Christmas Bingo

A warm welcome at my parents' front door.

You know how some years, Christmas kind of sneaks up on you before you even have the chance to really enjoy it? It's happened to me in the past and I felt like the holiday got by me without giving me the chance to really take it all in...but this year, we managed to make the most of the entire season. If Christmas had a bingo card, I'm proud to say I believe we marked every spot. Let me take you through the fine, practiced art of Christmasing (bonus points for yelling BINGO!).

I'm not normally a fan of nail art, but this was like a tacky sweater for your hands.

I'm a firm believer in dressing for the occasion, and we all know that at Christmas, more is more. That would explain how I got talked into some very festive nail art at the salon last week. I have to admit, as resistant as I was to bedazzling my finger nails, these little Christmas trees on my ring fingers made me smile every time I caught a glimpse of them.

There is a house in South Charlotte that is always (literally) shining with Christmas spirit. Before we left for the holidays, we made sure to stop by to enjoy the display over in Sherwood Forest.

Now those are Christmas lights.

We packed our car with gifts and treats and headed to Georgia for my parents' house a few days before Christmas. My mom loves to decorate, and she had her halls decked when we arrived. We counted eleven plus Santas, three Christmas trees, a gaggle of gifts, and a buffet of cookies, cakes, and treats that would send a personal trainer into a fit of hysterics. Ah, holiday bliss.

A sampling of all those Santas.

At least one Santa for every room...as it should be.

Mom also set up an A Christmas Story display just for Clint, since it's his favorite holiday movie. We watch it on a continuous loop on Christmas day, and Mom even has the collectibles that include Ralphie's house, the prized leg lamp, figurines of the incident at the flagpole, and the infamous bunny suit.

Scenes from A Christmas Story. Complete with BB gun, naturally.

This year we decided to venture out and try the Stone Mountain Christmas festival, which was a dazzling display of lights, attractions, and even (man made) snow! We went to the park on Saturday and arrived just in time for the nightly tree lighting and Christmas parade.

A very high tech tree at Stone Mountain park.

The Snow Angel kicked off the Christmas parade.

Followed by a toy soldier all aglow.

And of course, the man of the hour: Santa!

We never miss a chance to visit with the man in the red suit. We've been good (wink).

We decided that next year, we are also taking full advantage of the snow tubing that is part of the festival. A good time was had by all.

Our Christmas Eve tradition is to make eggnog, enjoy a smorgasbord of hors d'ouvres, watch National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, and open gifts. We decided years ago to open presents on Christmas Eve so that everyone could relax and sleep in on Christmas morning, with visions of all their loot dancing in their happy heads.

Homemade eggnog in our moose mugs. Refill, Clark?

We even got a visit from Santa Claus on Christmas Eve.

Gathering around the tree with Santa before opening gifts.

Naturally, a Toccoa, Georgia Santa has a truck as his sleigh. Dash away, y'all!

Christmas day brought lunch with family, a few more gifts, and an afternoon of movies and snacks. Once the sun went down, we went for a drive to look at Christmas lights around my hometown.

Our Christmas day table setting, including Dickens Village houses.

Our favorite light display even included Cousin Eddie and his RV!
It's full, if you know what I mean.

I couldn't have said it better (or brighter) myself.

Before we left on Tuesday, we watched another one of our favorites, Holiday Inn. It's an annual tradition and I love continuing the Christmas celebration an extra day. We lounged in pajamas beside our family tree and just enjoyed savoring the holidays for as long as possible.

We're back in Charlotte now, but I'm continuing my Christmas festivities this afternoon, meeting a friend for cocktails, and then tomorrow night we are looking forward to still one more gift exchange. I'll worry about that "new year, new me" stuff next week, but in the meantime, I've still got more Christmas cookies to eat.

We had lights, sweaters, Santas. Eggnog, treats, trees, gifts, and beloved movies. We filled December with songs, celebrations, and memories to last until at least next year when we can do it all again. We had a merry little time, indeed, and dare I say it? BINGO!

Feeling Festive

The countdown to Christmas is on, and the usual yuletide whirlwind is now in full effect. With less than two weeks until the big day, everyone is talking shopping, decorating, and celebrating. No wonder I love this time of year, and after this past weekend and all its merriment, I find myself feeling festive.

We kicked things off on Thursday by taking my mom with us to see the Trans Siberian Orchestra in concert. For any of you who may think you aren't familiar with TSO, let me assure you: if you have watched one of those fancy Christmas light shows that are synchronized to music, you have heard their work. The concert was sold out and ticket prices reached levels that quite frankly shocked us, so we Googled Trans Siberian Orchestra to find out what their concerts are like. My favorite reviewer said it would be "a cross between an Iron Maiden concert and a Christmas extravaganza!" He was so right.

