nesting

Christmas this year was fantastic. Manic, action packed and way too fast, but wonderful none the less (or perhaps because of it!).

In many ways, we did the usual -

Bought a tree that was too big for our living room: (It may not be obvious, but we had to bend the top to fit the star on. And rearrange most of our furniture.)


I went all Martha on amphetimines and made WAY too many cookies, candied nuts, mint brownies, ginger snaps, etc.



This was the first year we stayed home, planning to spend the holiday with the in-laws, after spending Thanksgiving with my side of the family.

My sister did a fabulous job rallying the troops and convinced my parents to drive up the Saturday before Christmas. Patrick's mom joined us for a fancy little dinner I whipped up (any excuse to use all the linens/glasses/get fancy):

The menu started with a fig, candied walnut, goats cheese and arugula salad, dressed with a homemade balsamic vinagrette. The main course was a delish beef tenderloin with shallots and port. And bacon. Because really, can you get any better than bacon AND beef AND alcohol in one dish? In case you aren't sure, the answer is NO.

After dinner we did a pre-Christmas, since my parents would be heading back down to Richmond on Christmas Eve. I was totally spoiled (this trend continued over the next couple of days...) and my sister gave us some fabulous handmade gifts. Which deserve their own post.

Far too many bottles of wine later, we finally went to sleep on Christmas Eve Eve.

The next night, Christmas Eve, we spent with my sister-in-law's family, which was tons of fun. We aren't technically related to these people at all, and yet couldn't have felt more welcome. Lots of kids (the youngest only a couple weeks old) and homemade Italian food made for a family-centered night.

We spent Christmas morning with our crazy niece and nephew who quite possibly now own more toys than the kid in The Toy. Hopefully they won't ask for Richard Pryor next year.

After breakfast, we all shuffled to Patrick's mom's house, to spend Christmas with the rest of the family.

This was the first Christmas day I'd spent without my family. Or, shall I say, my original family. Patrick and I are now our own tiny family of two (plus the crazy canine). And although I missed waking up at my parents house, all that really mattered was that our newly official family was intact.

What we really realized, waking up just the two of us on Christmas Day, is that we like chaos. We like big families. And big family gatherings. We love the noise, the generations mixing, the whole shebang. When we were little, each of us spent Christmas at our grandparents houses, with cousins and great-grandparents and perhaps even a friend of the family.

Hopefully one day we'll be able to re-create that magic.