Between working three jobs, making Christmas presents, trying some new recipes and spending time with tons of lovely people, this December has been the most hectic holiday in recent memory. Christmas came and went and somehow it’s already January, despite the holidays being a blur I still managed to have a ton fun.

Christmas eve was spent playing board games, listening to holiday tunes and enjoying some fine wines. On Christmas morning I headed to my parents new condo where we opened presents, ate pancakes and enjoyed some fine mimosas.

The boyfriend and I both had family dinners on the same night so it was a bit stressful fitting everything into one night, but we made it happen. When we drove up to my aunts place just outside of the city the house was strangely dark. We soon found out that the power had gone off on the entire block and it remained that way for the next three hours. Dinner was eaten by candlelight and thanks to the dim lighting and inevitable food coma, the evening soon progressed into an adult nap time. But once the babies (actual babies) woke up and presents started getting passed around the whole evening got a lot funnier and more adorable.

When the lights finally came on it was time for me to head to my boyfriends family dinner. By the time I arrived it was time for wine and more board games! The evening ended well into Boxing Day looking at old photos and sharing laughs.

For the last few years Christmas has stopped being about presents and started being about spending time with friends and family. I couldn’t be more thankful for the people I got to spend December 25th with!