Merry Christmas! Only a month late.

There's been so much buzzing around in my head that I don't know where to start.  I might as well just dive in.

Look!  Our Christmas tree!  ...over a month ago.

Of course I forgot to turn the lights on before I took the picture.

December 21st: My semester ended.  We threw our Festivus party.  It was a time.  Consumed, in total, were:

• Case of beer
• Bottle of bourbon
• Bottle of Bailey's
• Bottle of key lime vodka
• An entire macaroni and cheese
• A platter of crudites and black bean dip
• 2 dozen cookies
• A Crock Pot of "Johnson Meat Barbeque" (courtesy of a guy friend)
• And at least 50 cranberry-goat cheese wontons

My friends do me proud.

This disaster?  Totally worth it.

December 24th: We left for Christmas at our parents' houses.

Possibly the best joint-Christmas-present ever: The Nikon D3100.  Isn't he handsome?

Oh, just imagine the damage we can do...

I also recieved the Momofuku, Smitten Kitchen, and Dinner: A Love Story cookbooks; the All-Clad 8-qt pasta pot (YESSSSSS); random glorious stocking stuffers like pens and lip gloss and coffee beans (YESSSSSS); and two Banana Republic shirts in size petite x-small (HA!) which I still need to exchange.  Hopefully for a size that fits someone bigger than a first grader.

Mr. Magpie got me the Kendra Scott earrings and a surprise, this book.  He's a better shopper than he thinks.

He asked his parents for tens and twenties, postage stamps, and batteries.  That is exactly what he got, along with some clothes, books, headphones, and Havaianas (for Hawaii!) from me.

But it's not all about the getting.  I had my cousin in the Secret Santa swap at my grandma's house.  She is now the proud owner of not only the happiest Paul Frank pajama bottoms and the world's best foundation brush, but also 36 custom-designed Jason Schwartzman greeting cards.  Why Jason Schwartzman?  You'll have to ask her.

On Christmas Eve at 8 o'clock, everyone in my parents' neighborhood gathers around the pine tree in the round-a-bout and sings Christmas carols.  Come rain or snow or sub-zero temperatures, we have never missed a year.

My husband looks inexplicably Asian in this photo.  He's okay with that.

One of the neighbors lights the tree (about 25 feet tall right now) with hundreds of big, colored bulbs.  I was too many glasses of wine in to remember to take a picture.  Next year, I promise.

According to the legend, the singing began in 1941, right after Pearl Harbor.  It's a special kind of neighborhood.

This is when it's really Christmas for me.


December 25th: Christmas dinner at my parents' house.  This was perhaps my favorite Christmas dinner out of all the Christmas dinners I've ever eaten.  Prime rib, Duchess potatoes, green beans in a wild mushroom bechamel, popovers, etc, etc.

My parents are foodies, even though they don't know what that word means.  When we arrived on Christmas morning, they were running around assembling the new potato recipe, which they had just DVR'd from Cooks Country.

And there was this, of course.

Golden retrievers LOVE Christmas.  They're so furry you can barely see their jingle bell collars.

Mr. Magpie and I got home at 10 pm on Christmas night.  We had to unload the car, clean up the house, finish packing, charge electronics, and be ready to leave for Hawaii at 4 am.  Did we make it?!?!  Stay tuned...