Christmas Catch-Up

Good grief, I can't believe the holidays and new year have come and gone so quickly! I am back from a wonderful Christmas and AMAZING trip to Florida and am trying to get back into the swing of things. I have a million pictures to share from Harry Potter, but before I get to that, I wanted to rewind a few weeks to share a little bit of my Christmas. I was so busy re-doing my blog and then trying to play catch-up that I never got to write about it, so here are some things I missed from my holiday season!

Holiday baking - I did more holiday baking this year that I have ever done in my life! Not that that is saying much. However, I did fulfill #17 on my 23 by 23 list and baked homemade chocolate chip cookies!

Because my mom has baked these cookies for every Christmas season that I can remember, they're one of those things that embodies Christmas for me. The taste and smell of these cookies takes me back to my childhood in a second. I was very glad that they turned out just as delicious when I made them! I also used them to fill cute holiday tins from Michael's as part of my Christmas gift to some of my friends. :)

I also baked and decorated sugar cookies (also completely from scratch!!) using a recipe from the lovely Kelly! Her icing recipe and decorating tutorial is awesome and, even though my first batch of cookies was a failure, these cookies from my second batch turned out pretty successfully!

Christmas lights! Putting up our annual holiday lights was almost an epic failure at my house this year. We didn't get around to putting our lights up until the 23rd, just two days before Christmas! I am a big Christmas lights person, and I can't believe I almost let the holiday pass without our lights! Glad we squeezed them in just in the nick of time. Phew.

The lightbulbs along the path were new this year. So cute!

These flying reindeer are such a signature part of my Christmas. My dad bought one reindeer many years ago and, every year after, added another reindeer to the collection. They are a huge part of my childhood Christmas memories and continue to be one of the things I love the most about Christmas.

Love this picture!

Other sights from around my house on Christmas Eve....

Hope that you had a very merry Christmas and wonderful New Year!