Christmas 2010 Recap

Is everyone all Christmas-ed out, yet?

I’m not. But I am full from all the incredible goodies I’ve been stuffing my face with over the past few days.

I’ve been neglecting a few of the usual Ali activities lately — blogging, Tweeting and running — because I’ve been soaking up every minute of quality friend and family time.

But I’m ready to get back into my routine. I haven’t run since Thursday and I’m itching to break a sweat. We’re taking a family trip to the gym tomorrow morning as long as this snowstorm doesn’t derail our plans too much.

Anyway, let me share my Christmas story with you!

As I mentioned briefly yesterday, ABS and I flew up to New Hampshire on Thursday afternoon. The trip was uneventful, which is always a good thing. No flight problems, no traffic issues, no lost luggage. We and all of our presents arrived safely!

I loved getting to my parents’ house and checking out how my mom had decorated. She loves snowmen, so they’re all over the place.

We had a delicious Mexican feast for dinner, played Apples to Apples for a while (best. game. ever.) then it was time to rest up for the long few days ahead.

Friday — Christmas Eve — was our first jam-packed day.

First up: breakfast!

ABS’s Christmas present to my dad was bagels, lox, whitefish salad and scallion creme cheese from H&H Bagels in NYC.

My dad loved it!

After chowing down, it was off to help my dad finish up his shopping. He still had one thing to buy my mom (Jewelry, of course — all the jewelry stores were filled with men doing last-minute shopping. So funny.) and we were happy to help.

The stores were surprisingly un-crowded, so we got our errands done quickly.

Then it was back to the house where we were treated with a visit from my very best friend, Becky, and her wonderful boyfriend, John.

Becky and John live in Charlotte, NC, so I very rarely get to see them and spend time with them. A huge bummer, since Becky has been my best friend since we were four years old!

It was great having them meet ABS.

While the girls drank cocktails and giggled over old dance videos and class projects, my dad took the boys on a Scotch Tasting 101 course.

He’s a connoisseur, that dad of mine.

The boys learned a lot, drank a lot and got a little silly!

I was so, so happy to spend time with Becky.

We used to tell everyone we were sisters. Now I’m about 5 inches taller than Becky, so we can’t really get away with it anymore!

Eventually, we all realized that we were late for our respective Christmas Eve parties. Oops!

We said our sad goodbyes and off we all went (without having time to shower — oops!).

We didn’t stay at the party long then it was back home to get my new Christmas PJs, wrap the last few gifts and hit the hay.

Now, Saturday…

Is there anything better than Christmas morning?

The one sad thing about Christmas this year is that it was the first time my brother and his wife wouldn’t be joining us for Christmas morning.

They spent Thanksgiving with our family and did Christmas with us last year, so they chose to spend Christmas with her family this year.

Since I knew my mom would be sad about them not being there, I did the best I could:

I put their wedding photo on the couch where they normally sit. Hehe. It was *kind of* like they were actually there.

ABS gives great gifts, but boy does he stink at wrapping them!

Hehe.

The majority of our Christmas day was spent opening gifts, eating, and playing with our new Wii!

I got tons of great stuff this year, including a beautiful bracelet from ABS, a fantastic new “spa robe” and fun new kitchen utensils.

But the two things I’m most excited about are the Wii my parents got me and a really unique gift from my mom for ABS and me: a walking food tour of Greenwich Village!

We’re not going to redeem the tour until it gets warm out, but it’s basically a walking tour around the village and we stop into all the historic restaurants and food shops to learn a little and sample the food.

I love learning more about NYC — and I love eating! — so this really is a perfect gift.

I love seeing peoples’ pictures from Christmas morning. Everyone is always in cute Christmas PJs without any makeup or crazy hair. It’s perfect.

The most fun part of the day was definitely watching ABS and my dad battle it out on the Wii. They were really getting into it with “Just Dance.”

Ah, grown boys. Aren’t they the best?

After breaking a Wii sweat, we stayed in our PJs for dinner.

Mmmm, ham! Plus all the side dishes: pineapple stuffing, veggies, bread, green bean casserole… I was in Heaven. I love food.

We played some more Apples to Apples, watched a movie and ate loads of Christmas cookies.

I’d say Christmas 2010 was a success, don’t you think?

Today, to wrap up the weekend, we brought ABS to the airport (he has to work tomorrow, sad) then went to my brother/wife’s house outside Boston to exchange gifts with them.

They have a sock monkey at the top of their tree!

So unique. I loved it.

The snow started really coming down at their house, so my mom, dad and I got back into the car and drove an hour north to our house.

I slept the whole way. Oops.

Now I’m right back where I’ve spent the last three days: in my pajamas, on the couch, with a Wii in front of me and cookies to my side.

I’m looking forward to breaking a real sweat tomorrow and hopefully doing a little shopping if the weather is OK.

I hope all of your holidays have been wonderful, relaxing and filled with smiles and laughter.

TELL ME… all about your Christmas, if you were celebrating. If you weren’t celebrating, tell me what you’ve been up to. Favorite presents? Best meal? Recipes to share?