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Diary No. 21

Two weeks worth of holiday fun!!! Gosh, I’m loving it this year. Seriously.

Catan

We had a great game night a couple of weeks ago with Mike’s sister and brother in law. We are all obsessed with Catan– if you haven’t played it yet it could be a fun thing to do over the holidays with family! It’s slightly complicated to learn because there are a ton of rules, but once you get going, it is a BLAST. Honestly, I think it’s the best game ever invented because it combines strategy and luck and encourages both sabotage (hahah) and mutual cooperation between players.

Floral Arranging

Elsa and I went to a floral arranging class at Serena and Lily. I felt pretty skeptical with how mine looked at first but the more greens we added, the better it came together! I really loved how it turned out, though I think I’ll leave the floral arranging to the professionals from now on.

Mint Brussels

This is a PSA. Get yourself to a grocery store and buy the Pepperidge Farm limited edition Mint Brussels. They. Are. So. Freaking. Good. I never thought I’d love a PF cookie more than the Mint Milano, but these beat them out. The texture and flavor combination couldn’t be more perfect.

Madison Christmas Tree Lighting

So when we moved into our house everyone in the neighborhood told us how exciting the tree lighting day was. In the weeks leading up to Thanksgiving, you could totally hear everyone buzzing it about it around town. I was looking forward to it and it surpassed my expectations. We ordered pizzas and had friends and their kids over to our house and then we walked down together. It was honestly straight out of a Hallmark movie. You know it’s a great event when even the teenagers are excited to be there 😉 After a parade down Main Street, there was a big countdown and the tree was officially lit! We wrapped up the evening with a fire and hot cocoa.

Caroler Statues

I went down to Peddler’s Village in Pennsylvania with Mike’s sisters and nieces. They had all gone when they were kids and it was very festive. Mike’s mom and my mom collect these little carolers– we always had them scattered throughout our home growing up during the holidays. I want one or two to kick off my own collection!!

Peddlers Village

Latte Stencil

So I’ve become friends with the guys who own the new cafe in town. And I’ve been going there quite a bit. I had this vision for some latte stencils for them. (I’ve been obsessed with the idea ever since discovering the Boathouse cafe in Australia.) I whipped out my Cricut and created a few… they came out great!! I have a highlight on my IG page walking through the process.

Grilled Cheese

Then we had a picture-perfect snow day. It was like an adult snow day because we had to work, but I can’t complain! We sat by the fire ALL day and worked on our laptops. Mike made grilled cheese and tomato soup. And I had more coffee than I should have.

Snow Day

Upper East Side

A quick snap of the Ralph Lauren men’s store. I was meeting Meghan at Ralph’s Coffee and NYC just looked extra cute in its holiday best!

7 Comments

Brigid Devney-Rye

Oh what fun! I love seeing what you are up to and those carolers are the cutest.

Lauren

I love that you made them the coffee stencils! That is such a thoughtful thing to do – and for a local business!!

Kristen

This was such a festive post; I loved it! I live in Arizona where we only get a snow day every ten years and where the holidays aren’t particularly festive feeling so I loved looking at these pictures and seeing what you’ve been up to. I’d kill to have such a festive holiday season with cold weather. But then of course, when it was all over I’d want to go back to my 60 degree weather for the rest of winter 😉

Becca Barnes

This post made my Christmas heart so happy! Cocoa, Hallmark movie tree-lighting, snow days, fires and grilled cheese and tomato soup!? LOVE how your house is decorated for Christmas and the sweet reading library! So, so cute! Merry Christmas, Carly!

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