Hi lovelies!

I know my Christmas post is a few days late, but unlike many of you (wink wink, JK!) I had to work the day after Christmas!   So I’m finally finding time right now!

For the past few years, Mike and I have been trying to figure out how to best split Christmas so everyone get’s a fair share of us (yes- we are that high in demand) 

This year we switched things up and I think it went pretty well, except we didn’t get to see his Grandma. 

Christmas Eve we headed out to Mike’s parents to celebrate with them – and were welcomed with the most unbelievable spread of appetizers:Look at all that food!  It seriously was all amazing!  Here are some of my favorites, BUFFALO CHICKEN DIP:

SHRIMP!!

AND OF COURSE, VEGGIES!

Here’s my first plate:

I never officially got a second plate, but definitely spent the majority of the night grazing off the table.  Then we drank plenty of wine, opened presents, and passed out for the night.  I woke up early to head home and open stuff with my family and my grandparents on my mom’s side.  Remember how I was talking about all the gifts I made?  Well now I can finally show you!

For my mom, I made her a personalized throw, where you can add whatever picture you want and they make a blanket out of it.   I put a picture of our family dog Murphy on there, who passed away in June.  We all miss him very very very much, especially my mom, and this Christmas has been hard for her, since it’s the first one without Murphy here.

And here’s a slightly better picture where you can see more of the blanket:

See what a cool dude he was?   I also made a calendar for each of my grandparents, which I’m now realizing I didn’t snap a good picture of – but each month had 2 pictures, and I added in all the familys’ birthdays and anniversaries – I have to admit they came out pretty darn good, and both sets of grandparents just LOVED THEM!

Now here’s something you can all appreciate…

I really wanted an 2 things for Christmas,  a new camera for the blog and because mine is old and crappy, and an iPod nano because my other iPod is HUGE and old – and I got the new 4th generation nano – in green my fav color!   Which is super exciting -but I don’t have a picture of it.  Here is the gift I was most excited about, and felt it most necessary to take a picture with:

A full box of blueberry z-bars – YAY! 

Here’s Lando with her presents that Santa (my parents) bought for her:

There was more eating and drinking all day long on Christmas of course, but now it’s time for the culinary highlight of ANY OF MY HOLIDAYS - my Grandma Stewart’s stufffed shells (or lasagna – it doesn’t matter the form – my teeny tiny italian grandma’s recipe ROCKS no matter what way you make it!)This is honestly my favorite meal of the year, and I’ve missed it the past three years!  So you can imagine how much better that made everything taste this time around! 

Doesn’t that look amazing?  Jealous you couldn’t have any? 

My brothers came home with me and Mike to continue celebrating the holidays – and Mike and I broke into on our coolest gifts of the season, a HUGE bottle of sparkling wine from Santa (his parents)

Look how big it is compared to my head!  (and I’ve got a big noggin’!)  Also, can you tell how much I love that green/gray shirt?  I just bought it this season, and I think I’ve had it on in 2 out of the last 3 pictures of myself I’ve posted.  I swear I do own other clothing.  That’s about it!  I’ve read all your posts and it looks like everyone had such a nice Christmas/Hannukah!  Hope you are all enjoying your time off (if you’ve got it) and are looking forward to New Years!