I can't even begin to describe to you what a show they put on. Think big hair, leather pants, and lots and lots of effects. My pictures from the nosebleed section don't do it justice, but I will gladly show them off anyway:

There were lights

And lasers

And more lights and lasers

And fog and smoke and moving hydraulic platforms

And pyrotechnics

And more pyrotechnics!

Basically, it was two and a half hours of amazing, rocking, in-your-face music and pretty much a Christmas spectacular. It was so mind blowing that I forgot to take a group picture of us in our tacky sweaters. Let's just say a good time was had by all, and we are already planning to see them again next year, from better seats.

🎄 Merry Moment: It's hard to choose just one moment from such an over-the-top experience, but it might have to be at the point in the show, an hour and a half in, when the lights came up and we assumed the show was over. Imagine our shock when they announced that in a few minutes, we would need to be rested up for the second half!

We woke up Friday morning to rain and sleet, with a forecast of snow moving into the area during the afternoon. It may have derailed the shopping I had planned with my mom, but we were bound and determined it wouldn't stop us from the next item on our holiday agenda: a surprise party for our friend Scott's 50th birthday.

Scott is an avid hunter, and the invitation,which stated "This old buck is turning 50," requested that all the guests wear camouflage since it is a particular favorite of the guest of honor. I had never been to an actual surprise party, and I have to say the anticipation flowing through a huge group of camo-clad friends and family huddled, hushed, and waiting was almost as awesome as seeing Scott's reaction. He was blown away!

Camouflage, shotgun shells, and antlers, to celebrate Scott.

Scott's wife and our hostess, Stacey. I've known and loved her since college.

We enjoyed barbecue, an appropriately themed deer cake, and I suppose you could say going "buck wild" for Scott's 50th. I'm so glad the weather didn't keep us away, because it was a night to remember.

🎄 Merry Moment: As we talked to one of the party guests, Clint pointed out to him that he and another friend had been standing under Stacey's very glittery, ornate mistletoe for a large part of the evening and asked if that was intentional. I will never forget his (very genuine surprise) when he said, "Is that what that is?!? I thought it was something Catholic!" 

Mistletoe, not to be confused with "something Catholic"

We needed a little downtime after all that excitement--my face ached from smiling at this point--so it was probably a good thing that Saturday was a snowy day. Our friends and family in Georgia and South Carolina had beautiful white fluff, but it was just a tad too warm here in Charlotte for any of it to accumulate. Still, it's snow in the South and everything comes to a halt. We played Christmas music, ate junk food, made some Christmasy cocktails and worked on a one thousand piece puzzle I had ordered just for the occasion.

Clint called me a nerd for buying a puzzle for us, and now he's hooked.

As a bonus, Meet Me in St. Louis was on TV, so I took frequent breaks from puzzle assembly to enjoy it. No matter what time of year, I love this movie. It was a favorite for my granddaddy and I to watch together when I was growing up, and I still feel like he's watching it with me every time. While it isn't technically a Christmas movie, if you haven't seen Judy Garland in her gorgeous red dress singing "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" in the snow, well, you're missing out.

Oh, Judy. You get me every time.

🎄 Merry Moment: even though it's too warm, even though I know it won't accumulate, I still get excited to see snow. I stood at the window at least a half a dozen times watching it fall, and snapped a zillion pictures trying to capture an image of flurries and flakes. This is what I wound up with:

This is a snow day in the South. It may look like rain, but there was still a run on bread and milk.

We worked on our puzzle a little more on Sunday afternoon, and then it was time for the final bookend on our festivities. Our friend Ryan hosted an ugly sweater party to raise money for the Humane Society. Personally, I love a tacky Christmas sweater, plus any occasion to celebrate, and this one even threw in a good cause as well. The evening was a great way to end our four day run of holiday revelry.

Tacky is in the eye of the beholder. I think we look fabulous.

🎄 Merry Moment: Jason, our co-host for the party, has developed a bit of an obsession with charcuterie lately. Every time we get together, he has assembled an array of meats and cheeses, and he's getting pretty good at creating an impressive display. I couldn't help but be amazed when I saw the charcuterie barge, er, board he created for the party Sunday night. When I commented on his chartcuterie skills, he let me know that while it was a labor of love, "my downfall will consist of Brie and salami."

Jason, you clearly outdid yourself.

Whew! Are you tired yet? Like I said, it has been a whirlwind of holiday activity, and we're still not done. I have some serious shopping to do, I haven't had a single sip of eggnog (yet!), and we need to make our annual trip to McAdenville, also known as Christmastown, USA, to see all the lights. But we're off to a heck of a start, and I hope I can pass this festive feeling on to all of you as well. Enjoy the season, and make it merry!