We made it through the night, but we did hear that the car was spotted in the neighborhood last night around 8:30PM. 911 was called so I’m sure we’ll hear something if they were caught.
I’m just glad we went from this:
To this:
I think the second looks much better! 
Hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas and if any of the Harbisons are reading this, we missed you last night!
I have some bad news!
This morning on my way to work, I received a call from ADT letting me know that our alarm was going off. Of course I immediately panicked and told them to send a car out and try calling my wife (who I would later find out was on the phone with 911). Jess called shortly after and informed me that while she was upstairs, someone kicked in the front door and stole our TV. Yes, the very TV we were so excited about last year around this time! The alarm must have frightened them and caused them to grab the biggest electronic item they saw and evacuate because the XBox and Wii were both sitting right there (along with Jess’ laptop and purse).
Good thing a Nintendo Wii isn’t of any value this holiday season?
I would say that we got pretty lucky, even though that sounds weird. They only stole one thing and it was something that can be easily replaced. Our door is completely ruined, though. The police response time was very prompt, our insurance agent (who is also a friend of ours) was very attentive and informative and got a door repair place out immediately. The police dusted for prints but couldn’t find anything of use and Jess gave a description of the vehicle they drove off in. The door is currently replaced with a big reinforced fake door made of plywood and bolted shut. We probably won’t have a new one until early next week.
I don’t think I like this new door style.
Despite intensive damage, the jam held! Too bad the hinges didn’t.
And this is what happened to the frame.
The police let us know that in burglaries like this, they usually attempt to strike again in the following 48 hours now that they know what we have in the house. This pretty much ruins our holiday plans as we were planning on going to visit the Harbison side of the family tonight. Instead we get to house-sit our own house. Everyone here is okay including the dogs. Hopefully next year’s Christmas is a big improvement over this one!
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!
It’s that time of year again, the time of year that the Harbison Weaver household breaks out the Christmas decorations and goes to Monument Circle for the lighting of the “tree”. I thought I’d share a few pictures from our day:
Our Christmas decor - before going up! Each year we gain a few boxes - I'm glad we have plenty of storage room in our house.
Here's Mario in his Santa Hat while we were putting up the decorations.
The "tree" or the monument all strung with lights and garlands before being lit up.
Mario and I waiting for the tree to light up. I love his sweater - the colors are perfect for him!
Rod and Caroline before the tree was lit. I'm really lucky to have such a handsome husband and a beautiful dog!
The "tree" all lit up on the circle. In the background you can see the IPL building and their recreation of a tree!
Rod and I with the pups at the Circle of Lights! Isn't this such a great family picture? :D
It was a great day with lots of hot chocolate, turkey sandwiches, sweet potato fries and red wine. A great way to kick off our holiday season. How are you starting to celebrate the holiday season?
Here are a couple pictures to add on to the 4 day family Christmas explosion!
Here’s one of my family at our house. My mom is absent because she is holding the camera…
And this one is at my grandparents’ for the DuBois family christmas. Most of the pictures I have are random present opening pictures, but if you look really hard you can see the tops of our heads next to my brother Ryan (big red hair)!
Nate is coming down for New Years Eve tonight so that should be exciting! Maybe there will be pictures from that too, who knows!
The Christmas weekend was such chaos for the Harbison-Weaver household. I think I’ve finally recovered enough to even post about it! haha! 
We started the weekend with Rod’s parents visiting before we headed to Peoria, IL. We made the 4 hour drive and dropped Caroline off at the hotel (which the Peoria Comfort Suites was surprisingly nice!) before heading to visit Rod’s Aunt Connie and Uncle Bob. We also got to see quite a few of the Weaver side of the family before meeting up with Rod’s cousin Brian and his wife Brandy. We had so much fun listening to jazz over a few mystery beers. That Sunday morning was breakfast with Brian and Brandy before heading to Grandma and Grandpa DuBois’ home for more holiday festivities. After holidays at the DuBois side we went to Brian and Brandy’s house to pick up Caroline and she had a ton of fun chasing Anchor around.
We headed back to Indy in the midst of all the wind and had a short night before waking up early to make it to Cincinnati. When we made it to Cincinnati we were treated to the most humorous Christmas mass at Good Shepherd that I think I’ve been treated to in a long time. After mass my parents, Rod and I headed back to the house to get ready for Christmas with my extended family.
There was quite the spread - so much food (and Shiner Bock)!
I think this picture sums up Christmas eve - lots of food, lots of people and plenty going on!
My Brothers, Cousins and Grandma Harbison (do you think we’re related at all?)
The Harbison family minus my Brother Mike & Family and my Cousin Michelle. I think we’re a pretty good looking group.
We did Christmas morning and dinner with my family and Caroline had her first Christmas as a member of the family. Mom and Dad Harbison gave her a very cute “Sniffany & Co” squeaker toy. She also was a little sick after eating too much cat foot and people food. It was a great (and long) holiday, with an even better sleeping in on the 26th!
We’ve had a good weekend of shopping and visiting with Scott (what a great holiday surprise to see a friend who is so far away) and tomorrow is our New Years Eve party (I’m just hoping that I have plenty of time after work to get things ready). I think I’m ready for a vacation from my time off - haha! Hope everyone has a great New Years Eve and had a great holiday season!
Last night Rod and I celebrated our first Christmas here at the Harbison-Weaver household. We had to do it last night because this weekend we’re traveling to Peoria, Monday and Tuesday are in Cincinnati and the day after Christmas we’re looking to just sleep in before I have to go back to work. A few pictures:
Another picture of our new TV. This is the final setup of it I think we’re going to stick with. It’s so nice and fits in that space really well!
