I was a little worried that we weren’t going to make it to the Gardenland Express holiday flower and train show at the Missouri Botanical Garden this year. The time between Thanksgiving and Christmas was so short, and December was so busy, we just couldn’t find the time. Finally, Saturday morning, we were able to venture out, and I’m glad we did, because the theme of a Victorian-style holiday with a heavy emphasis on oranges (The Linnean House, the oldest greenhouse west of the Mississippi, was originally built as an orangery), was unique and fun! I really loved the unexpected color palette and the local landmarks on display!
And of course I look for any chance I can find to take a picture of the Fab Five:
Time to take a look at this year’s Christmas outfits (which were, admittedly, very similar to last year’s)!
On Christmas Eve, I wore the same black and purple lace dress that I’ve been wearing every Christmas Eve for close to a decade, and of course my best Christmas brooch. I did change it up a bit with some some new Splendette starburst Duchess Bangles, though!
On Christmas Day, I wore my holiday harlequin Genevieve dress from Pinup Girl Clothing, which is the most Christmas-y piece of clothing I own. I added a bow belt from Torrid, which wraps the whole outfit up like a present, plus Splendette Duchess Bangles and the Christmas earrings that arrived the day after Christmas last year, my favorite Christmas brooch (again), and a sparkly Lux de Ville mini hatbox handbag:
Possibly the most notable fact is that I wore heels two days in row for the first time since breaking my ankle last year…and both outfits certainly looked better without the ankle brace I was wearing last Christmas!
I thought Advent went by quickly, but our three-day-long Christmas extravaganza flew by even more rapidly!
As always, our celebration began Christmas Eve morning, with a breakfast of Christmas Crunch:
New on Christmas Eve this year was putting the final touches on Lego Hogwarts Castle, a project the Fab Five worked on throughout Advent:
We had our “pick out dinner” for lunch as we have for the last few years, and it may have been the best one yet! In addition to our Christmas Eve favorites, which included a few favorites from tea parties, too, we added a Volpi Salame plus a large basil roltini.
After lunch, we headed to church, where Ladybug had the solo for the first verse of “Once in Royal David’s City.”
I especially enjoyed the Quempas Celebration.
It was nice to get a picture of the Fab Five in the newly renovated church sanctuary after the service:
We drove through the Way of Lights on the way home:
And then I took all of the pictures!
It’s always exciting to light all of the candles in the Advent Wreath!
Jesus’ birthday cake turned out a little better than last year’s, but not by much, because it fell apart a bit on one side. At least I could get a semi-decent picture, and the chocolate peppermint flavor certainly tasted good!
The entire family, including Ryan and me, received matching Christmas jammies this year, and these may have been the cutest ones yet!
Turkey joined Ryan and me for our annual game of Ticket to Ride: Nordic Countries, and he won by a lot.
Chickadee set up the nativity scene before I filled the stockings and we headed to bed:
We were up very early on Christmas Day, and I finally got pictures of all of the children while they were opening their stockings!
We enjoyed our traditional Christmas Day cherry coffee cake for breakfast:
But that paled in comparison to the beautiful Christmas sunrise…”A holy day has dawned upon us!”
Back at church, the adult choir had the opportunity to sing again, including these two beautiful descants:
Of course I had to get another picture after the service:
After lunch, we opened presents:
The rest of Christmas Day was fairly quiet…we watched Christmas movies, as well as a few episodes of the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, which the Fab Five received for Christmas.
Yesterday, on Boxing Day, we had our big, fancy Christmas dinner. As always, I had fun setting the table:
This year’s dinner included roast beast (a standing rib roast that I found for a steal at Aldi), mashed potatoes, Brussels sprouts, carrots, cauliflower, Jell-O, and croissants, plus a festive Comet and Cupid Cabernet Sauvignon for the adults. I think I cooked the beef extraordinarily well (or maybe good would be better, if not grammatically correct, because it was definitely not well-done!).
We had a trio of Christmas desserts, and I hit pretty much every Christmas flavor except peppermint. There was cranberry-apple bread pudding with a vanilla cream sauce, gingerbread-eggnog trifle, and a chocolate Yule log:
And that’s the end of another Christmas celebration. I’m already thinking about how we can celebrate next year!
And just like that, Advent 2019 has come to an end!
The Fab Five had only one bag of pieces to add to Lego Hogwarts Castle today…#37:
There really weren’t too many details added since Saturday…mainly some more stained glass, and the roof and tower pieces:
Turkey joined the two parts of the set together, and even though we knew what they looked like separately, I think we were all shocked by how immense (not to mention beautiful!) the entire set is!
It was quite a project, and I think a fun one!
I finished off Advent with a Prosecco from Italy:
And of course I wore my standard Christmas Eve brooch:
Last Saturday, we got to go to Christmas on the Hill for the first time in several years!
It’s become a much bigger event since the last time we were there. There was a nativity petting zoo, with animals like sheep, llamas, and an adorable donkey who actually wanted everyone to pet him!
We also got to see a reindeer:
I always enjoy walking around The Hill.
The nativity scenes and other store window displays are a favorite thing to see:
We were also really excited to visit the new Piazza Imo…I can’t wait to go back in the spring when the fountain is on!
We took a tour of the Herbaria and learned how soap is made, which was very interesting, and said hello to the store mascot, Soapy:
And we saw Babbo Natale and La Befana:
I love spending an afternoon in such a wonderful local community!
On Saturday, we enjoyed one of our favorite Christmas traditions…the Christmas Traditions festival in St. Charles, MO!
It was so much easier to enjoy the event this year, without my ankle being broken. (Although the day was not without a foot injury…more on that later.) For example, we actually got to see the gingerbread houses this time, and they were spectacular…it was hard to choose a favorite!
We also enjoyed our walk down beautiful, historic Main Street, which always looks so nice at Christmastime!
We saw the entirety of the Santa Parade:
And the hoopla, in its new location behind the Tourism Center:
We also attended the Land of Sweets Gumball for the first time:
And caught up with some of our favorite characters, including the Master of Revels, who we missed last year:
And of course Jack Frost, who let Bunny sit in his cart…they even pretended to run down Susie Snowflake!
We also saw one of the Seaman dogs, all dressed up for the holidays!
We collected 25 of 39 character cards, plus two of the five bonus cards, which seemed a bit slim to us, but we still had a great time!
Anyway, the only downside to the day was me stepping on a thumb tack slightly before we left. It went through the sole of my boot and into my foot, which felt great. As I was due for a tetanus shot anyway, we hit the Minute Clinic on the way home so I could get that taken care of, just in case. What a dumb thing to have happen, but I’ll take it over a broken ankle any day!
