Christmas Wrap Up

          So many posts were planned but remained unwritten while I prepared for Christmas for there were cookies to be frosted, houses to be decorated and trees to be trimmed leaving little time to actually sit down and type. 

          This Christmas was my first away from Western New York and the first Christmas ever spent in this house. The prospect of staying put for Christmas was so lovely- no stress of travel and no stress of rushing to and fro to try and visit a multitude of relatives in a ridiculously short amount of time. 

         Staying home meant decorating the house and sticking around to enjoy it. Not having much of a plan, I just started putting up random decorations and eventually settled around coordinating the decor with the ornament wreath I had made for the front door. But, the wreath was not meant to be and just couldn't survive the constant abuse that my front door decor apparently endures (turns out my beau rubs his arm or back on whatever is hanging on the door). With little interest in putting time into yet another wreath, I simply added garland and greenery to my regular front door wreath and tailored the rest of my decorations to match. 

        In addition to my aluminum tree, we decided to get a real tree because it simply "can't be Christmas without one!". Well, a real tree turned out to be such trouble- it seems that everyone purchases their tree right after Thanksgiving and we were left scouring lots for something that would fit in our living room. We ended up with a sad little tree that looked more like a bush- but we were happy to have anything at all!  Next year we plan to go to a you-cut Christmas tree farm and get ourselves a real coastal Christmas tree.

Here is our tree very early on Christmas morning. Christmas trees are so magical at this time of day.

        This being our first year setting up a tree, we had only a modest assortment of vintage ornaments that I'd collected over the last couple of years. Hating to think of us with a naked tree, family members sent ornaments. 

Here are a few of my favorites:

Lovely mermaid from my aunt

Star from Tanzania given to us by my beau's sister who spent her summer in Africa (these stay out year round)
Pelican and sand dollar from my aunt
Vintage fish (so old!) from my mom

         My parents joined us on the coast on the 22nd. Being an only child, my mom couldn't bear a Christmas without me- nor I without her, so when it was decided we were staying here, there was no question where they were spending the holiday. I am so glad they came, it wouldn't have been the same without them.

Every time Mom and Dad visit we always gorge ourselves on sushi and this time was no exception. Here's what I wore to dinner. 

We always order way too much to eat- this time we ordered an entire boat full! 

Once I was a vegetarian but that was until I had sushi! How one goes from eating no creatures at all to eating raw dead things is beyond me- I guess it's just that good!

My beau, Pops, and I 

       Christmas eve and Christmas day were spent, where else, at the beach. It was a bit chilly but we practically had the beach to ourselves- what an incredible new way to celebrate! All in all we had a most relaxing and wonderful time and in all honesty- I didn't miss our usual WNY Christmas one bit!

Pops, Sam and I enjoying the day

From our time spent at the beach, I made a video greeting that I sent to family and friends on Christmas eve. It's ever so silly, but here it is for your viewing pleasure!

To all still reading this rambling post- I hope that you, too, had the most splendid holiday this year! 

May your final days of the year be glorious!