Christmas family celebrations

It has been a crazy, fun whirlwind of a few days!  I can't believe that we're sitting on this side of Christmas - it seems to happen faster and faster every year.  We look so forward to it for months and spend so much time decorating, shopping and wrapping and planning and then it seems like it's over in a flash!  Here's a little recap of our Christmas weekend.


Friday afternoon my mother in law Carolyn arrived from Richmond.  I made a big dinner and we had a nice evening in.  Saturday was a relatively relaxing day.  I spent a good part of the day in the kitchen making an apple pie, Nutella bites and biscotti to take for Christmas day at my aunt's house while they went shopping and did some gift wrapping. 


That afternoon, we loaded into the car and headed downtown to the National Cathedral.  After being on the waiting list to get tickets for a couple of weeks, they finally arrived a few days earlier.  We arrived right around 5:10, and the line was already really long.  Luckily it moved pretty quickly, and we found seats about halfway back.  The place was packed!  

The Carols by Candlelight service was very nice.  They paired some favorite Christmas carols with the Christmas story.  Just before we sang Silent Night, they came around and lit the candles that everyone was holding.  It was really a touching service.

Sunday morning was full of presents and breakfast casserole.  We spent the morning together opening presents from Carolyn and we opened a couple from each other.  Cady got a special present too!

Impatiently waiting to open her present.

Christmas morning - finally!

We said goodbye to M's mom, packed everyone up and headed across the river to Maryland to my Aunt Carol's house, where my parents already were.  We've been spending Christmases together for almost as long as I can remember, and it has been at her house every year for a long time except last year when I hosted.  It's one of my favorite family traditions, and one that I'm holding onto dearly as our family grows and changes.

This year we had a few new additions - my cousin Jason's new bride Lauren, her daughter Paige and mother joined us!  Because of the huge crowd, it was the first time ever that we did buffet style!  We put all of the dishes in the dining room and everyone just sat wherever they could! 

It's always such a great time when we get together - lots of stories and laughter!

Monday afternoon we headed back to VA and my parents followed shortly after.  We went out to a nice dinner canceled our reservations and I made a bunch of appetizers, opened a bottle of Cava and a bottle of wine and turned on some Christmas music.  We hung out in the family room for the rest of the evening, talking and opening presents.  Everyone got some great things - clothes, jewelry, crystal glasses, electronics, an espresso machine, perfume, and so much more.  


My parents stayed around until this morning when they headed back to Richmond.  We spent yesterday hanging around, going to lunch, doing a bit of shopping - the boys even had a movie date to see A Girl with a Dragon Tattoo.  We went out to a nice dinner canceled our reservations again and ate leftover appetizers on while watching The Layover (one of my new favorite shows) and playing Apples and Apples.  


It was a great Christmas holiday for M and me.  It was the perfect combination of his mom, big crazy family dinner, and my parents.  As we went to bed on Tuesday night, we couldn't help but feel so happy, and we said that it was really just a great Christmas!


Christmas is such a special time of year with so many wonderful traditions and blessings!  I hope you and your family had a great holiday weekend.