Christmas with the Burley's!

This year was one crazy Christmas. After driving for over 2500 miles since early December, Angela and I were utterly exhausted. We finished unloading our furniture in Blacksburg in a pouring rain alone and headed to Virginia Beach on our last bit of energy. On Christmas Eve we frantically searched for gifts to give each other as we had not the opportunity before.
Christmas Eve traditions for the Burley’s include going to Olive Garden. We dropped of AJ with Lizzie for doggy bonding and picked up Mom Burley from work. It was nice to see Tony, whom we hadn’t seen since July 4. He is really enjoying the Coast Guard Academy! The Burley’s neighbor, Karen Minkowitz threw a Christmas Eve party with a bunch of neighbors which included a silly gift exchange. We had a good time, but it was bittersweet in the fact that Rod was on the other side of the world and Taryn was leaving for California the next day. After the party we went to Midnight Mass with Father Scordo who had married us! There was so much incense in the church my eyes watered up and I could not see anything, plus I was a tad tired. Angela and I stayed up till 2am to wrap presents then passed out till 5am to wrap more. We had a nice gift exchange with Mom Burley and Tony around 6am. He really liked his cigar box we got for him in Key West. The dogs loved their toys, and we realized how dominant AJ is due to the fact that he could control everything Lizzie did… but she is a tiny dog.