Before July slips away from us, I want to make sure celebrate the second most wonderful time of the year- Christmas in July!
I never shared the post from Christmas 2020 as so much time had passed since I had the time to write it, so it feels like a good time to share it now 🙂 Get your eggnog loaded up (probably iced), and let’s get started!
DJ and I drove to my mom and Pete’s late on December 23rd to join them and Halston (missed you, Kevin!!). First things first when we arrived- Pete’s famous Pumpkin Crunch. DJ will talk about how much he loves this dessert at random times throughout the year. It is that good. We loaded up on the pumpkin crunch with ice cream within 10 minutes of arriving.
Even though it was already late in the evening, we stayed up chatting for a little bit before going to sleep.
Christmas Eve, we had a lovely breakfast together.
We took it overall pretty easy that day, which I think we all needed. We got our respective workouts in (Hal and I did an Insanity workout together), lounged around, watched some shows and Facetimed our Grandma & Grandpa!
For dinner, we had an amazing spread of beef tips (for the meat-eaters), seitan beef tips (for the veggie eaters), potatoes and green beans.
And the rest of the evening we played What Do You Meme and other card games.
The next day, Christmas, we enjoyed the most wonderful breakfast!
And these are hands-down the best Portuguese muffins on earth!!
We opened gifts/stockings and then watched a Candlelight Church service.
My mom even made vigil candles. It was such a beautiful service, and even though we couldn’t be in person, it was a great alternative <3
That evening we enjoyed some appetizers before the star of the show…..
SEAFOOD PAELLA. This was my mom’s first time making this- she whipped it up in a cast iron pan over the grill.
This meal was out of this world. Writing this now I can practically taste it! May need to be a new tradition.
We served it with Red Lobster biscuits. Cannot go wrong with those! It’s always the great debate- what is the best free carb indulgence from restaurants? Red Lobster biscuits vs. Texas Roadhouse Rolls vs. Olive Garden breadsticks. Oh, and then there is the Outback bread and Cheesecake factory’s too! What’s your favorite?
December 26th, we had some girl time with pedicures.
After our pedicures, we stopped into Devivo Brothers (our favvv) for a delicious lunch while the guys went to Hard Eight BBQ.
Now, this next event is something I did not know I needed in my life, but I am officially obsessed with- Axe throwing!!
I was not very good (like most things that require a modicum of athleticism), but I semi-improved by the end. Everyone else picked it up quickly.
After axe throwing, we grabbed some Andy’s. Cannot go to Keller without a stop at Andy’s!
Before calling it a night, we drove through a nearby neighborhood that does a “theme” every year with Christmas displays. This year’s theme was Charlie Brown, so cute.
On December 27th, we went to Top Golf – another new favorite pastime. Annnd another new favorite pastime that I am horrible at but will play any day of the week!
DJ won every round-he was sooo good.
Pete and Halston killed it too. (My mom sat this one out since her shoulder was recovering from an injury).
What kind of swing do I have going on? Help.
Who knew Top Golf didn’t only serve up the chance to show off a cringe-worthy golf swing, turns out it has some really decent food too. The guys were raving about the wings, but I had my eyes on that hummus!
That was just our appetizer, because that evening we enjoyed some incredible Mexican cuisine from Maria Cuca’s.
We had Baileys for dessert and played the game of Quelf until past midnight. You guys, that game is too much. I was laughing to the point of tears!
The next morning, Pete made us all frappuccinos! These are tasty as can be & bring me back to high school days when he used to make them for us.
That evening, of the 28th, we went to Sushi Sam and ordered a Sushi boat for the table. We did damage!! The sushi thooo- I mean you can have good sushi and you can have great sushi. This fell into the “great” category, no question.
And before we headed out on the 28th, we grabbed some Summer Moon followed by an Orange Theory workout all together 🙂
It was an awesome Christmas. It was tough not being able to go back to Ohio like we usually do, but I’m grateful we will be able to celebrate lots of holidays with our family there moving forward!
I’d love to know:
- What is your favorite complimentary bread from a restaurant?
- Have you ever celebrated Christmas in July?