Our tree is trimmed, our halls are decked, and our stockings are hung by the chimney with care…and while we don’t have a mantle in our new house, I found a solution for that too! In other words, we are fully locked and loaded for our very first Holiday Season in our brand new home! I couldn’t be happier to be celebrating the season together with my family in this new chapter of life. When Ian and I first stepped foot in our new home, took the tour, and stood in the kitchen to talk about the house– we kept coming back to what a wonderful house it would be for celebrating, decorating, and entertaining.

After hosting our first Thanksgiving here just a few weeks ago, I’m more excited than ever for everything that Christmas will bring! I’ll admit that the last few weeks since Thanksgiving have been less than ideal. It feels like our family has been on a Hamster wheel of coughing, fevers, runny noses, and then getting better…all to get right back on that hamster wheel of sickness again. I caught a virus from Mateo a few weeks ago that I took steroids and antibiotics for…but it still turned into Pneumonia! All that’s been helping me recover lately is to focus on everything I’m excited to do this Christmas vacation with the family. Next week is my last week of work, and then I’m SO excited to take some much-deserved time off to hang out and recharge. But recharging doesn’t have to be boring! We have lots of Christmas Vacation plans, and I thought I’d share them here with you today! I’m also going to put some HEA blog posts at the bottom of my favorite things to Eat, Drink, and Make this time of year for anybody looking for some tips!

Dates With The Big Kids

Ian and I like to take each of the big kids out on a little one-on-one date over the holidays. I’m taking Major into NYC to have a great Japanese dinner and then take him to The Nutcracker at Lincoln Center together. Watching the show with him after he’s danced his little heart out in The Nutcracker in our town has been my favorite new tradition. This will be our second year, and I can’t wait to experience it again! The same evening, Ian will go on a special date with Marlowe. They both love ice skating (Ian played competitive Ice Hockey for years) so they’re going to go skating and then out for a nice dinner together. Once Mateo is old enough, we’ll have to figure out how to factor him into the plans!

Anniversaries!

Ian and my dating anniversary is over the holiday break, so we’re excited to celebrate that. We’ll probably make a delicious dinner at home, or get takeout from one of our favorite spots. We’re also excited to take Ian’s parents out to hibachi dinner to celebrate their wedding anniversary! They’ve been married for over forty years, and it’s so sweet to come together with the kids to celebrate. You all know how much we STAN a hibachi special occasion! LOL.

Christmas Eve Lunch

Christmas Eve Cookies For Santa

We always bake cookies for Santa and decorate them at home on Christmas Eve! Kyle sleeps over at our house so that we can all wake up with the kids on Christmas morning. Normally the adults will order in Chinese food, and watch a fun non-kid-friendly Holiday movie, like Die Hard.

Mema’s 100th!

Ian’s Grandma is turning 100 over the holidays! We’re going to go to Long Island to celebrate her with Ian’s whole family! It’s going to be really fun to introduce the kids to lots of family members they haven’t met yet. It also means more cousin time for the kiddos with their baby cousin, Greer, who we are all obsessed with.

NYE at Home

I actually LOVE spending New Year’s Eve at home with the kids. We cook food, do special floating wish paper, drink Champagne and sparkling cider, and watch YouTube videos of the ball dropping….at 8 pm. I also love to eat potato chips with caviar and creme fraiche in bed with Ian and watch a great movie.

NY Ranger’s Game

Photographs by Julia Dags | Copyright © 2023 Happily Eva After, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Shop the post…