Share some recaps of your holiday adventures and fun.
Hi friends! Are you OK? How was your week? I hope you have a great time. There is a festive atmosphere everywhere. Filled with cheese and eggnog, not sure what day it is. I hope you enjoy some downtime too!
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Some recent adventures:
We took our annual princess trip and enjoyed the Christmas activities and lights. I wasn’t planning on going this year – I thought we could go to Sedona or Mount Lemmon – and when the girls found out, they were devastated. I kind of forgot how traditional a thing it has become. This is our fifth year in a row! So, I quickly booked a night and I’m so glad we did. I always feel like I’m in a festive mood when we’re at the Princess Hotel.
We had a delicious dinner at the Toro Hotel:
The rest of the evening was spent skating, riding the rides, roasting marshmallows, and enjoying all the lights and music.
(My favorite jeans are sold here)
We got home and immediately started holiday baking. Normally I like to get ahead and freeze as much as possible, but this year it totally got away from me. I made two pies for my dad’s house:
(Chocolate Pecan Bourbon and Chocolate Meringue)
More peppermint bark:
We bake all the cookies for the holiday cookie trays and packages we make for our neighbors each year.
We also assembled giant saran wrapped balls:
Christmas Eve was spent at my dad’s house and it was amazing as usual. They ordered PF. Chang’s (The pilot and I had our first date at PF Chang’s! I had just met him at Starbucks and was worried he might be a creeper, take me to dessert and murder me. My friend was on speed dial. Turns out he wasn’t a creeper and our dinner + Starbucks date lasted five hours and was absolutely adorable).
We opened gifts with dad’s family and then went home to “try” an early bedtime for the kids (laughs). I go to the Midnight Mass recital, which has become an unintentional but beautiful tradition. I went there by myself last year and loved it.
Some photos from Christmas Day:
We had breakfast at home and since the pilot had to leave at lunchtime, we had dinner at mom’s house.
Look at Kyle’s grilled lobster tail! ! !
We also had steak from ButcherBox (the best), asparagus, cheese potatoes and baby Jesus’ birthday cake.
The rest of the weekend was spent watching movies, napping, hiking, and getting to know things at home. My goal is to start 2026 with a clean closet! I’m clearing out Liv’s entire room (saying a prayer for meeee) and getting ready because Macy is expecting a little sister this week! I’ll be sure to report back soon 😉
Hope you have a great week! I’ll be back tomorrow with a book review!
Western Europe
Gina
