Holiday Hiatus

I would first like to start by saying I am so sorry for the little holiday hiatus I took. We had the best Christmas, it was so lovely to be home and be with family and friends! I don't think I realized how different the last few years away from home were until we were back.

I worked the beginning of the week which meant I was off for Christmas Eve & Christmas Day! Christmas Eve was spent wrapping up the last few gifts we hadn't finished yet and baking some Gingerbread men for my Aunt & Uncle's house. I used the recipe from my gingerbread cupcakes but chose to do just the men this time around, they were a huge hit!


My Aunt and Uncle have hosted Christmas Eve for as long as I can remember and it is one of my favorite parts of the holiday! We head over for dinner on the earlier side, followed by exchanging gifts. My Aunt always thinks of the most thoughtful gifts, this year she made Oliver a Baltimore Ravens blanket (his favorite football team) and got him a book on curing and smoking meats (he thinks he is going to have a smokehouse someday), he was elated!

After gifts we tidy up, put out appetizers and desserts and start some FFF (forced family fun) the best part about it is there is nothing forced about it, everyone looks forward to it in fact! Our family friends come over for this part of the night and we play games late into the night.

Christmas morning we headed over to my brother & sister in laws house for breakfast in our PJ's. They started hosting last year however we were in DC so this was our first year attending. We do a gift exchange with my family every year, picking names on Thanksgiving Day. I find it my personal mission to figure who has who every year, this year was at 80%- not too shabby! My Mom had me this year she got me a few calligraphy supplies suggested from the class we took together which was awesome as well as a few sparkly things as well :)

Oliver and I stick to just stockings every year, this year he did a wonderful job! Clo got his Mum a pair of earrings- such a thoughtful pup! :)

Overall we had a wonderful Holiday spent with family & friends! We now both have pretty nasty colds, so we have spent the last few days recovering and snuggling with Clo!

What are some of your favorite Holiday traditions? 

My very first blogpost!

 

      I have been wanting to start this blog for quite some time now, however there was always something holding me back. Would anyone read it? Would it be something I could maintain with a job, family and other life demands? I had so many reservations however the desire to start never wavered, so here I am writing my first post. I've decided to embark on this with no expectations for what it will be- just enjoy the ride and see where it takes me. This is something that will be a personal challenge as I tend to have incredibly high expectations for just about everything!

      A little bit about me: I was born and raised in the burbs of Boston with an enormous Italian family, everyone lives here, no one leaves, and Sunday's are sacred family days. I loved every minute of growing up with more cousins than I can count on both my hands and feet. There was always someone to play with and adventure to be had. Despite having an amazing childhood I looked to challenge myself and decided to head out of state for college. I studied to become a nurse, and graduated in 2010, but during all that studying I still found time to meet a guy who definitely was not from Boston! After college I traveled, got married, and moved to DC.  Our first two years of marriage there were amazing! We have recently moved back to Boston, and expanded our little family with the cutest Barbet puppy named Clovis! :)

      This blog is about all of the things I love about life; family, entertaining, fashion, decorating, and love...oh and of course my favorite beverage of all time, Bubbly!

I hope you enjoy reading about all of our adventures!

Kate
XO