Christmas Break 2018

What a whirlwind this Christmas break was. I'm fortunate to work at an organization that gives its employees the week between Christmas and New Year's Day off (at the expense of two personal days), and every year I am grateful for that time off. This year felt a little bit more busy than the past couple of years since Robby's mom and dad don't live close to each other anymore. Most of Robby's family is located in Cecil County, so it was always easy to knock out that side of the family in one trip. But since his mom relocated two hours south, we had to break it up, which looked like four days in Cecil County and four days at the beach at the bookends of vacation.

It was a lot of traveling with very little time for uninterrupted rest, but I believe you'll never regret the good quality time spent with family. The days in the middle, including Christmas, were spent with my mom and step-dad eating and making cookies (links to recipes will be included).

Cecil County (December 21-24)

Because my office surprisingly closed on Friday, we were able to drive in during the day and avoid significant holiday traffic (which was amazing). This was probably the most relaxing half of the trip because my husband went hunting with his father and I was in the house alone most of the days. I got a lot of reading done - I started and finished Annie F. Downs' book, Remember God. I would highly recommend if you're going through it with God and you just feel like He doesn't care or He's not listening to you. If you're in a good place with God, it's a nice book to read, but can come off as ungrateful at times. Because it was on sale for $5 over the holidays at LifeWay Bookstores, I grabbed one for myself, my sister-in-law, and my mother-in-law. And, overall, I'm glad I did.

Robby and I also made it a point to visit a new coffee shop that opened up in downtown Rising Sun this past summer, which is a big deal. To put things into perspective: Rising Sun is a tiny town in Cecil County with what most residents think is a stagnant economy. A new, adorable coffee shop downtown with great coffee should be recognized. If you're in Rising Sun, make sure to go to Rise 'n Grind Cafe - I ordered their Peppermint Latte, and it was so smooth and delicious. 100% worth it. The store decorated for Christmas was also so beautiful and festive.

We ended our time in Rising Sun with breakfast at the family store, which is a standing tradition. The food and the company were fantastic, and I always look forward to sitting around a table with a bunch of cousins and babies and aunts and uncles that we don't see that often just to catch up on life and quality time.

Washington County (December 25-27)

We came back from Cecil County on Christmas Eve and took the rest of the day easy. We let Chip run around the house and cuddle with us as much as he wanted since he's usually away from people when we travel. Then, on Christmas day, Robby and I exchanged gifts with each other in the morning (and he got me a Kitchen Aid mixer - my heart!!) and went to my mom's house for lunch. We spent a good portion of the afternoon playing dominos and Phase 10, snacking on leftover food, and laughing. It was fun, and the older I'm getting, the more we're all learning how to spend better time with each other. Now it looks like board games or pool and usually with some good food thrown into the mix.

The next day, I was back at my mom's house to make Christmas cookies - which we went WAY overboard with. We're normally making a ton to give to a lot of people, and because I hadn't taken the time to think about who they were going to, we made well over 100 cookies that were only going to a handful of people. The experience was fun and we kept our tradition of making fun things around this time of the year, but we definitely have to scale it back some! We made pinecone cookies (sugar cookies shaped like eggs, spread with your choice of nutella or chocolate frosting, layered slivered almonds, and sprinkled with powdered sugar), acorns (a Hershey's Kiss stuck together with melted chocolate on a mini-wafer cookie and a butterscotch chip), sugar cookie snowflakes, and Christmas Eve mice.

Robby and I took cookies up to my grandparents and my uncle, and spent some time with them. Then, our last day home, we cleaned the house and grocery shopped to prepare for New Year's Eve. We normally have friends over, and we already knew we didn't want to clean when we got back on the day we were having to cook food and host. It definitely made coming home from the beach easier, and we didn't have to deal with a hectic New Year's Eve grocery store! Plus, everything I wanted to buy was in stock.

Rehoboth Beach (December 28-31)

Then, on a rainy Friday, we left for the beach. We left mid-morning, but ran into a lot of traffic because of the rain. My husband deserves a medal for dealing with it all. But, once we arrived, we were greeted by the whole clan, with Robby's sister and her husband arriving later on Saturday. Both Saturday and Sunday we took Chip to the beach, and we were so happy to see that his affinity to water is growing more and more. He loved jumping in the waves and digging in the sand - and it got him out of the cage that he was living in while visiting. He still has a long way to go when it comes to playing with other dogs. Chip was bit in the face as a puppy, and since then, has been extra sensitive to other dogs touching him or growling at him - we had two unleashed Labs come up to him on the beach, growling and trying to play a little rough with him, and he whimpered every time a nose touched him. It was sad, but it gives me motivation to get him around more dogs this year so he can lose some of those behaviors.

The rest of the weekend comprised of good food both home-cooked and out (Dogfish Head Brewings & Eats specifically), Christmas lights at Cape Henlopen, visiting the Christmas village at the Lewes-Cape May Ferry dock, and playing games. It was a full house, but worth the travel (which I think was actually what made the week so taxing).

Washington County (December 31-January 1)

On the way home from the beach, I thought for sure I'd want to crash and sleep, but when I got home, I was so excited to have our friends over, that I dug right in on cooking. While I didn't take pictures of our spread, we had a lot of food (that we've also been eating all week as leftovers). My best friend, Britney, and her boyfriend came over. We had a standing tradition of doing New Year's Eve together, but the past two years, we hadn't. And, we were able to invite our neighbors, Dan and Kristine, over. We had spent last year with them, and it felt so nice to have two friend groups meld together so well. I hope the way I spent bringing in 2019 is a sign of how much fun the next year will be.

On New Year's day, I woke up super early with a pounding headache, but immediately dove into doing things around the house. I planned, I organized, I put stuff away, and when Robby woke up, we took down all the Christmas decorations.

While this break was indeed a whirlwind, I am looking forward to spending this weekend making up for the rest I wish I would have gotten. I have a long list of movies, a clean set of sweatpants, and an adorable Chocolate Lab all waiting for me. Let the long mornings and late nights commence!