Decorations
I have a strict rule about the Holiday season. No Christmas decorations or music until Black Friday. That means no red and green until after Thanksgiving and my body has had time to settle from the Turkey day excitement. To kick off the Holiday season, my grandma hooked up me with a Charlie Brown Christmas tree. It came with it's own red ornament, Linus blanket and it plays the theme song. I set up the Christmas tree, took my new Charlie Brown nativity scene out of its box, and put Ron's Christmas collar on. BOOM. Holiday decorating complete.
The extent of my Christmas decorations.
Birthday Celebrations
Smack dab in the middle of the Holiday season is my birthday. I've never really enjoyed celebrating my birthday (in terms of presents) because it's so close to Christmas. I usually tell my friends that we'll celebrate Christmas and that's the end of that. Mike and Whit still cooked me my favorite dinner, baked me Christy-themed cupcakes, and even made it snow. (Ever since my mom died, it has snowed EVERY year on my birthday except that one year it was crazy warm and it just rained. A coincidence, probably, but something I looked forward to every year.) This year, it was not only warm, but there wasn't a cloud in the sky. Being the awesome friends that they are, they took some scissors to a few sheets of white computer paper and made it snow in their house. To cap off the evening, Whit asked me to be a bridesmaid in their wedding so now I get to be a part of their special day! Definitely one of my better birthdays to date!
Birthday snow :)
The town of Davidson is a little town about 20 miles North of Charlotte and where a few of my friends live and/or grew up. The town (and the college in it) got on the map when the little Division 2 private school went to the Final Four in 2008. Christmas in Davidson is a three day event where vendors and organizations set up tents on the lawn with everything from games to charities and bake sales to contests. There's Christmas music, carriage rides, carolers and tree decorating contests and it embodies everything about that small town feel. We spiked a little eggnog, bundled up and walked around the event for a few hours stopping to play with the wooden puzzles and watch the dance company. If you've seen any episode of Gilmore Girls, then you can more than understand the culture and feel of the town at Christmas.
The A2S tree at Christmas in Davidson
Holiday Office Party
We didn't have an official Christmas party but we had a decorating contest and a smorgasbord of baked goods. The decorating accelerated quickly and people dedicated hours and recycled cardboard to the cause. The contest was judged by some upper management in our department and included entire cardboard villages and even the crazy Christmas light ball from the Lowe's commercial. My team, being as no one had the time, energy, or money to devote to decorating, set up a tiny pink tinsel tree and drew a tree on the white erase board. We didn't win.
Part of the cardboard gingerbread village
Lowe's themed cookies!
Christmas Adventures
I'm usually hit or miss at Christmas. Some years I'm all about some quality family time and shopping and other times I seriously question why we put our selves through this every year. One thing I'm always down for is good Christmas music and Christmas lights. We set aside some time tonight to go to a cute little store in Southend called Paper Skyscraper that sells unique gifts and decor. We ended up at Mellow Mushroom for some serious pizza consumption and reduced our speed in one of the nicer neighborhoods to view (and judge) the Christmas lights. We ended the Christmas festivities by stopping out a big tree outside of a pub to take some pictures all the while listening to the Straight No Chaser Christmas CD. (Men's a capella, Christmas music, and festive lights can never end badly).
Christmas tree in Southend
So I got to tie in some of my favorite things with the new things I love about Charlotte. Despite my crazy work schedule, I'm gonna make it home for a two-day sprint of family time before I head back to Charlotte for New Year's! (Can't WAIT for that one!) As much as I love all the company and excitement of having people come visit, I'm excited to have a few weekends all to myself in January. No visitors, no traveling, no cleaning my apartment on Friday after work. That should give me plenty of time to rest up and prepare for the upcoming weddings and springtime fun!
