Hello all!
Christmas has came and went; the festivities were marvelous. Holidays always move quickly and I try my hardest to savor every moment.
We kicked off our Christmas Eve with Tony’s family. We tried a new tradition this year: a progressive Christmas celebration. It was different and it was a lot of fun! We started at Joe and Angela’s house, [Tony’s brother and his wife], with yummy chicken wings, spinach and artichoke dip, and warm apple pie, [not to be confused with ACTUAL apple pie – this was a warm, alcoholic, cider drink – delicious!]. Our house was the second stop. We munched on homemade pizza roll ups, shrimp cocktail, and veggies. The drink Tony & I made had to have bubbles, [duh]: prosecco, ginger ale, st. germain, and frozen strawberries. It was wonderful. We ended the night by journeying to Tony’s parents for presents, laughs, and a cranberry sipper, [Tony’s dad’s drink was a delicious blend of a cranberry syrup, rum & cinnamon sticks].
Christmas day was for my extended family on my dad’s side. My dad’s side is huge & it’s always been a jumble of jokes, hugs, & alcohol! Some of my best childhood memories are at the lake with my cousins; digging up the beach, splashing in waves in the lake, jumping on the trampoline with frogs, and listening to my uncles tell stories, [when they’re bit tipsy], by a bonfire each night. This year, there were about 50 of us at my uncle’s house, [many were missing!]. The day was sprinkled with warm chip dips, presents for my grandma, & a fun family trivia game I put together for everyone to play.
I decided to create a Kahoot for my family to play, just for something fun to do, based on past family memories. Kahoots are usually a tool I use in my classroom for test reviews or just a fun activity; kids love them! I started a group chat on facebook with some of my cousins to gather memories from the past, then I took those memories and created multiple choice questions for my family to answer. [Ex: Who won a dance contest on stage, in Vegas, dancing to the song, Baby Got Back? Answer? My grandma! This was about seven years ago for my dad’s 50th birthday]. Everybody can play with some kind of smart device, [aka, Iphones]; it was awesome to see my grandma with her iphone out answering each question! It was a fun surprise for a lot of my aunts and uncles, and it was really fun for us cousins to reminisce. It also inspired me to do some more writing in 2016.. more to come on that later.
The Saturday after Christmas, Tony, Ace, and I went to my parents house for our family Christmas. It was perfect. We all wore our sweatpants, lounged throughout the afternoon, played some card games, [my mom and sister beat Tony and my dad at Buck Eucher, this won’t be easily forgotten with my family!], ate a wonderful meal of prime rib, and opened presents. I loved how relaxed I felt and how happy my parents were to have us with them for the day. Now that Justine is off at college, it’s special to have days when we’re all together, [I know I say this all the time, but it really is special for me to be with my family].
Now, I’m on my fourth day of break, watching Fixer Upper reruns, and slowly poking away at house chores and projects. I made a couple lists on Sunday night, just of things I wanted to get done while I was at home this week, and I haven’t even came close to completing them. My mom assured me it is OK to just take the time to relax, but I’m a lot like her; I feel like time is wasted if I’m not doing a project, researching materials, or planning for school.
However, when the temps outside are frigid, it’s not hard to take advantage of snuggling up on the couch with Ace, a blanket, and the fireplace.
I promise I will be writing much more the rest of the week, [one of my new goals!], but I’m off to make some yummy apps for a New Year’s Eve party down the road, at my good friend, Riley’s house!
Cheers to the last day of 2015!
xo