Merry Christmas

You can still say that, you know. Even if it is 2 days after Christmas.

I hope you and yours had a wonderful Christmas holiday! Since I didn't post on the day, or any day this week so far, I thought I'd pop in.

 My parents and sister dropped me off at the Amtrak station last night and I had to drag my bags home and set an alarm and put on something other than Christmas pajamas this morning and come to work today. Not cool.

I am so thankful that I got to go home, though. And the break was wonderful and as peaceful as any family gathering could be.

I feel like the build up to the holidays drags and then when it finally arrives it just flies by. But we still managed to squeeze a lot of fun into the few days I was home.

Including a trip to the Big Apple.

We bundled up to take in all the lights. There is nothing like NYC at Christmas time to put you in the holiday spirit!You know who does Christmas lights right? Harry Winston! Their lights looked like giant diamonds! How can a girl resist?

After becoming sufficiently frozen we headed to dinner at Bobby Flay's restaurant, Bar Americain. It was seriously delicious. Everything we ordered was perfect and the only thing that would have made dinner any better is an appearance from Bobby himself. My mom, sister and I all tweeted our precise location and tried to draw him to our table. But sadly no luck.

I seriously indulged this trip. We enjoyed Indian food, a family favorite, the following night and then the yummiest steaks with mushrooms and brussel sprouts and my favorite salad on Christmas Eve.

Of course all of these meals are accompanied by an inappropriate amount of cookies. And buttercreams...they're as sinful and delicious as they sound.

(These cookies... not for Santa.)

Following dinner (and before the cookies) we headed to the candlelight service at church. I absolutely love candlelight services. There is something so beautiful to witness an entire congregation singing Silent Night in that flickering glow. Made even more wondrous by the pretty snowfall that greeted us when we left.

On Christmas Eve we always get to open 1 present and it's always new pjs. After donning those we settled down to watch A Christmas Story before heading upstairs to sleep in heavenly peace. 

This recap is getting long so I'll end it here. More Christmas blessings and thoughts on celebrating Christmas at this "stage in life" to come.