Home for Christmas

The day after Operation: Christmas Cheer came Operation: Home for Christmas. Which got off to a rocky start when my train was delayed 3 hours due to a fire on the tracks in West Philadelphia. I was so happy when my train finally arrived that I barely noticed that the license plate didn't say "Fresh" nor were there dice in the mirror

I was able to be home for a full two and a half weeks, which were jam packed. Serious busy-ness going on. I worked from home the first 4 days, wrapped all the presents, did a lot of baking, a lot of decorating, even some cooking, plus some shopping, visiting, and eventually some lazing, too.

These are some of the decorations. The top middle photo is the bonsai tree with some ornaments and a bow because Mom and I got a little silly. The middle photo is a bunch of the figure decorations. Daddy thought they looked ready to attack, so I put them in a more proper formation with the Nutcracker leading the way. The bottom picture is Daddy wearing the Christmas card holder as a hat. The big left picture is the tree, the most beautiful one in years according to the parents. The big right picture is the Christmas eve table scape with Grandma's china and Christmas tree napkin holders. Plus Mom's tree display in the center.

These are the cookies I baked. I did everything but the magic cookie bars. I even made some cookies that I don't even like. (Which weren't nearly as fun to taste test, of course.) I don't mind baking but standing up for hours did take its toll on my getting-older body. And I did swear. A lot. (Which I think Mom got a little too used to because she barely checked on me.)

This was the first year I contributed to Christmas Eve dinner. I made shrimp ceviche and baked brie. I'm not sure the change was fully enjoyed by all, but I thought they were good.

This is the second year that it has just been me and the parents first thing Christmas morning. It's still a little weird but better than last year, especially since everyone was able to come over in the afternoon. I always end up taking pictures at our gatherings and luckily everyone usually humors me. First set are our candid shots, second set are our posed ones.

And that was Christmas at home. Unfortunately, Mom was sick for about a week of it so we didn't get out and about as much as we usually do, though she did rally to take me to traipse around Chapel Hill, which was Heaven, of course. And the day before that I went with Daddy to Greenville, on what was supposed to be just a trip to Harbor Freight but we ended up adding several other stops and got home many hours later.

I'm the middle child so I never got the parents all to myself. So I'm not going to lie, it was kind of nice to just chill with them every evening, even when we were each huddled around our laptops and even when I was forced to watch HGTV or Duck Dynasty. I know I'm forgetting tons of stuff but know that I was in North Carolina, with my family, and it was good.

Operation Christmas Cheer: Botanic Garden

This was my first trip to the United States Botanic Garden located on the Mall, a mere stone's throw from the Capitol. When I used to live on the Hill and would take evening walks around it, I'd see the pretty glass building from afar, but never entered.

I'd heard about their amazing Christmas display and had meant to go the first weekend of December to capture some pretty photos for my Christmas card. Alas, I went out to celebrate a certain friend's certain engagement and didn't quite feel up to it the next day. (So if you see one of these pictures on my card next year, pretend to be surprised.)

I planned on being there right when it opened at 10, but didn't end up getting there until 10:30. Not a big deal, right? Nope, wrong. Every family in D.C. must have had the same idea and the line was way out the door to get into their famous train section. As much as I love trains is also how much I hate long lines, so I skipped the trains and headed straight for the Conservatory instead.

The main draw are the re-creations of famous D.C. landmarks and buildings made out of natural items like gourds and sticks. They were simply stunning.

Clockwise: Lincoln Memorial, Jefferson Memorial,
White House, Washington Monument

Capitol, Capitol Dome, Supreme Court

The Botanic Garden, Smithsonian Castle, and Library of
Congress, Jefferson Building (I think that's its name.)

I took photos of some of the pretty plants and the colors that really caught my eye.

 

There are lots of different sections and gardens that I was able to walk around, despite the hoards of people. There was also what they call the "jungle," which is several stories high, full of flora, and very warm. You can even go up a flight of stairs and walk around the "canopy." You can see the jungle in the background behind the lone train they had in the Conservatory.

I didn't really get photos of this section but I did take photos of one of the displays. I'm calling this "Reindeer Games" and I just love it.

Close-ups of some of my favorites. The one in the middle, clearly vogueing,
is my favorite.

I've lived in the city for 5 years and it's so nice to find something new -- and free -- to do. I'm definitely adding this to my Christmas traditions list and will also visit during the other seasons as well.

Operation Christmas Cheer: Capitol Tree, National Tree, and Willard Hotel

This week's goal is to get almost all of my Christmas posts done. We'll see how this goes.

I love the holidays every year, but this year I was especially determined to enjoy them. Sometimes I can get so caught up in the shopping and doing that I get too stressed to enjoy everything. So this year I started my shopping much earlier, and let myself be ok if I didn't get to do everything I normally do.

