I miss you Christmas

Am I the only one still holding onto Christmas for dear life?  I'm just not ready to let go of the magic.

If you're catching up from a wonderful holiday make sure you check out:

• Family Track Workout
• New Kent Winery
• Silent Night

I debated on doing a Christmas recap here on the blog. I decided to go for it when I realized how much I loved reading other bloggers recaps.

We spent to holiday in Virginia with my Mom, so it felt like a traditional childhood Christmas to me.  It was amazing!  

Christmas Eve we woke up and hit the gym.  A big strength training session on Christmas Eve is a Bealert tradition.

Christmas Eve dinner is another family tradition I love.  

We have a traditional meal with a roasted chicken, ham, mashed potatoes, the most amazing stuffing made with herbs from my Mom's garden, mashed sweet potatoes, corn pudding, asparagus, brussel sprouts, and fancy Ocean Spray cranberry sauce (yes, fancy from the can).  I look forward to this meal all year long.  My mom is a fantastic cook and this was one of her best ever.

Christmas morning we woke around 8 and settled in for HOURS of gift opening.

Yes, HOURS!  My family loves to watch each person open and examine their gift, so opening takes quite some time.

Santa must be reading my blog, because he brought me a new Canon PowerShot ELPH 530 HS.  I'm still learning to use it, but I'm so excited to be able to wirelessly send pics to my phone or computer.  The picture quality and zoom is amazing too.  I hope you'll notice an improvement on zee blog.

Santa has the best wrapping paper!

Christmas breakfast is my favorite meal of the entire year.  Salty ham, buttery biscuits, and baked apples.  I dream about this meal.

After breakfast we finished opening and enjoyed a few holiday naps.  I scored some great gifts including an official USA Track & Field uniform and Tosca Reno's Eat Clean Vegetarian cookbook.

I was really excited to give Mom her RunDisney themed gift.  I ordered a frame from Lasting Commeratives that has all 3 of her RunDisney medals, official times, and a photo of her & I finishing the DisneyLand Half.  I think she loved it!

Christmas night ended with a gathering at our family friends Tod and Carolann's house.  We had another delicious meal of Old Bay chicken, smashed potatoes, asparagus, and brussel sprouts.

We made the 12 hour drive back from Virginia yesterday in the midst of some powerful rain storms.  

Once home Kyle and I had our "Christmas" with each other.

Kyle outdid himself this year.  He somehow found the Asics Noosa Tri shoes that I feel in love with in Australia this summer.  I was told they wouldn't be in the US until 2013, so I'm not sure how he did it.

I also found a "blue box" under the tree with a gorgeous Tiffany's diamond necklace.  Wow.    

I've spent all of today cleaning, putting away gifts, and setting aside some items to donate that we don't use anymore.  I'm planning on a trip to Plato's Closet this week and I'm mailing off some clothes to LikeTwice.com. You send them brand name clothes and if they buy them, they mail you a check.  If you don't take them then you can pay $5 to have them sent back or they will donate them to GoodWill.  You can't just box up anything though, you have to select from certain brands on their site.  I'll let you know how it goes.

Gosh, that was quite a wrap up.  I can't believe the season has flown by so fast again.  We still have one more Christmas with Kyle's family Friday.  Wow.

What was your favorite thing under the tree this year?

Love and blessings,

Carissa & Kyle