It's The most wonderful time of the year...

Well I am sad that Christmas is over.

I wish that it were all happening again next week, and the next, and the next. Get the picture here? I love Christmas time.
Everyone seems to be in a better mood and saying "Happy Holidays" (EVEN THOUGH- I always reply with a "Merry Christmas")And the music... Ask JM, it has to be Christmas music. I just wish that I had discovered the "Glee Christmas CD" before the 23rd! Next year...

This Christmas was a little bit different. Just as wonderful, but different. IT was time to make a new "Tradition".

It was our first Christmas, and we even got a "White Christmas" here in Georgia too!

We had Christmas Eve Dinner at my parents house. My mom is the best cook I know and she didn't let anyone down with her beef tenderloin, grilled shrimp, and too many sides to mention. My grandparents and my great-aunt Bunny came too! It was the whole family and to me.... Perfect.

We exchange a few gifts Christmas Eve with my grandparents PaPa and Ema (pronounced Eeeee-Ma. Hey I was little and I got to call her what I wanted to. "Grandma" apparently came out of my mouth in the form of "Ema" and it stuck.) Bunny is my Aunts real name. I would name my daughter that too... if I didn't already call JM, "Honey Bunny" or even for short just "bunny" instead of "honey" (hey I am a little weird OK?), then that might have been our future child's name.

Anyways... The night was perfect. We laughed, they drank (I still am never drinking again after that 4 day hangover) and we all had a great time.

Christmas day was the most different. To me at least. Now do not get me wrong, it was still perfect. Again it was the beginning of a new tradition for me and JM.
We woke up at our own house. Weird. I didn't wake up at my parents house and probably never will again on a Christmas morning. Weird right?
We opened gifts with each other at the crack of dawn. It was great. I love that we sat there like two little kids sitting in "Indian Style" under the tree and laughing and hugging. It was just us, our little family. Tilly and Baby Girl sat with us too.

Then we had to shower and get dressed with the quickness to get over to JM's mom's. We opened gifts there then went on to my parents. We ate breakfast with both sides of the family- We made a Baked French Toast Casserole from "Pioneer Woman" that was amazing and so easy to split the recipe in half- perfect since we needed two of them!

Then it started to snow. And it started to stick to the ground. Let me tell you... it does not ever do that here in Atlanta. So when it does people tend to freak out while driving and it causes a world of problems on the roads. Our goal was to get home and get off the roads and fast. Plus we didn't want to be out too late after dark.

We came home and had a Christmas dinner of SALAD- how not-Christmas is that? (We were going to have Christmas Ham at his moms- but the snow... the damn snow.)It was good and felt pretty good to eat something healthy and not get overly stuffed and miserable at dinner. (yes I know that everyone does that on the holidays! Don't lie!)

After that some of our wonderful friends came over and we ate candy, cookies, pistachios, and more candy all while playing "Catch Phrase". It was a blast. Have you ever heard of the game? If not, get up now and go buy it! It was so much fun... and we all stayed up WAY too LATE.


All in all it was a WONDERFUL Christmas. It was our first Christmas, and that made that much better. Not to mention... Santa (well everyone in our family) did a wonderful job at getting us the most perfect things... Me- a killer pair of boots and a cooking class at Viking that we get to go to together! JM- Cooking class and a 20 game pack of Braves Tickets!
Did I take pictures? No I didn't. Why? Because I was having too good of a time to even think about it... that will be a part of this weeks "resolutions" Stay tuned...

What about you? How was your Christmas? Did Santa bring you want you wanted?

xoxo, Mrs. McCracken