I think next year we should get a bigger tree because this one is running out of room under it! There’s all of our presents before we unwrapped our gifts to each other.
Here’s a great shot of the fireplace and the tree from the stairs. You can see the room that I don’t know what to do with when it comes to decorating! :) It’s perfect for Christmas though!
When we opened our stockings Caroline went crazy for her bone and was all wrapped up in her new couch blanket. It was so cute, she didn’t even pay attention to us unwrapping presents because she was so interested in the new bone!
We used our big built-in buffet to display our Christmas cards we received and also our Holiday beer sampler (which we’re trying to save until New Years Eve). I think the accent lights really enhance the card display!
We topped off the evening with a great meal of duck sausage, cranberries, shallots and Chimay Grand Cru cheese on hard wheat rolls. It was so good!
Our Christmas celebration was really nice and it was a great way to start the long weekend. Now the driving marathon begins! 
We’re gearing up for a very busy few weeks around here. This weekend we have two Holiday Parties. Next week I have several Holiday events during and after work (hooray for Maggianos and a Cocktail Party at the Red Room!) and the following weekend we’re in Peoria. After that it’s Christmas and we’re in Cincinnati! Phew! Where did December go? At least we just have one more person to finish up and we’re completely done with our Christmas shopping! I haven’t had many picture opportunities either so the entry is a little boring. Maybe after our trip to the Zoo on Saturday and the JDSU holiday party we can get some pictures up on here.
Thanks to everyone who has been sending us Christmas cards, it’s nice to have the buffet area where we can display all of them. Once Rod wraps the presents on the buffet I’ll take a picture and post that. Have a great Thursday to everyone reading this!
It doesn’t seem real that it’s only two weeks until Christmas Eve. We had a little taste of Christmas last night when our “family” present was in stock at Circuit City. We switched to in-store pickup so we could get our Black Friday special early.
Our new HDTV - an LG 37″! It looks so nice in the living room and it’s such a good fit!
Rod also put up lights on the gutter and we got a wreath for the front door. Too bad the pillars are blocking the wreath!
View from standing in the driveway looking at the corner windows.
I think we look very festive for our first attempt at Christmas lights!
On Thursday night we watched the Bears game, I don’t think Caroline is a Bears fan (She’s probably a Bengals fan like me - haha!).
This week should be fairly relaxed, we have screener tickets to “I Am Legend”; this weekend coming up is our neighborhood Christmas Party and Rod’s work Christmas Party. It should be a good week. I’m also happy to have most of my Christmas shopping done (and wrapped)!
This weekend we got a ton accomplished but at the same time had plenty of time to relax around the house. On Friday we ended up going to our friend John’s new condo to play Rock Band and have a few drinks. We came back and walked Caroline around the neighborhood before heading to bed. On Saturday we had a retail extravaganza making trips to Target, DSW, Hobby Lobby, Costco and Petsmart. I ended up being able to finish the mantle and find a tree skirt that matches our stockings!
Tree and Mantle without flash - the poinsettias came from Lowes!
If you can’t tell our tree skirt is hunter green velvet and her stocking hanger is a picture frame!
We had a great night eating sushi (the Costco sushi platter is really good and VERY filling!) and watching movies on the couch. I’m so glad to have most of our Christmas shopping done (and wrapped!).
Today we slept in (what else would you want to do on a rainy day?) and worked on our Save The Dates for the wedding. Those should be in the mail to most tomorrow and we’re very excited to have those done!
After printing the envelopes it was time to get organized (and a snack )!
We also made sure that Caroline was entertained (I don’t think she has enough toys)
Here I am looking really excited to be stuffing envelopes
Rod working on stamps and return address labels (can you spot Caroline?)
A little about our Save The Dates, Rod designed two different designs for the magnets and we designed a Christmas card to mail them in. I was very happy with the quality of the magnets and cards (minus a little bit of bleed on one of the designs). I would recommend VistaPrint to anyone looking for reasonably priced, decent quality magnets and holiday cards. I’m thinking of using them for menu cards and possibly for other paper projects. We’ve got all of the save the dates assembled, addressed and ready to go out!
P.S. Congrats to Dave and Mary - we’re SO happy for you guys!
We had our first Thanksgiving where we made all the trimmings this past Saturday evening. We made Pumpkin Cream Soup with Chili Cranberry Relish, Sweet Potato Pie, Pumpkin Pie, Pumpernickel Rolls, a brined Roast Turkey, Mushroom-Cranberry Stuffing, Orange Scented Green Beans, Cranberry Sauce, and Chipotle Turkey Gravy. We served the meal with Bison Beer’s Gingerbread Ale and Allagash’s Tripel. You’ll also notice we put together a small plate for Caroline with canned pumpkin, steamed sweet potatoes and turkey - she gobbled it up!
Rod intensely carving the Turkey - you don’t want to get between him and the bird!
Doesn’t that look delicious? It was SO moist!
A picture of the total spread, looking at it makes me hungry!
I think Caroline really enjoyed her little plate.
I do mean enjoyed it - you can’t even see the turkey that we put on there, she ate it so fast!
A picture of our table ready to go (I really should have cleaned off the table! ).
Enough with the pictures - let’s eat!
All in all it was a great meal and this weekend was a great way to spend several days at the new house. Thanks to a few after Thanksgiving sales we’ve gotten a new wreath and a few poinsettias so the holiday decor is beginning to really take off around the house. There’s also a few presents under the tree (and more to be wrapped tonight) which makes me feel like I’m really on top of things for the season!