Christmas in LA

How fun was Christmas this year? Even though we were far away from home and there was none of that magical snow falling, let me tell you it was still a blast!

Our Christmas tree

Both Ryan's fabulous mother, and my friend Kristen explained that this would be our chance to come up with our own traditions, and focus on ourselves as a family. 

This was very true, and very fun.

We put the Christmas tree up on Thanksgiving to kick off the season.

Ryan has a lot of beautiful ornaments that we had to leave behind in Maine, so we purchased some new ornaments.

Ryan picked one in honor of his favorite Christmas movie - A Christmas Story, and I bought him another as a present that I gave to him early.

Ryan's very cool new ornaments.

So Christmas Eve started with a whole lotta appetizers. I made a meat pie for the first time ever, and it was also the first time Ryan had ever had it. We watched Christmas specials like Rudolph, A Christmas Story, Charlie Brown Christmas, Home Alone, and A Christmas Carol.

Earlier in the week we had read  A Christmas Carol. Reading this short story had always been a Christmas tradition of mine, and one of Ryan's too.

We bought special Christmas PJs, which is a tradition of Ryan's Mom :)

All kinds of fun stuff for Christmas Eve

In the morning we had mimosas, and French toast casserole (a recipe I got from Paula Deen on Food Network's website). There was also bacon and sausage, and everything was just wonderful.

Good Morning Mimosas

French Toast Casserole (lotsa cream, lotsa eggs, and a praline topping).

We opened presents. This was our dog Abbey's first Christmas. We don't have children, so spoiling Abbey was extra fun. Don't judge. I know how I may have felt about over-the-top pet lovers before I had one, but she is the third member of our family, and she is fabulous when you need to cuddle, want to nap, or feel sad. She's always taking care of our needs so it's only fair. Plus it's OK for her to be spoiled, she just can't act spoiled.

So at Christmas spoiled Abbey was, and so was Ryan. They were both a lot of fun. We took lots of pictures, but here are a few.

Abbey in her new sweater (not a Christmas present) getting into her stocking

I wish this were a video so you could see this

crazy arm-flailing dance Ryan performed in 

anticipation of opening this present. Very cute.

 And an afternoon nap for Ryan and Abbey, after a strenuous morning of 

present opening, eating and watching more Christmas specials. We had 

  fun.