To be perfectly honest I normally dread the holidays. Don't get me wrong, as a child I loved it because my parents adopted all the practices that came with Christmas and allowed us to participate whole heartedly. We had the tree, stockings, lights on the house, and tons of presents. As I entered my teenage years things changed. The tree stayed in it's box, we didn't put the lights up on the house, and the presents stopped completely. Then as an adult Christmas was this weird time of year because my family became divided. Some Christmas's I didn't even see my family but spent it with friends. All the while I would see or hear about my other friends wonderful celebrations they had with their families and I was so jealous. All I wanted was a happy, no drama, spirit-filled holiday.
Ok, enough with the sob story, now comes the happy part. I can honestly, say with 100% confidence that I had the best Christmas ever this year!!! It was filled with great friends, delicious food, fun presents, fireworks (yes, real fireworks), and dance party USA in my living room. Tenielle and Robyn spent hours and hours in the kitchen Christmas day whipping up an incredible meal- we had the works; turkey, mashed potatoes, roasted vegetables, salad, gravy, pecan pie. Everything was from scratch. Those girls killed it in the kitchen. Here's our lovely bird, which is the traditional main dish in England for Christmas rather than ham.
People are what make the holidays special, and I couldn't have asked for a more fun bunch. It was a bit of a mixed crowd and sometimes when you mix friends it can get a bit hairy but not this time. Everyone got along so well and it turned out we were all LA orphans!
From left to right we have: Robyn, Desh, Desh's brother in law and sister, me, Vladi, and Tenielle. A mixed bag of nuts!
Now you may be wondering what are those crowns we're wearing??? Well, one of the traditions here in England during Christmas is crackers. I had never heard of them until I came here but they're basically party favors you "crack open" and there's a little gift inside and a paper crown. The way the crackers are opened is what makes it so fun and of course the popping noise!
We all know it's not a party unless there's dancing. So after our meal and dessert we cranked up my IPod and blasted the tunes. At one point, we thought we were Irish and started doing the river dance. I think that was more the alcohol than anything else.
We ended with the night with a bang, literally. Tenielle had purchased these mini sparklers the day before and we thought it would be safe and totally normally to light them indoors. No, fire hazard their!
Seriously, best Christmas ever! I don't know how I'm going to top that come New Year's but don't think I'm not going to try come tonight.
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