In addition to Thanksgiving another one of my beautiful friends married the love of her life. Stephanie Gall became Mrs. Matthew Dante in early November, another beautiful celebration that goes down in the books!
So the month of November flew by and before I knew it I was decorating for Christmas....something I chose to completely depart from last year due to my scrooged mood ha ha. But this year although most would think even 2011's experiences would get me down in the dumps, I chose the higher road. I decided to host my annual girls Christmas celebration which in turn FORCED me to decorate and partake in the typical holiday cheer. So I hung my stockings and put up my pathetically fake Charlie Brown of a Christmas Tree, hung my lights and enjoyed the touch of Christmas I pulled together. I had 4 of my closest girlfriends over the following weekend for a potluck, gift exchange, wine and laughter. I don't believe we've laughed that hard in a long time. And of course the more the wine poured down the pipes, the looser the conversation flowed, spilling "secrets", sharing stories: the best of memories with one another. Was definitely one of the best of times, from the outside I'm sure we sounded like a bunch of cackling chickens, however only we are to understand our own language talking over one another and laughing.....nothing else seems to matter in these instances. I enjoyed Christmas celebrations with my godparents and even slipped in a quick Vegas trip....sometimes you just can't pass it up especially when you come home with this:
Christmas was upon me before I knew it, my shopping was done early this year which was a relief, I even chose to wrap as I bought which seemed silly to some. But they sure weren't laughing when I had nothing to wrap and they had saved all their gifts to wrap at once only days before Christmas Eve ... HA HA HA I say! So Christmas eve was a bit different this year, spent with my parents and brother. The last time it was just the four of us was about 16 years ago and to be honest it was probably the best one in a long time! We enjoyed eachother's company, laughing, reminiscing, playing games, enjoying a delicious meal at Lazy Dog along with little Oscar of course. Chrismas Day was another intimate day just the 4 of us enjoying brunch and a lovely surf and turf dinner.....sorry if I make you hungry right now:
It was as delicious way to end the holiday...to say the least!!! I hope you all had a wonderful holiday and as the new year approaches take a moment to think about 2011, the good, the bad, the lessons learned, the friends made, those we let go of.....think about what you want to do in 2012 differently, or what you want to accomplish....and do it! It's a fresh start, a fresh year to make things happen.....
So make it happen!
