Christmas Vacation

*Sigh* How is Christmas vacation already over? I swear it was just December 20th and I had a full nine days stretching out in front of me and now it's December 30th - I feel like I blinked and everything just absolutely sped by! I took so many pictures over the past week and some days - I figured I'd just toss them all in one post, recapping the Christmas vacation and go from there. So yes - there will be so many pictures!

Friday at work my friends (who also happen to be my co-workers) and I exchanged our gifts and enjoyed some delicious Christmas treats: Christmas Cracker Candy, Brownies, Buffalo Chicken Dip, Rotel Dip and homemade Macaroni & Cheese! It was all delicious and my friends gave me such amazing gifts! Friday evening I met my friend Katie for dinner and gnome painting at a local art studio! We caught up over dinner and then painted our little gnomes before parting ways to head home again. 

I decided to name my gnome Rupert and I haven't quite decided if I should just keep him out in my kitchen all year round - he is just meant to be a gnome and not Santa Claus - but maybe I should have done less red? I don't know but I loved how he turned out! Saturday morning we headed to Dulles to pick up my younger sister and then stopped at Clyde's in Ashburn for a late lunch - and this was actually our first visit to Clyde's, but we'll definitely be back! We spent the rest of Saturday just relaxing - we watched a Christmas movie and Lindsey and I made a Target run for some final stocking stuffers!

Sunday morning we all got dressed up and headed to church - normally no one really dresses up for services at my church but I noticed that quite a few people were more fanciful than usual on the Sunday before Christmas. We had a delicious lunch of roast, potatoes and carrots at the house before cruising up the Interstate to Hagerstown, Maryland to enjoy the Maryland Symphony Orchestra's holiday concert - it was really wonderful! We attempted to eat a nearby German restaurant but unfortunately they were booked solid with not a table to spare - so we grabbed a (still) pretty delicious dinner at BJ's Brewhouse before heading home!

We ran some errands on Monday morning and made a final grocery run before returning home to watch Love Actually and make our traditional Christmas cookies! We are always trying to get a little bit more crafty with our designs every year and since my sister and I have both been loving The Mandalorian and Baby Yoda (he's not actually a baby... or Yoda...) - we decided to try a hack that involved using an angel cookie cutter to create a Baby Yoda cookie. I think we were pretty successful!

I even made a little green guy holding a cup of soup - if you haven't watched the show, maybe click here and check that out! Seriously - the cutest! We spent our evening at the Alamo Drafthouse watching the final installment in the Skywalker Saga, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. I know the reviews have been mixed but we all really enjoyed the movie...and we enjoyed our delightful mixed drinks called Do or Do Not, There is No Rye! I thought the movie was a really lovely finale to the 40+ years of this saga - and I got a little tickled with my Dad saying "who knew when I sat down in a theater all those years ago, I'd be watching the conclusion of these movies all these years later..."

Christmas Eve was a pretty full day - after coffee (always coffee) we began doing some pre-Christmas day cooking and then got ready for the 2:30 Christmas Eve service at church - where so many people were dressed extremely fancifully - I must have missed the memo! We stopped in at Chick Fil A after the service to pick up some chicken tenders for our evening celebrations and then went home to have finger foods and family time! After eating some favorites like chicken nuggets, Swiss cheese dip, pigs in a blanket, magic squares and more - we bundled up and walked through the neighborhood looking at Christmas light. 

We ended our Christmas Eve celebrations opening a couple presents sent from family in Mississippi and of course; as is our tradition, we watched A White Christmas - always perfection! 

I tried a Cinnamon Roll French Toast Casserole recipe for breakfast on Christmas morning and it turned out really great - it was also crazy easy, especially since it could be made overnight and popped in the oven on Christmas morning! 

The exchanging of gifts was wonderful - I know daily that I'm blessed but I'm always reminded how abundantly when the Christmas season rolls around. I was especially thrilled and surprised when I found out my sister gifted me a plane ticket to the UK for 2020 - so I guess we know at least one place I'll be traveling in the new year! The rest of Christmas Day was really laid back - although I suppose that I could call most of the break laid back too - we had a delicious late lunch, watched the Washington Nationals World Series documentary and somehow before the day was out, I found myself doing a puzzle with my younger sister... something I never do!

A chunk of my gifts were very much Washington Nationals themed since the Nationals won the World Series this year - so I have plenty of fabulous ways to commemorate the fantastically wonderful season that was Nationals baseball this year! I honestly don't remember too much of what we got up to on the day after Christmas - but we did poke around a few shops and then went to see Little Women - which was fantastic! We ended up getting the Blue Milkshake that was outlined as part of the Star Wars menu to sip while we watched the adventures of the Marches.

The weather over the weekend was incredibly spectacular and so very unseasonably warm - I think it even got up to around 60 at some point on Friday or Saturday (or both). The day itself was pretty laid back (the theme of the break) but at one point my younger sister and I loaded my pup up in the car and went to the Arboretum for a couple hours to enjoy the nice weather and let the sweet pup enjoy some time out in the sunshine. 

We spent more time outside on Saturday since the weather continued to be incredibly amazing! There is a trail that runs around the lake where I live and so my sister and I took the pup and went hiking - by the time we made it around the lake and back to the house, we'd done 3.25 miles and worked up quite a sweat. I also managed to get some great pictures of the lake! 

After a quick shower and lunch, my sister and I worked on yet another puzzle - I'm not sure who I am anymore, doing all these puzzles. I got some slippers on sale from Talbots that have a very similar to mine pup on them and I'm 100% in love with them - they're so cute and cozy! 

After lounging around the house a bit, we joined up with my parents and went over to Bluemont Vineyard in Loudon County to have some wine and watch the sunset. The vineyard is situated on top of a mountainside and the views of the valley are incredible... the wine is pretty fabulous as well! 

As the sun set, the lights strung across the grape vines began to turn on and the whole place became even more magical with all the lights twinkling in the crisp night air, the sky slowly turning from pale blue to a deep navy - it was just so gorgeous. 

We rounded out the Christmas vacation on Sunday morning with brunch at the Mimslyn Inn - located in Luray, which is about a 35 minute drive from our house. The Mimslyn Inn is historic and the brunch always has so many wonderful things - we couldn't resist snapping some goofy pictures in and around the Inn after we finished eating! 

I feel like the past nine days passed in an absolute blur - I just honestly cannot believe another Christmas has come and gone - and in less than 36 hours, another year will have come and gone. Savor 2019 while it lasts y'all, it's about to come to a close! 

Wow.