How has Christmas already come and gone again? I got off work around 4 on Thursday the 23rd and I feel like that was just yesterday... not four days ago! I spent Thursday evening doing some last minute things around the house to prepare for our celebrations and started watching The Holiday - and my sweet fiancé finally got home from his Christmas visit with his daughter around 9:30 - hooray!
I was so so excited to sleep late on Christmas Eve but I'm learning as I get "older" that sleeping late isn't as easy as it once was. *sigh* We ended up awake and having coffee before 8 AM and passed the day finishing Elf (with many eye rolls from Ryan, ha-ha) and Ryan having a first viewing of Fantastic Beasts & Where to Find Them.. the verdict is still out on what exactly he thought of it, ha-ha!
I whipped up a pot of Chicken Pot Pie Soup for us to have for an early dinner and shortly before 4 PM we headed for church to attend the Christmas Eve Candlelight Service - which was beautiful, as always. When we arrived they were handing out cookies with milk or coffee (we went for coffee, duh) and as we settled in, we scoped out all the little people dressed in their fanciest little Christmas outfits. We sang beautiful Christmas worship songs and Bro. John spoke about the invitation that Christ extended all those years ago when he was born - it was a lovely sermon and we closed out the service with candlelight and carols.
Ryan had to go to work around 8 (for just a few hours - hallelujah for that) and so Watson and I set out to walk around the neighborhood and look at lights... and while walking, I spied a very unique sight up in the clouds. Airplanes usually have lights on either side and I saw plenty of those flying through the night sky but this - it was one bright light, moving forward at a steady pace through the night sky, cutting a path through the gathering clouds. I informed Watson that I was sure it was Santa - and he certainly didn't argue with me!
After our walk and Santa spotting, I came in and got some Christmas cookies with milk and settled in to watch White Christmas - a tradition each year that I absolutely love. I munched on my cookies, snuggled in my blanket and hummed along to the tunes as the movie unfolded... once it ended, I did a little last minute "Santa" work and crawled into bed!
Ryan came in from work shortly before 1 AM and y'all - he wanted to open presents when he got home! He'd glimpsed those stuffed stockings and he was ready to get after presents... but I nixed that idea pretty quickly and told him "go to sleep you nut!" Thankfully he heeded my request (I don't like to miss sleep y'all...) and we eventually got up around 7:30 and he immediately was ready to face time my family to open stockings and set aside his coffee mug to do so...ha-ha! Our stockings were completely stuffed and we were richly gifted so many wonderful little things to use in our new home (tell you more about that later) in the New Year, along with gift cards and fun trinkets too!
We plopped ourselves in front of the tree and began opening gifts from one another and from Ryan's mother too - we got so many wonderful things and we were (yet again) richly blessed with the gifts we were given. It was a wonderful time being cozy, tossing wrapping paper around and sharing gifts with one another. After we finished; with Ryan's assistance, we whipped up a breakfast casserole and some cinnamon rolls while also preparing the roast to cook... it was a little hectic but all was well.
We relaxed, watched movies and just enjoyed the day - and had our Christmas dinner of roast, potatoes, carrots, corn casserole, field peas and green beans around 3:00 and then Ryan took a nice Christmas nap before heading into work. I passed my Christmas evening watching the newest Disney animated movie Encanto (it was cute - but I'm glad I didn't pay money to go see it) and just chilling - it was a lovely Christmas day indeed!
Sunday was Ryan's birthday and I started the celebration(s) by singing to him as soon as he woke up (which I'm sure he loved). We had coffee and breakfast, watched church online and then watched some Harry Potter and then ran to Martin's pretty quickly to grab a steak for part of his birthday dinner before heading home and watching 13 Hours - a movie Ryan really likes and wanted me to see. I whipped up some Yum Yum Pudding as part of the birthday boy's dinner (the dessert portion) and did some things around the house as the evening settled in...
Ryan's birthday dinner was a steak (that he grilled to his liking) and with it I made Parmesan Garlic Brussel Sprouts and Brown Butter Egg Noodles... y'all, if you've never had Brown Butter Egg Noodles, you'll need to get on that ASAP. It only has two ingredients: egg noodles and butter - but it's divinely delicious. We watched some football after dinner and then Ryan was off to work and the weekend came to a close - much quicker than I'd have liked. May I mention - it was Ryan's birthday and somehow I ended up with lilies... what in the world? My fiancé is the sweetest and most wonderful.
Christmas Weekend passed way too quickly - but weekends always do - at least I'm looking forward to another three day weekend this upcoming weekend as we celebrate the New Year! Just four more days of 2021 and then a New Year will be here. I cannot believe it. Cannot - wow.
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