christmas in july…kinda

it seems fitting that while we’re in the first heat wave of the summer, i’m still recapping christmas and new year’s.  heh.

anyway, we got home from new york and jumped right into the holidays.  luckily, i’d made sure that most of our presents had been ordered and wrapped before we left because i just knew that waiting till the last minute would bite me in the ass big time.

this meant that i didn’t have to stress out and got to just relax and enjoy my favorite time of year.  well, and gather supplies to make hot chocolate pudding shots for the family party:

as always, it was fun to spend time with my family - playing games, sharing food and drinks, handing out gifts.  and because we decided to push up the gift exchange to 10pm instead of the usual midnight, everyone was able to get home at a decent time to go to bed and let santa do his thing.

we all got up on christmas morning at a fairly decent time, and the first thing we did before we dove into the stockings and presents was to get the hub to finally put the star on top of the tree.

and of course, i set up the tripod so we could get our annual family pajamas christmas morning photo.

and then finally it was time to tear into the piles of gifts that were waiting under the tree.

the bean has been asking for a human sized dog bed for a couple of years now, and this time santa came through.  of course, all of the actual dogs wanted to share the space with them too.

well, okay - i might have given it a try too.  it’s really comfy.

and the old lady was the very happy recipient of a new peloton bike.

i was a pretty happy camper myself.

we had fun tearing through a box from MIL, who’d sent us individual gifts as well as this fun care package of adorable mini toys.

we had the traditional tater tot breakfast casserole and then it was time for the kids to head out to spend time with several different family groups.

christmas dinner was just for the three of us, and i busted out the tried-and-true lawry’s recipes again.

a few days later, we hosted a fun new year’s party with the bean’s friends and their families for the first time since 2019.  it was a blast, and the kids all played games while the rest of us hung out in the back yard and chatted and got caught up on everyone’s lives.

and then it was time to say goodbye to santa…till next year! well…i guess we’ll actually see him again in about five months.