Christmas Recap

Merry (3 days after) Christmas, everyone!

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday filled with love, peace, and joy. And if you don't celebrate Christmas, I hope you still are filled with love, peace, and joy.

At first, I wasn't even going to do a holiday recap. That's all I find in my blog feed the week following Christmas each year, and I typically roll my eyes, scroll through other bloggers' photos quickly, or just skip the posts altogether. It has always seemed sort of self-indulgent to me. But then I thought, you know what? This is MY blog. This is a way for me to document MY life. And even if no one else in blogland cares what I did on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, I want to be able to look back on this year, last year, and the year before that, and reminisce.

So, skip this post if you don't care ;-)

Without further adieu....

Christmas this year was broken into a few different days. Since Sean and I started dating, it's been a struggle trying to figure out how to see all of our family and friends during Christmas and New Year's. I am learning that it just isn't possible to make everyone happy, but we can try our darndest.

On Saturday, December 22nd, Sean and I spontaneously invited my parents over for dinner, drinks, and gifts. We realized that we wouldn't have time to exchange gifts with them Christmas Eve like we did last year, so we changed it up a bit. I didn't mind getting my presents a few days early ;) I quickly threw together a beef stew in the crock pot, and we had a lovely evening.

I won't bore you by bragging about all the gifts I received from my parents, but let me just say I was blown away. Along with the traditional gifts like a calendar and some clothes, I got a few surprises as well. The gem of the evening:

That, my friends, is a Terrell Suggs signed football....my parents were at a Charity Auction, know I love T. Sizzle (I am seen sporting his jersey here), and my mom ended up in an intense bidding war with a woman--and boy, am I glad she won! I was blown away and it is already proudly displayed in my home.

My parents, Sean, and I had a great evening, and it was a wonderful way to kick off the Christmas weekend.

The next day, Sean and I realized we had a LivingSocial deal that needed to be used before it expired! So, into Baltimore City we went to Leinenkugel's Beer Garden, a really cool bar with great appetizers, and of course, an overwhelming array of beers.

Sean and I shared a beer flight and a dip trio, which was just lovely.

After Leinenkugel, Sean and I headed to a party at his aunt's house. It was my first time meeting his Dad's side of the family, so I was too busy meeting people to snap any pictures. We had a great time, though, drinking and eating and watching the Ravens beat the Giants :-)

The next day was Christmas Eve, which is absolutely my favorite day of the year--all the anticipation and excitement. Both of us had (separate) last-minute stocking stuffers and gifts to buy before heading to my mom and dad's, so we both got those done in the morning. And it was good that we did, because by about 4:00 pm, the scene out the window looked like this:

Sean and I trekked to my parents' house, a trip the usually takes 45 minutes...and it took us an hour and a half. It was pretty scary, but totally worth it for some family time:

cousins

my mom loves to photobomb

my man and I

Patron shots! We know how to party!

The Christmas Eve party also included a Yankee Gift Swap (White Elephant Gift Exchange), and I ended up with a pretty awesome gift:

Yep. That's a Justin Bieber singing toothbrush AND a Lady Gaga singing toothbrush, along with a Disaronno gift set! Saweeet. I am already loving Biebs singing to me every day.

Once Sean and I got home, it was almost 1:00 am, so we crashed quickly...except that I could NOT sleep and was like a little kid, eager for morning so I could race out to the living room and open my presents.

We finally got out of bed at 8:30am and exchanged gifts, just the two of us, which was lovely. We spoiled each other rotten this year...it's tough to say what my favorite gift was, but these are up there on the list:

A gift certificate to my favorite hair salon, and a Spa Day complete with massage and facial!!!

And here is a shot of some of my gifts....yes, that is a bottle of Patron and 5 mini liquor bottles. My man knows the way to my heart ;-)

Sean enjoyed his gifts, too, of course. I gave him a vintage map of Maryland in a unique frame, some clothes, a Home Depot gift card, and some other odds and ends. All in all, it was a fantastic holiday for both of us.

Then, in the afternoon, we went to spend time with Sean's mom, brother, and brother's girlfriend. We exchanged more gifts, and then hung out before going home to snuggle under our new Ravens blanket (courtesy of Sean's mom) and play Scrabble.

Christmas this year was fantastic, and I am so thankful for everyone in my life who made it possible.

How was your Christmas?