starbucks gift card, and festive holiday socks for men.

And, of course, the ugly Christmas sweater had to make another appearance.

Before we knew it, Christmas was thirty minutes away, so we packed up and headed for home.

After a long week, Scott and I slept in on Christmas morning and I woke up to a couple of presents under the tree. We agreed not to do presents this year, so I wasn’t expecting Santa to swing by our house this year. It was a great surprise!

Scott made blackberry pancakes, and then we literally spent the entire day Skyping and video chatting with our families. If we can’t go home for Christmas, at least we can bring home to us, right? 😉

We finally got out of the house around 7 p.m. to meet our friends for a movie. It’s been a tradition for us to see one whenever it’s just us for Christmas, and they have a similar tradition. We saw Concussion, which was amazing and a bit of a tear jerker.

 

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The rest of our weekend was a mix of relaxing and getting ready for a big week ahead. Both Scott and I are standing in our best friends’ wedding this Thursday, which happens to be on New Years Eve! I’m also covering all of my co-worker’s appointments for the next few days, so I will be spending 8-14 hour days at the gym.

That said, please bear with me as I try to keep up a normal posting schedule this week. As we dive into the New Year, I’m planning on sharing the top posts (health/fitness related and more) over the next couple of days, but that also depends on if  the unpredictable Wi-Fi wants to connect on my free time at home. Cross your fingers and toes that it works!

Wishing you all a wonderful Monday.

See ya tomorrow!

» Linking up my Weekend Snapshots with Katie and Erin.

 

Questions of the Day

• What was one highlight of your weekend?

• Do you and your family do any kind of traditions on Christmas Eve/Christmas Day?