Christmas Eve

Yep. It's officially Christmas eve.

We're all gathered in the den with a fire and Christmas movies (and...laptops...we're so 21st century).

I'm currently putting off wrapping my gifts. (I'm a Christmas ever wrapper most of the time...at least my Type A sister gets it done ahead of time so we actually have presents under the tree. But I do like wrapping presents! Only...I like it when I have all the supplies...and I don't always have them...which is why I procrastinate.)

I love Jesus Christ.

I love my family.

I love Jesus Christ.

oh. it's so close.

all i want to do is throw on cozy socks, a big sweater, sit in front of a fire, listen to christmas music, and drink hot tea/coffee/chocolate/wassail.

p.s. i'm in love with my new life is good tshirt. most.comfortable.thing.ever.

A Tree, a tree, a TREE.

There's definitely no place like home...or the smell of a fresh cut Christmas tree.

Christmas!!

Christmas day was a dream. It was relaxing, loving, and snowy!

We had times of ripping open presents, and times of sitting in front of the fire and just 'being'.

It was a good, good day. One of my favorites.

1) Christmas breakfast. Mommah made a Biltmore casserole and it was amazing!

2) Daddy's got to get some firewood. It's cold! How cute is he?

3) SNOW!

4) A necklace I'd been eyeing for...4 months? I'll share the seller next time.

5) FUJI INSTAX! AHHH!!!!! (mini)

6) A riveting game of charades. (can't you tell??)

7) Daddy & coffee. Classic, classic combo.

Christmas Eve

1) Wassail and red fingernails :) (Savanna)

2) Book and White Christmas on the TV

3) Daddy reading

4) Mustache face!

5) Supper and lots and LOTS of laughs

6) The cause of the laughs

7) We may or may not be impersonating a celebrity's mother...

8) Wassail & Fire. (and the 3 stages of...feet? barefoot, socked, shoed)

Christmas was a dream.

We actually had a white christmas. I was stunned and so thankful.

It was beautiful.

(more on that later...)

Sunday Get-up and Christmas Baking

1) Spice Cupcakes via everydaymusings Yes, her pictures are more appetizing. But let me tell you...these cupcakes are just crazy, crazy, craaaazy delicious! I took them to Memphis and they were eaten up within...20 minutes?

2) Red Velvet Cupcakes with Maple Cream Cheese Frosting via Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook via Une Gamine dans la Cuisine vis foodgawker.

3) My seductive baking face. I mean, baking is sexy, right??? (...yeah...)

4) Egg wash on the pastry part of chocolate eclairs

5) Almost forgot to take a picture. As you see we had already begun to dig in. recipe via foodnetwork. My second time to make these and they. are. declicious. Try the recipe. Don't be afraid, it's tedious...not hard.

Sunday Get-up:

Self-timer shots once again.

Hence the bad composition.

Happy Thoughts on Thursday

Snow and Biltmore is happy, right?

Here are quite a few more Biltmore photos:

1) There she is. Such a breath taking sight.

2) But if you hike just a little further to the statue of Diana, you get a better breath taking view!

3) This might just be my favorite photo from the entire trip. I love Savanna. Sisters are a cool thing to have.

4) The three amigos. And Savanna is SO subtle with her alumni shout out...

5) View from around Antler Hill Village.

6) A lunch consisting of ordering all the appetizers and splitting them up...yummmmyyyyy. (fried mozzarella? yes.)

7) The clock tower. Apparently the second most photographed thing on the estate. (1st would be the house. duh.)

8) Yes. It was that cold. Icicles.

9) Wine tasting. I drank grape juice that tasted like dimetapp.

10) Tupelo Honey Cafe. Oh goodness. Soooo delicious.

11) Veggie Melt and sweet potato fries. To. die. for.

12) Seriously, these cups (or I guess they're "glasses") were amazing. Really thick, thick glass. I just had a thing for them.

Biltmore: The Grounds

1) This is on the bowling green. The wind was so strong that it

literally blew me around. No joke.

2) Sunshine :)

3) Shadows (I can't remember what this part was called!)

4) Completely enamored with snow.

5) The 'W' stands for Whitney. I don't care what you say. Biltmore LOVES me!

6) There's part of the beautiful mansion.

7) Up in the loft of the stable cafe. This part of the loft didn't open until 5 (and it was...1?) so we just sat down at a table and drank our Biltmore coffee. (Best gingerbread latte I have EVER had!) Oh. and that is my brother Graham. Ain't he a cutie?