The result? I had an entire day before leaving for home – I'd even already half-packed for home – in which to do whatever I wanted. Thus I embarked on what I called Operation: Christmas Cheer. Which consisted of me doing my usual National Christmas Tree and Willard Hotel viewing, plus the addition of the Capitol Christmas Tree and the National Botanic Garden. Though my first stop of the day was the Botanic Garden, I'll start with the last three since I have so many beautiful pictures to sort through.

I've never made it to the Capitol Tree before, I'm not sure why. I expected it to be smaller but it was really quite large and majestic. I expected the Capitol to dwarf it but they really complemented each other.

The tree's ornaments came from people in Colorado and I took a few photos of my favorites. It wasn't too cold of a day and as you can see, the sun was shining and the sky was blazing Carolina blue, so I just took a few minutes to stand and stare.

After that, it was off to catch a bus to take me closer to the White House. (Figuring out even just one bus route along the mall is going to change my life.) Last year's tree was quite puny as it has just been replaced after the previous one was damaged during a storm. The replacement tree ended up dying and they replaced it with this much more grand one.

 
The state trees have different ornaments every year, with handmade creations encased in clear plastic cases. But this year some of them had decorated the outside of the case, like New York and Florida, or completely eschewed the cases like Idaho, who had gourds. Either there were new regulations this year or there have never been regulations and some states finally got creative, but they were much more impressive this year. My favorite was Florida, with their gorgeous orange blossoms that looked like glass.

 
This is Connecticut's tree. This was the day after the Sandy Hook tragedy and a little memorial was forming.

My last stop was to look at the outside and inside decorations at the Willard.

I used to only do the outside but I also love to go inside. Their main tree is full of all the past White House ornaments. They also had a pretty amazing gingerbread house.

Deck the Halls

Kelly's Korner Christmas Tour of Homes

I've been in a very festive mood this year and am really pleased with my apartment decor. Even though it looks like a little bit like Christmas exploded. I don't care. It makes me happy.

This is the wreath on our front door. I found the form at
my thrift store for $1, added some small ornaments from Target,
and then made a bow with the same ribbon I used on my tree.

Table on the entry way with a charger-turned-wall hanging,
advent calendar, roomie's beaded tree, and a catch-all tray.

A few of my Christmas hand towels, courtesy of Mom.

Decorated bookshelves. A bit busy, but happy. Ornaments in jars,
snowmen display, and a bunch of other random bits.

Garland over hall leading to bedrooms.
There's another garland leading into living room.

My nativities. The first one I've had for several years now.
The second one I got this year from Target, they were
ornaments that I cut the hooks off of.

New artwork I painted last week. Normally my
D.C. map print hangs here. I was tired of looking at it 
and randomly decided one day last week I just needed to
make something to replace it. I love this quote and it never
fails to make me smile.

Ornaments in jars and some garland on the radiator and
my table centerpiece. I know the centerpiece is kind of a
hot mess of branches, I'm just not great at doing that.

My tree! It just makes me the most happy out of
everything. I added the vertical ribbon this year since I'm
hopeless at garland, and I think it really ties it together.

Christmas Traditions

One of the blogs I read is writing about Christmas traditions so I thought I'd do the same.

I LOVE LOVE my family's Christmas traditions. We have so many and they make me happy just thinking about them. We don't do all of them all the time, and things have changed and will continue to change as we add new family members, but they're still amazing.

Leading up to Christmas:

• Get 2 new ornaments: A miscellaneous one and then an angel for Melissa, a snowman for me, and a Santa for Joey. (I don't remember the last time I only got 2 ornaments.)
• Eat cookies: Peanut butter blossoms, bow ties, fudge, icebox cookies, chess pies, pizelles, etc. (Even though I don't like the latter three.)
• Decorate: Tons and tons of family ornaments; my mom's mom's musical church, painted Santas, and ceramic tree that I loved putting the little light bulbs in; Christmas books; and the snow globes and square pillows with faces that we don't put out anymore.

Christmas Eve:

• Have a nice sit-down meal, usually steak and shrimp.
• Drive around and look at Christmas lights.
• Open pajamas.
• Light candles around the house.
• When we still believed in Santa, we'd write the note, leave cookies, and also cheese for Santa Mouse. (Apparently Santa Mouse is not very common with others I talk to.)
• Stay up all night with Joey and peak in the living room from the stairs. One day I'll need to write a whole blog post about this. I can't remember what age we started, but we would stay up and peek into the living room from the top of the stairs, and then slowly and quietly creep down the stairs so we could see what was brought. But we NEVER would actually leave the stairs or enter the living room, for some reason that was just unacceptable to us.

Christmas Day:

• Cinnamon rolls for breakfast
• Open presents one at a time, in age order, youngest to oldest. I always HATED that Joey always got to go first. Eventually we would switch it up so either the oldest would start, or I would start, or we'd alternate. But no matter who went first, it was always one person opening at a time, which I think is great so you can focus on that person.
• Homemade rolls and wedding soup!
• Open stockings last, which have been hidden. (In talking to many people over the years, apparently the fact that we open ours last, and that they're hidden, isn't common. But, not surprisingly, I love it.)

