As I mentioned before, we didn’t travel (for the second year in a row!) for the holidays and although I wish we could have visited my family, it just wasn’t in the cards this year and we tried to make the best of it and to enjoy the last Christmas in our current apartment to the fullest.
On Christmas Eve, we skyped with my family while they were all gathered at my sister’s house for Christmas Eve dinner. It was fun being able to be part of their celebration this way. Then I decorated our tiny Christmas tree, listened to Christmas music and drank copious amounts of coffee and put together a Christmas plate (with After Eight, almond cookies, and other sweet treats).
In the afternoon, we drove over to our new home (to check on mail and stuff – three packages arrived while we were there!) and made a stop at the Capitol, because it’s always so pretty during the holidays with the decorations and the tree in front of it. The sky was also gorgeously blue that day!
When we came home, I set our dinner table and then we cooked ourselves a delicious three-course meal.
We had tomato soup (from scratch), creamy pork chop marsala with mashed potatoes, green beans with bacon bits and savoy cabbage with horseradish-cream sauce. For dessert, we had Dutch apple pie a la mode with whipped cream.
We unwrapped some of the lovely presents we received (look at all the packages!) and then settled in to watch “Home alone”.
On Christmas Day, I stayed in my PJ’s all day and didn’t do a damn thing. I intentionally decided to celebrate Christmas and don’t start with the packing until after Christmas Day. I watched a few movies (“A Fitzgerald Family Christmas”, “Love Actually”, and “Bad Santa”) from the comfort of my warm and cozy bed and didn’t make it past the back stoop.
Last but not least, I want to thank each and every one of you who sent a Christmas card this year. I always love sending and receiving cards for the holidays and I was thrilled to see them on my wall (until I took them down yesterday and took this picture before they got put in a moving box).
I hope you all had a lovely Christmas, too and I want to thank you for being, in one way or another, part of mine.
Marie
December 29, 2015 at 7:11 amSounds perfect and fantastic! Hope the move goes smoothly and you are settled in your new home soon!
Stefanie
December 29, 2015 at 8:13 amI like that you had a Christmas plate because so did I. Isn’t this such a German thing to do? Fortunately my family’s Christmas care package with all the delicious Christmas treats arrived just in time. Confession: I may or may not have enough goodies left for several post-Christmas plates! ;)
Lisa of Lisa's Yarns
December 29, 2015 at 8:59 amSounds like you guys had a lovely Christmas! I love that you printed menus for your special meal. it looks delicious!! I am sure it was hard to not be with family but I am glad you got to skype with them. I love how relaxing and peaceful your holiday was. That just sounds lovely. We had a great Christmas but it was kind of busy since we saw both families and did a lot of driving. But I feel lucky that Phil and I got to celebrate together and were able to see both families!
Tanja
December 29, 2015 at 9:28 amI love that you took Christmas Day off from everything and decided not to start packing until after the holiday – great decision!
Have a smooth move and remember to dream something really good in your first night there!
Gina
December 29, 2015 at 10:37 amYour Christmas Eve dinner looked amazing! I love how you decorated the table, too.
Glad to hear you had a good Christmas even though you stayed home this year. Hope you have a happy new year!
Maria
December 30, 2015 at 6:58 amthank you sooo much for your card!! :)
megabrooke
December 30, 2015 at 7:10 amThat sounds like a really sweet Christmas. Quiet and calm, which is sometimes really nice- staying in your own home and hunkering down doing just exactly what you want, eating what you want, being with who you want, on your own time, it sounds perfect! Love your little menu you made (the food!), but also the printed out menu! Clever!
Holly
December 30, 2015 at 9:20 amI love that you took Christmas Day off – good for you! Now the insanity begins, eh? We’re getting our condo ready to sell so we have a TON of work to do – cleaning, purging, repairs, painting, etc. – but I promised myself (and my husband!) that all that fun stuff would wait until after January 1st. My to-do list fills half a notebook, lol, but oh well :)
I love how you decorated your table! We had a fancy dinner on Christmas Eve but I just shoved the kids’ art projects and cookie-decorating kit out of the way and served on our regular plates with paper towel napkins :D
Kate
December 30, 2015 at 11:26 amLooks/sounds like a great, quiet, cozy Christmas – & LOOK AT THAT MEAL! Damn, girl.