christmas 2012.

somehow christmas already came & went. between working a gagillion hours in the month of december (well really, all the months of the year) and several parties, christmas was here before i knew it! i love christmas time because i have a distinct routine every year. when your parents have been divorced for most of your life, holidays can be stressful. but with christmas and christmas eve, we always have the same plan and i am very thankful for that.

i spent the night at momma & b's on the 23rd and woke up on christmas eve for our annual christmas eve brunch. i'm not sure i even got off the couch before momma was pouring champagne. we stay in our pjs, eat too much, and exchange gifts. speaking of gifts, my mom & b got me a new michael kors watch and A TAILGATING GRILL! they know me well.

{mom's famous french toast; hash brown casserole; the full spread}

{my new grill!}

after brunch my mom and b took off for new jersey to spend christmas with brian's family. i headed back to my house to shower and then headed to my dad's. every year i've been alive, we've gone to christmas eve service at my grandparent's church, calvary. it's a giant church here in charlotte, and the service draws about 5,000 people. there's something magical about singing silent night in the candlelight with 5,000 of your closest friends. it may just be my favorite part of christmas.

after church we headed to ruth's chris - another (newer) annual tradition! i had the delicious lobster soup, the filet topped with crab meat, and way too much wine. after dinner we headed to the best decorated house in charlotte and took our annual picture with santa... this never fails to be the most hilarious part of christmas.

christmas morning we woke up early and opened gifts so leigh & derrick could get on the road. poor leigh and derrick are a real life version of "four christmases," so we didn't get to spend christmas day with them. every showed up around 1pm and we had lunch around 2pm. my betty crocker step mom & her sister prepared us a delicious meal yet again!

{pap pap fed lola scrap the entire time he was carving - bully heaven.}

it was another wonderful holiday to celebrate the greatest gift we have ever received!