i did a terrible job at taking photos this year at christmas #1 [shame on me!], which was mom, dad, mike, and me at my parents house the weekend before christmas.  it was a pretty low-key but fun evening – we had coconut nog and wine, sat outside by the fire table and ate summer sausage and cheese and bacon jam on crackers, then came in and had a fantastic christmas dinner, and finally started the exchanging of gifts, which turned into a pretty late night [i’ll always remember this as the year that dad hilariously fell asleep while we opened presents and just could not be awoken!]. ;)  all was calm, all was bright, and i was pretty thrilled to be spending time with my dear home-people.

{christmas decorations in my little condo.  i just need to find something to hang on the wall above my mantle!  maybe next year…}

{starting the night with puerto rican coconut nog!  and a little double-fisting action from mimi!} ;)

{still magical, no matter how old i am.}

{dad took these photos so unfortunately he wasn’t in them… this was after our christmas dinner when we were all just sitting around the table chatting, but the food was soooo good.}

{mimi and my parents got my brother a painting by one of my mom’s friends who is a very talented artist…she actually painted a mural in my parents’ dining room before she got really big [check out her work here].  anyway, she does vibrant, southwestern-style paintings and this longhorn was perfect for mike!}

{crisscross backs and braids.}

{our little baby loves to hop in the car any chance he gets!}

{dog cookies!  two little goldendoodle boys got lucky’s snickerpoodles for christmas, made by aunt jess.  they must have been really good boys this year!}

christmas #2 was at nama’s house, and not only did my aunt, uncle, and cousins come down from indiana, but priscilla also joined us!  it was a full house and chaotic as can be, but we had a fun time.  shiner also got to meet his cousin-dog, cody for the first time [remember the big white dog?], and shiner LOVES him!  maybe a little too much.  cody is a goldendoodle, but a lot bigger than shiner [thank goodness for that, for cody’s sake], and he’s getting older, so he was thrilled to have a pesky little energy bunny trying to play with him every second of the day.  NOT.  haha.  it was actually really funny, because cody was just the way lucky had been when cody was a pup…it’s funny how the tables turn.  but overall, they got along well when shiner wasn’t annoying the heck out of cody, and they’re both really sweet dogs.  and they were pretttttttty well-behaved, except when cody swiped a slice of the roast off the counter and shiner chewed up allison’s $135 headphones [shiner’s indiscretion was slightly more expensive than cody’s…] … aaaaaand the fact that shiner ingested three earplugs over the course of the trip and they incidentally came out in one BM.  [TMI?  sorry…]

anyway, we ate lots of good meals, played fun games, made gingerbread houses, did some walking/running/tennis, and spent an afternoon and evening in downtown hot springs.  the weather was pleasant and warm and it was great to spend time with family that we don’t see as often.  my cousins have grown up so much!

{ryan, mike, and priscilla, loving on the dogs}

{playing christmas carols!}

{uncle jim made us some pretty delicious margs}

{brother and sister!}

{family time…this was before we played an epic game of charades…}

{the spillway in hot springs village}

{one morning we took shiner to the beach, and he was completely in love with it.  he definitely would have jumped in if we would have let him… that must be his retriever side coming out, because it sure isn’t the poodle side!} :)

{after shiner dipped his paws in the water, he went completely crazy, running and jumping around like he just discovered the fountain of youth.  it may have been the best moment of his life thus far.  so cute!}

{the baby dog had to go down for a nap because he was getting cranky…}

{nama’s grands!  can’t believe how tall allison and ryan are!}

{shiner chewing on his new shiner toy!  and cody is dying to open presents!}

{those two cuties in their christmas sweaters!  and mike and his girls.}

{the kids}

{the pups opening their snickerpoodles}

{making a gingerbread house!  ryan was my building assistant}

{three little houses}

{my candy casa… only at my gingerbread house do the people have beers in their hand!} ;)

{the girls and our little gingey neighborhood}

{because i wear sequins to make gingerbread houses.  and shiney loves his cousins!}

{allie and uncle jim caught a GIANT catfish in the lake, and uncle jim fried that baby up and we ate it for hors d’oeuvres.  and then he went on to make an amazing rotisserie duck and rotisserie chicken for dinner!  he was killing it!}

{foggy morning on the lake}

{the bathhouses of hot springs}

{that ceiling though.}

{the superior bathhouse has been turned into a cool little brewery and restaurant, so we stopped in.}

{several of us got beer flights…}

{hot springs on tap what what!}

{the beautiful arlington hotel all lit up.  and on the right there, we were up on a hill with a view of downtown hot springs.  you can’t really tell in the picture, but steam from the springs were floating up just below us on the hill.}

{the VA hospital and christmasy lights!}

{we ate at an awesome german restaurant called steinhaus keller.  i had an arbitrary but delicious assortment of german foods with a side of doodles.  a LOT of doodles.}

{we went to garvan gardens to check out the christmas lights, and they really were stunning.}

{had to get a photo of this train for daddy-o since he had to leave just before we went to hot springs to fly.  he asked if we could fit it in the car, but unfortunately it was life-size.} ;)

{what i wouldn’t do to have this lit-up star chandelier on my balcony at christmastime!}

{and a lit-up waterfall!}

christmas 2015, you were pretty swell.  love you, family!  xoxo