This year we opted to stay home for the Holidays. We usually alternate between visiting my family in Ohio and spending the Holidays with Mike's family here in Florida but due to some crazy family things that are out of my control we have not seen Mike's family in quite some time so this year for Christmas we made our own plans! And though this Christmas season has been so nice and relaxing and we've managed to have a lot of fun and spent time with friends and we have been eating lots of goodies it in no way means I haven't missed being with family but sometimes change is not so bad.
Christmas Eve Mike had to work and I procrastinated a good portion of the day. I went to visit Tom and Anna and I talked to my dad and puttered even though I had a lot of things I wanted to get done. That evening we had Wil over for dinner. I was eager to make Christmas Eve dinner because we had never done it before. Traditionally Italians have the Feast of the Seven Fishes on Christmas Eve and my mom put out quite a spread when I was a little girl but as we grew up she only made the fish she liked - shrimp! So Christmas Eve meant Shrimp Scampi for dinner and that's exactly what I made this year. I used Tyler Florence's recipe, you can find it here. Then as years passed my sister started making rice balls for Christmas Eve so Mike made those and boy did they turn out delicious! I also made crab stuffed mushrooms, no real recipe for these I just kinda combined a bunch of recipes I thought looked yummy. And a true Christmas Miracle I was able to get my hands on mom's Cassata cake recipe (Thanks Aunt Jean) This cake is my favorite in the whole world and I was thrilled to have a taste of home and family, so even though we weren't together physically they were truly here in spirit! So the food was plentiful and Wil brought holiday movies which we enjoyed, we took pictures by the tree and we chatted it was relaxing and really nice.
I am a morning person year round but I have never out grown the excited feeling you get on Christmas morning and at 6AM I woke up and just could not go back to sleep so I woke up and found it was pouring rain outside so I snapped some early morning photos before grabbing the umbrella and taking Hooper for his walk. I love the Christmas morning walk, it's so quiet out and it just gives me a chance to collect my thoughts for the day. Now normally I would have Mike up at like 7AM or 8AM at the very latest but I opted to make a pot of coffee and I cuddled on the couch with Hooper and watched Prancer! I also filled stockings and put last minute gifts under the tree and then woke Mike up and we opened presents!!!
My parents got us a Wii and Wii Fit so that has been awesome and Mike got me a beautiful pendant from one of his friends/co-workers Etsy shops that I have had my eye on for a while. Not only did he get me the pendant and have the very talented Adrienne make me think someone else bought it but he had her custom make matching earrings!!! You can find Adrienne's shop here. So that was my big surprise gift and the gift I am so in love with and Mike's favorite gift is so funny - he has had his eye on this fuzzy blanket at Target for 2 years but he has never wanted to spend the money on it and when it goes on sale it disappears and he wanted to make sure to get the biggest size and a good color so this year I bought it for him and my goodness his face just lit up when he opened it and he has been moving it to bed each night and onto the couch during the day so it's always with us and it is so soft and comfy that it just sucks you in!!
We took tons of photos while opening presents and had the traditional Christmas morning cup of eggnog, we played with the fur kids and their new toys and Mike got the Wii up and we started playing. Then we dressed and headed to the Gaylord Palms resort for dinner. It was so yummy! We went to the buffet restaurant Villa De Flora and what a spread, it was a huge place and we had a gorgeous table. The hotel itself is just stunning. After dinner it was back home for more Wii and a little Christmas nap!
This week Mike is off so we are continuing the holiday season with lots of activities. We've been playing lots of Wii, working our way through the Harry Potter movies, eating yummy food and we went to see Avatar which was visually the most stunning movie I've ever seen! Today we are heading out to see some of the Christmas decor at some of the Disney resorts!! I'm looking forward to that!!
Hope you are all having a wonderful and joyous holiday season!!!
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