What I Did On My Christmas Vacation

I straightened my hair.
Evidently, I did not have enough to do over my Christmas break. It seriously took me a full THIRTY MINUTES to straighten my hair with a straightener. But it looked AMAZING. It even got me a pick up line!


I drank lots of egg nog. A LOT. With rum.
Merry Christmas to me!


I ACTUALLY FINISHED reading a book in its entirety.
I usually don't have time to read, and that makes me sad. I always wish I could lie in bed all day and read, so over Christmas, that is exactly what I did.
Mennonite in a Little Black Dress by Rhoda Janzen was actually recommended to me by my supervisor. It's a hilarious memoir written by a woman who grew up Mennonite. It is a great book to spend the day reading, while you drink coffee with egg nog and rum. (or just rum! Hey, it's Christmas!)



I saw Handel's Messiah. Twice.
And it was A.MAZING. I think we have the most talented college students in America.



I sent Christmas cards. Almost.
Last year, on the day after Christmas, I ventured out to the Wal-Marts to find Christmas decorations. I found the cutest. Christmas. cards. EVER. They were covered in red and green pawprints, and included a place where you can glue a picture of you and your dog, wishing everyone a Merry Christmas. These cards were so cute my eyes hurt.

My roomie was sweet enough to stage a photo shoot for Sadie and me in front of our Christmas tree. She took SIXTEEN photos of Sadie and me. One would think we would have more than just Sadie looking in the wrong direction, me yelling at Sadie, me smiling holding Sadie in the holdstillwe'retryingtotakeyourpicture death grip. Let me just tell you. NOT ONE SINGLE PICTURE CAME OUT. NOT ONE.

So. No cards were sent. Sorry.




I made Christmas Eve Chicken Fried Rice for 38 people.
Let me just clarify, there were not 38 people at my house. I am still a hermit. Thank you.

I decided that I was going to make "eating Chinese food on Christmas Eve" one of my new Christmas traditions. So. I was definitely over ambitious and decided to cook Chicken Fried Rice At my house. On Christmas Eve. My logic at the time was, "Why cook for thirty minutes and just have one meal when I can cook for thirty minutes and have enough to feed a small army?" So I cooked. A lot. And I fried rice. (Tried to, at least. Come on, give a girl some credit!)
And, for the record, it definitely took longer than thirty minutes. I ended up with about 16 servings of Chicken Fried Rice that now reside happily in single serving portions in my freezer.
I will probably finish them right around Christmas Eve of next year.



I attended the second annual Anderson-Barry Christmas Day celebration.
Last Christmas Day, I made a rum cake and trekked over to a friend's house to celebrate Christmas. It was exactly how I would have imagined Christmas Day to be, if I had grown up celebrating it. Great food, great friends, great memories.

This year was no exception. We ate artery clogging shrimp and grits made with cheese, butter, heavy cream and more cheese. We laughed over failed Halloween costumes ("Why are you dressed as Julius Caesar with a light saber??"). We played speed Scrabble until our exhausted and cheese and heavy cream filled bodies could no longer put together coherent words. It was exactly how I would want to spend Christmas Day.



I celebrated THREE engagements.
Seriously. I CELEBRATED. With RUM.




I also celebrated my singleness. With RUM.
Don't judge.






I hope your holidays were as merry as mine! Merry Christmas!