Where's Abby (+ Dylan and dogs)

I'd say this was one of the most unique Christmases I've had. I guess that starts to happen as you add a second half, double your family, and work schedules alter your traditions.  We had our first Christmas Eve brunch with the future in-laws, Mom, Dad and Mimi, and  Christmas night, we enjoyed dinner with Dylan's parents. I attempted to relax in a hot tub, but I confirmed they're not relaxing for me.  With Dylan working Christmas afternoon, I studied a bit for the GRE before texting Meryl to see what she was up to and got the nicest invite for dinner with them. So I strolled on over with the pup, arriving at their house soaked for the second holiday in a row. We ate the most delicious pork and learned about Puerto Rican Christmas traditions and Meryl's character of a dad. Down their street I walked to join Benton and his parents for hours of board games and a beach walk before heading back home. Codenames is quite a fun, thinkin game.  The goodn...

Christmas time is my favorite time of the year, and today reality hit me that it was Christmas time and I hadn't decorated! I woke up this morning and went straight to Publix for meal prepping and became overwhelmed with excitement at the little details I wound up with. Candles and flowers were all I needed to send my hormones to euphoria.  Later we went to get our first real tree, had Dylan's parents over for dinner and finished decorating this humble abode. This place has gone through a lot of changes since last year .          I hope everyone else is enjoying the holiday as much as I am. If not, get on my excitement level! It's joyous!   Thanks Benton's parents for these lovely candle holders Peter the Pine And thanks, Mama for these Christmas sand pipers! They don't call these Christmas cacti for nothin. Look at that cool bloom! I didn't even know it did that! Ol' Nelso...

This year, I experienced the most excitement for Christmas decorating than ever before. I think it was a combination of simply being excited for Christmas season and it being my very own apartment to decorate. On the Sunday after Thanksgiving, you would've found me immediately breaking out my joyful little Christmas creatures when I got back from this Thanksgiving break . Here's a glimpse at my Christmasy home. Be Merry garland

This Christmas was spent in Colorado with the Tiptons for a whole week! Complete with relaxing, baby smothering, gallons of tea and coffee, tastiest turkey, best and messiest breakfast burrito at Burger Boy, animal sightings galore, snow fulfilling dreams, a wild lookin llama, Native American ruins and more. 'Twas quite fantastic.  Here's my Christmas morning poem.  Now the snow's falling down On this sweet, Colorado town A perfect morning for this Christmas travel All the love and adventure unravel  Our adorable addition has had us grateful Norwegian surf and turf, a delicious plateful It'd been years since seeing the Tiptons  Now catching up on how we've been We skied down the Tellluride mountains  Baby's so cute when she be bouncin   Piano and carols on Christmas Eve  Were more lovely than you could believe  The Ross's had a griswald tour Were Anasazis happy? We're a little unsure  Ad...

I finally have all the pictures so I can share some of my favorite things from this Christmas!  First of all, just spending it with Mom, Dad, Matt and Grandparents was the best. Mom came up for t his awesome week last year but I was definitely missing everyone else! It was great having Pa and Grandma with us too, pealing pecans, sharing stories, and enjoying time together. We, of course, did multiple Christmas light looking trips, watched a Christmas movie, and typical Christmasy things. I spent time with Papa and Mimi on Christmas Eve since I had to leave early Sunday. Christmas Eve dinner couldn't have been tastier and I always love Mom's breakfast casseroles. More things to add to a Florida Christmas would be having fresh squeezed orange juice on Christmas morning from our Backyard Oranges. Listening to Dad play Christmas songs on the piano is always a favorite. We ended the morning with some football before I had to leave for work.  I was glad I "had" to work o...

       Last year I was fully enjoying a beautiful, snowy Christmas. This year I've been fully enjoying and appreciating Christmas in the Sunshine State. Some things I've been loving about this Florida Christmas...  Biking around and finding decorations like this...   Atlantic Beach's awesome lights... Luminaries in Riverside (photo credit: roomie)   Jax Beach's lifeguard chair display A trip to the Zoo with The Roomie to see the lights. The chilly air, full moon, starry sky, and hot cocoa made it quite an enjoyable night.    Sweater weather for coffee on the beach. And cuddling up for some Christmas reading by the sea.

Glædelig Jul!                          It's Christmas post time! :) A little late but that happens. I had a wonderful Christmas with friends and "family" and it was really cool getting to experience it with a different culture. I  spent Christmas Eve with the family and Christmas Day with friends. Here, they do their big celebrations on the 24th and relax more the next two days. I got to share Mom's Christmas egg casserole with them for breakfast on the 24th. We then relaxed some, I went for a run, and I watched the kids while they went to church in the afternoon. I tried to get the kids to participate in Christmasy fun... Baking cookies, drawing Christmas pictures, but they weren't having it so I made cookies and drew a Christmas tree by myself.  I went to the next church service when they got back. It was only 30minutes long! I came back for a lovely dinner of duck and potatoes. The duck was so delicious...

  Mom came to Denmark!!    This Christmas, Mom came to visit for her first European adventure! 'twas quite a quick trip with her coming from December 15-19, but we squeezed in a lot in this time. And here's how it went! ... Day 1    At Mom's arrival early Saturday morning, Claus and I picked her up at the airport, stopping at the bakery to pick up the necessary Danish treats for her to try. These special breakfasts are always the best. Bread, honey, coffee... Yum. So we had a nice breakfast with the family before starting off on our site seeing.     First we went to see the Little Mermaid, got a little "lost" but that just allowed for more site seeing. Luckily, the snow at least stayed for the first day before melting away and being a bit gross for the rest of her trip. From the little mermaid, we walked to Nyhavn... A much longer walk than I remembered, and showed mom the infamous Copenhagen postcard scene. It was decorated really prett...