Hope everyone had the most joyous of Holidays!
Ours was very enjoyable! We had the “big” festivities on Christmas Eve and then yesterday was all about opening presents from Santa and then just playing, relaxing and just a little putting the house back together from all the cooking & present opening on Christmas Eve. We had our good friends over for casual snacks & winter Sangria (delish!) in the evening to get one last little low key celebrating in. We started doing this last year when we made the decision not to travel on Christmas so we can let Reed be at stay home on Christmas morning.
Here is our intimate Christmas Eve table for four…
We were able to get a really nice family photo this year. Jeff & I hate looking at our last year’s picture since we have lost quite a bit of weight since then. :)
The week leading up to Christmas I was busy putting together little gifts of appreciation.
First I ordered some local(I LOVE supporting little local shops), handmade toffee we ordered to hand out to Jeff’s team at work. Since they were already bagged at the shop, I just added a little note to personalize the treat. I had just received a customizable stamp kit from my mother-in-law when we celebrated Christmas the weekend before. This was a great chance to use it!
Then on Wednesday a good friend and workout buddy came over for our 2nd annual cookie baking night. We are very fortunate to have such great “teachers” that take such good care of our kids where we workout. Especially at Holiday time we like to show them extra gratitude by making them some yummy treats! Last year when we did this, they just gushed and gushed about it, so I don’t think it happens too much. What a shame!!!
This year, we made White Chocolate lollipops with cashews & dried cherries, Hot Cocoa Cookies and Shortbread dipped in chocolate with walnuts and then cut shortbreads into snowflakes drizzled with chocolate with crushed peppermints. The juxtaposition of mint with the buttery shortbread is really quite enjoyable!
I cut some greens from our yard and Kelly took them home and boxed them up with the lollipops on top. When we brought in the treats, we dropped the kids off to play for awhile and went shopping…(so much for working out) LOL!
It’s so enjoyable to do a joint effort!
So, one would think this week I can relax a little…but we are going out of town for New Year’s to celebrate with extended family so I have some more baking I want to do to give as gifts and I am ready to start my January pare down and cleaning! I have already stripped our bed and have been washing every bit of it today. I LOVE starting fresh!
What are you up to today? Did you hit the sales?
Are you still celebrating or are you focusing on the New Year?
Are you ready to lose those extra pounds?
This has helped me lose weight & some serious inches and counting!
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