Christmas In July

I realized that things got so busy in the winter with buying our new house and getting ready to move and family things and being excited about our house that I never posted about our Christmas with our families!  I think it was only the second time Greg and I have been Home for Christmas in 26 years! 

My parents have been hosting a Christmas Eve celebration for . . . well, as long as I can remember!  My aunt Cindy and her children and their families are invited, as well as my parents' children and their children.  It ended up being 17 people this year.

But FIRST, we got to get together with my parents & my brother's family in the morning to open gifts!

Esme loves writing place cards for everyone.

She's been writing these place cards before meals since before she could actually spell.

One time when she was little, she accidentally wrote "bob" instead of "dad".  Mark came to the table and said, "Who's Bob?!"  It's been a family joke ever since.

We were happy to be with family for the holiday!

Everyone else was wearing plaid jammies, which were extra cute!
Greg and I were wearing plaid, at least!

Then we went home, took a short rest, changed clothes, and went to the (afternoon) Christmas Eve service at church. I wore this . . . 

red coat: DKNY (secondhand from TurnStyle)

scarf: I've had it for probably 15 years!)

bag: Scarleton (Amazon)

shoes: Target

dress: Amazon

tights: Target

A few days before Christmas, we (I) saw a house on Zillow and Redfin that I LOVED.  It suited our needs/wants extremely well, and we were eager to see it.  It was officially going on the market on December 27, so we decided to drive by it on the way from church to my parents' house on Christmas Eve.  This house is one of our Christmas presents from God and we got to see it in person for the first time on Christmas Eve!

We loved the neighborhood, the house looked like a castle to us, and it was the first house we had driven by that looked even better in person than it did online.

I took a quite peek in the backyard to see the pond.  It was iced over, of course, and it was full of snow.  But it was glorious.  Even in the middle of winter, this house has curb appeal and it called to us!

We were the first to walk through on December 27, the first to place an offer (same-day), and obviously the next residents of this gorgeous home!  WE LOVE IT HERE!

After getting quite overwhelmed with this fantastic house, we drove on to my parents' house for our big family Christmas Eve celebration!

My Mom had made everything beautiful, of course.  She is elegant and so is her house (though comfy)!

This is the dessert table (before most of the people had arrived and brought more goodies).  I made chocolate covered peanut butter balls and chocolate chip cookie bars.

I love how smooth and pretty these peanut butter balls look!

I also took fresh veggies, crackers, and seasoned cashew cheese.

I also took a huge fruit salad.  A party can never have too much fruit!

The main meal is chalupas, a Tex-Mex family dish with shredded animal, spices, and beans served on top of corn chips topped with a pile of veggies.  I took along my veggie taco innards (bell peppers, mushrooms, onion, black beans, corn, tomatoes), ate it with the same fixings, and fit right in!

Greg wore a mask because COVID was still a bit of a problem.  The rest of us decided against it, but he was wise - there was a mini outbreak after our Christmas Eve gathering.  My brother, his wife, both their girls, my cousin Ryan, and his wife all got COVID.

Esme & Grandpa had some selfie fun.  Check out Grandma being crazy in the background!

Now Cora is being crazy in the background!

This is one of my favorite photos EVER.

Grandma, Auntie, girlies

After dinner, we played Dutch Blitz, my very favorite game!

It is a fast-paced game and we had a great time with lots of laughter.

The next day, we happily were able to celebrate with Greg's Dad and step-Mom, Karen!  They have a lovely, welcoming home, and it was filled with good food and interesting people.

On our way over, it started to SNOW!  

ON CHRISTMAS DAY!

There was good food, laughter, and fun generous presents.

Then the sun set and gave us a gorgeous pink and orange sunset.

What a blessing to spend time with our beloved families on this blessed holiday!

I'm happy I noticed that I never blogged about this wonderful Christmas so I can look back at the fun photos, and I'm excited that another Christmas is coming soon!