christmastime

This weekend I was away in Atlantic City, and apparently the elves were busy at work while I was gone. When I came home, all the decorations were in place and the every window was outlined in a rainbow of bulbs. I'm actually glad to be home for Christmas for the first time in four years. In the past, I was only home on the weekends, if that, and I felt like I really missed out on things. I usually didn't even come home from school until the 23rd of December because finals always had me at my wit's end. Which is why it never failed that I always came home with some illness due to lack of sleep, improper nutrition, and plenty of stress.




I'm glad to be here for it all this year, and have decided to share photos of just a few things for now. Things that have been around for longer than I can remember. Things that were passed down from grandparents and have a permanent fixture in my memory.

Some of my favorite decorations are my family's Christmas stockings. My great-aunt knitted them for the entire family, so all of my cousins, aunts, and uncles, have the exact same stockings. They are all personalized with everyone's names and are added as new members are married or born into the family.




One thing about traditions though is that people have to keep them going or they just fade out. Concerned about this, I asked my grandmom if anyone was planning on carrying out the family stocking business. She talked to her sister-in-law and found out that none of her children or grandchildren had been interested in taking this on. She was very excited that I was interested in keeping it going and offered me the pattern she used. I gladly accepted and have made it my mission to perfect it so I can take over since she can't knit so much anymore due to arthritis.




Unfortunately, they are knitted. And if you've been with me for a while, you know how I feel about knitting. I do know how to knit, I just don't prefer it. So I added this to my 101 things in 1001 days list in hopes of practicing before the next family member is added.




The next thing on the list of Christmas fun is marathon cookie baking. I picked up Martha Stewart's Holiday Cookie magazine and found a few new ones to add to the list of things to try. I have very high baking ambitions this year. :)



I hope everyone had a great weekend. I had a great time celebrating a friend's birthday on friday and going to Atlantic City on Saturday. We kicked off Charlie's mom's birthday by going shopping at this mall on the boardwalk. They had a lot of crazy expensive stores in there which made for fun window shopping but not too much buying.

His mom bought me this really nice sweater in White House Black Market. Having two sons, I think she likes to be able to do girly things with someone, like having a daughter. I'm happy to fill that position :). It's always good when you get along well with your SO's parents.




The sweater is black and white with cute little silver buttons down the side. It's got a little sparkle woven into it which would make it perfect for a holiday event.




After shopping and lunch, Charlie and I checked into our room and took a nap until dinner. We are old. We all met up later for dinner and ate at this really nice restaurant inside the Borgata, where we stayed. We celebrated with champagne and steaks and good conversation. Afterward, we went into the casino for a little bit. I'm a noob at casino-going so I kept it simple and played video poker. I won $70 so I was happy :). We then went to the Water Club lounge which was so pretty. The atmosphere in there was just so relaxing. We had more drinks accompanied by a lot of funny stories.

On Sunday, we came back home and I decorated the Christmas tree with my family while Elf played in the background. Then I went to Charlie's to watch the season finale of Boardwalk Empire (so good). I'm gonna miss it until season 2 starts. That's the first show I've actually made it a point to keep up with in a while. Seriously, if you haven't seen it, watch it.

I hope everyone else had a great weekend! How's your Christmas prep going?