That's all I can think of for now. And just like that, I have a feeling the next time I listen to "I'll Be Home For Christmas," I'll be crying.

What I Did Today

Don't judge me too harshly. I'm only in D.C. for about 3 weeks after Thanksgiving and have lots of Christmas cheer to cram in. So because I had some downtime today, I decided to put up the tree.

And also because I made these and wanted to hang them:

And also because I didn't want my remodeled advent calendar to be lonely. Four years after I bought the tacky-colored-super-on-clearance Target calendar, I finally spray painted and decorated it so it's more me. (Before, during, after)

Of course my punishment for decorating so early is that I have to stare at, but not use, the calendar for another two weeks. Which I probably deserve.

Holiday Rewind Part 3: Christmas

This year's Christmas lasted several days, in several locations, with several combinations of family members. But in the end all that mattered was we were together, at some point, in some form. I think we each got stuff we wanted, stuff we needed, and stuff we didn't know we wanted and needed. As I was too busy opening gifts, giving gifts, eating soup, and staying in my PJs most days, the only pictures I have are from Christmas Eve at my sister's. But don't let the lack of photos or commentary fool you: It was Christmas at home with my family, which is all I ever really need.

Daddy and Mom

Mike and Melissa

Joey and Michelle

McKinley and Jordan

Me

Some of my (most easily able to grab five minutes ago to take this picture) spoils. The Eastern Airlines bag pictured is one of my favorite gifts. My grandfather worked for the airline for many years and we have tons of paraphernalia, but nothing like this. I'd had my eye on a vintage PanAm bag for years, but they are so outrageously expensive. Mom knew this and found this Eastern one on eBay, which is far, far superior and more valuable than a silly PanAm one ever would be.

Holiday Rewind Part 2c: Carolina Girls at the Carolina Inn

Yes, yes, another Chapel Hill post. But seeing as how I had not been there in nearly a year, did you expect any less? This is just to highlight our hotel, The Carolina Inn.

From their website:
"University Alumnus and former trustee, John Sprunt Hill, built The Carolina Inn in 1924 and was gifted to the University in 1935 to be ' … A Cheerful Inn for Visitors, A Town Hall for the State, and a Home for Returning Sons and Daughters of Alma Mater…'"

As four "Returning Daughters of Alma Mater," we'd each always wanted to stay here. And as we've done practically everything else you're supposed to do in CH, we're glad to have now crossed this off our list. It's the only hotel on campus and if you know anything about Chapel Hill you know its reputation. You never know if something is going to live up to your expectations, but I should have known that when it comes to Chapel Hill, they're usually exceeded. It just felt like an extension of our beloved University, and like we belonged there. A few tidbits:

• Our room door was Carolina blue.
• University and town history pervaded everything from the photos on the wall to the suite names.
• Due to the combination of booking early, my alumni association discount, and splitting one room four ways, we each paid less than $40 for the night.
• We got fresh cookies when we checked in and were (accidentally?) not charged for parking. (And if you know Chapel Hill, you know what a big deal this is.)
• They replaced our broken coffee pot, brought us (many) extra fresh towels, and found us a DVD player when we wanted to watch a movie.
• No one bothered us when we model walked in one of their hallways.

All in all it was a great experience and I hope to repeat it many times in the future.

Sign out front

Our room

Gingerbread Old Well

Each year they illustrate the 12 days of Christmas throughout the lobby.

These are 12 lords-a-leaping in basektball player form.

Holiday Rewind Part 2b: Carolina Girls By Night

In many ways, our friendship as a foursome was solidified during Chapel Hill nights. Around a table in Top of the Hill. At a booth in Carolina Coffee Shop. In the line at Qdoba at 2 a.m. On the living room floor in the house Brandie and I lived in our senior year. 

As the years have gone by, the scene has shifted to nights in Durham, Ocean Isle, and Washington, D.C., but the sharing has never stopped. We can talk about anything at anytime, from movies and tv to clothes and hair, but when we're together, our most serious discussions tend to happen at night, gathered around, drinks in hands. Broken hearts, fights with family, disagreements, health concerns, career decisions, life worries--they all come out. As a result, there are probably a good number of people in any place we've all been together that can tell you entirely too much about the four ladies at the table beside them. But that's ok, because it's about our friendship. 

It's about laughing until our faces go numb. It's about leaping topics, jumping sentences, forgetting words, and still understanding. It's about having our own language.  It's about our roots. It's about our shared passion and drive. It's about unwavering compassion and unvarnished truth. It's about feeling like nothing is right and then feeling like everything will be alright.

Posing in the Carolina Inn lobby before heading out

Campus

Dinner at Bandido's

Our favorite/the old standby: Top of the Hill

Three days before Christmas in Chapel Hill=deserted. 

So we took silly pictures in the street.

And then we took our patented "one person hold camera and all gather 'round" shot.

Empty hallway+4 tipsy ladies in heels=model walking

Yes, another group shot. But it never gets old. At least not for us.