Today I am going to share what we accomplished off our Christmas Bucket List...
Making a List, Checking it Twice…
{ONE} Decorate for Christmas
CHECK. You can see how we Decked our Halls here.
{TWO} Drive around and Look at Lights.
NOPE. We looked at them as we were driving around at night, but Ella and I never grabbed Stephanie and Addison to drive around and look at them. Unfortunately, when we were home for the evening I preferred curling up on the couch in my jammies.
{THREE} Attend Cookies with Santa.
CHECK. It was another successful event at Ella's school.
{FOUR} Celebrate Ian's 13th Birthday.
CHECK. I can't believe we have a teenager in the house. You can read all about that time I was crazy enough to have 9 teenage boys in my house.
{FIVE} Host FriendsMAS.
CHECK. We hosted FriendsMAS with The Smith's on Friday, December 22nd. Ben grilled steaks and I made baked potatoes. Stephanie brought a salad, shrimp cocktail, key lime pie, and brownies. Oh my heavenly stars, it was delicious. I used my china that was handpainted by Ben's grandmother. We had a "fancy" table.
The kid's table. They even got to use the fancy plates and bowls. ;)
The adult table. I had a "moment" when I was setting the table. It's our first Christmas without Ben's grandmother. I got really sad and then it was almost like I could hear her voice telling me to "snap out of it". I knew she would be mad at me for being sad. So instead I smiled and remembered her smile when she gave Ben and I our china at our couples shower all those years ago.
I picked up these gold chargers from Kirkland's.
{SIX} Go to Dollywood.
NOPE. We had reservations and I canceled them Christmas afternoon. I wasn't feeling great and it was SO cold.
{SEVEN} Enjoy a Christmas Cocktail.
CHECK. I made a Cranberry Moscow Mule. They were so GOOD. You can find the recipe here.
{EIGHT} Send out Christmas Cards.
CHECK. We love sending Christmas cards each year to family and friends.
{NINE} Visit Atlanta Botanical Gardens.
CHECK. We had SO much fun. We went to Lenox Mall. Ate dinner at Maggiano's. Then ended our night at the Atlanta Botanical Gardens. Bare with me on the picture overload.
{TEN} Have a GNO and go see Bad Moms Christmas.
NOPE. It just didn't happen.
{ELEVEN} Make a Cream Cheese Cranberry Bread.
NOPE. However, I do hope to make it one day soon since cranberries are a winter berry.
{TWELVE} Enjoy all the Peppermint.
CHECK. I drank coffee with peppermint mocha creamer in it every morning and most afternoons.
{THIRTEEN} Watch all the Christmas Movies.
CHECK. We watched Deck the Halls, Home Alone, Elf, The Santa Claus.
{FOURTEEN} Make Christmas Cookies.
NOPE. I din't bake anything this year. Poor Santa had slice and bake cookies.
{FIFTEN} Set up a Hot Cocoa Bar.
CHECK. I think it turned out so cute.
{SIXTEEN} Adopt a Child in Need.
CHECK. We purchased gifts for a child off of the Giving Tree at Ella's school
{SEVENTEEN} Write Letters to Santa.
CHECK. Ella wrote her last letter to Santa because December 26th, she asked point blank if Santa was real, so we told her the truth. It broke my heart. But we discussed that Christmas is truly about Jesus and the magic of Christmas will always live in our hearts.
{EIGHTEEN} Attend Christmas Eve Service.
CHECK. We went to the 10:30am service and them went to Ninja for lunch.
{NINETEEN} Host Christmas Dinner.
CHECK. We had our annual Christmas dinner of Ritz Chicken, Fried Orka, and Au Gratin potatoes
{TWENTY} Make Ornaments to give as gifts.
NOPE. It just didn't happen. The kids didn't get out of school until the Wednesday before Christmas and I felt like I had to use those last few days to get everything ready for Christmas celebrations that baking and crafting just got pushed down the to do list. . Which makes me sad.
I would say overall I am pleased with what we got accomplished on our "Christmas Bucket List"
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