A Wonderful Christmas Time

I'm back in Charlotte today, after spending five days at my parents' house in Georgia celebrating all things Christmas. My tree and decorations are still up, and I'm determined to savor the last moments of my favorite time of year. I think we marked the occasion with plenty of festivities this year, from lights to eggnog to a Christmas Eve visit from Santa himself!

I firmly believe in dressing for the occasion, so this year, I couldn't resist buying Christmas pajamas...matching sets for me and the dog. We've been cozy every night in our jam jams, although I will admit he is cuter in his.

Anyone who says diamonds are a girl's best friend, never owned a dog. 

We packed our pjs and hit the road for Georgia last weekend. Once we settled in at Mom and Dad's house, we decided it was time for some Christmas light viewing. We have gone to Magical Nights of Lights at Lake Lanier Islands plenty of times in the past, but it had been a few years since our last trip there. It was fun to go back and revisit one of our traditions, and we had a great time seeing old and new displays (and arguing about which was which).

Here we go!

We drove through over seven miles of lights.

"Life is a party. Dress for it." - Audrey Hepburn (and probably not what she had in mind).

Feeling festive!

Christmas Eve day, we slept in, and after lunch, visited with family and then got busy making merry. And by merry, of course I mean eggnog.

Stirring together all that delicious eggnog concoction.

Enjoying our eggnog from moose mugs, with Mom's Christmas Vacation collectibles.
"Can I refill your eggnog? Drive you out to the middle of nowhere and leave you for dead?"

We are lucky that each year on Christmas Eve, our family gets a visit from the man in red himself. We had just finished the eggnog and were setting up our dinner buffet when we heard bells, and sure enough:

The jolliest bunch this side of the nuthouse.

Santa! We know him!

After all that excitement, it was time to eat. Every year, we set up a buffet of hors d'ouvres and munch away to our heart's content, feasting on sandwiches, shrimp cocktail, dips, spreads, cookies, and cakes while we watch National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. Like most of you, we know the movie by heart, so there are plenty of quotes and laughter while we spend our evening with Clark, Ellen, Eddie, and family.

Yes, I put the entire jar of Duke's mayonnaise out on display. 

Christmas Eve buffet. These are a few of my favorite things.

After all that delicious food, it was time to open gifts. Yes, we open our presents on Christmas Eve, because I can't contain myself one more day. This way, we have all been gifted and can sleep in Christmas morning with visions of all those goodies dancing in our heads. We were blessed to open plenty of presents, some from our wish lists and other surprises, but one of the funniest moments of the night came when I opened a box from Clint. You see, I had asked for money this year to use towards having my eyebrows microbladed (yes, it's a thing). Rather than just a plain envelope, he gifted me an eyebrow fund contribution wrapped this way:

Beautiful brows, here I come (my face is red from laughing so hard at his wrapping).

Needless to say, a good time was had by all. We woke up Christmas morning just in time to enjoy some praline french toast, then lazed by the TV watching A Christmas Story on its endless loop on TBS before it was time for lunch ('tis the season for feasting, am I right?). After our Honeybaked ham and plenty of delicious casseroles, we got comfy and cozy and spent the rest of the day in front of the tree, watching Home Alone and enjoying the downtime. We had plenty of leftovers for dinner, and before I knew it, Christmas day had come to a close.

We ate, drank, and were merry once again this year. I think we squeezed in plenty of Christmas cheer, although there are always wishes for just a few more ways we could have celebrated, and that annual yuletide battle cry, "next year!" 

I'm already looking forward to it.

I hope yours was merry, indeed!