Blogmas Day 18: Flashback Friday III

For the third and final installment of Blogmas 2020's Flashback Friday, I thought I'd throw it back to 2019 wherein, I revisited our Christmas photos from each year. This was the first time I'd actually collected a photo from each year and lined them up chronologically. That kind of a thing is always fun for me. Christmas photos mean a lot to me and we have so much fun trying to think up new places to go each year. And for posterity's sake, I've added 2019's photo.

Christmas TBT - Christmas Photo Edition

Published on 12/5/2019

It's Throwback Thursday Christmas photo edition because guess what? That's what I'm in the mood for on this 5th day of Blogmas: a trip down memory lane.

We're throwing it back to 2011 to begin with because that was the year I made the very adult decision to start taking family photos and send out Christmas cards accompanied by a nice long Christmas letter because it's me and I love to write and ramble on paper. Some might say Christmas letters are an exercise in futility in the age of social media (as in, everyone already knows what you've been doing all year long) but to that I say pshaw! It's fun and nostalgic and PRO TIP: if you collect all your letters year after year and put them in a scrapbook with your Christmas photos it makes for excellent memory keeping!

I just told y'all that I still write out Christmas letters and scrapbook...does this make me old fashioned? Do people still scrapbook? Am I behind the times? Whatever, I will ponder this later.

So anyway, what I was saying is that 2011
was our inaugural Christmas family photo. Dogs required because dogs are people too.

Shout out to my dad who took these photos and my mom who stood next to him saying over and over again, "Where's the birds?!? Maycee where's the birds?!" so that Maycee would actually look at the camera. That's why her eyes look like she wants to murder you - because she thinks there's dead birds nearby to be retrieved. Also RIP to the best curled hair I've ever managed to do myself and in eight years have been unsuccessful in duplicating.

2012 

Maycee still on the lookout for those birds...

2013 

Gunther sitting up tall and proud like goodest most handsomest boy he knows that he is. 

On Dasher, on Dancer, on Prancer, and Vixen, Comet, and Cupid, and Maycee and Gunther.

2014

The first year my dear friend Jennica of Amaes Photography started taking our photos. We went up north for the day to cruise around and find some cool spots this year, and they are some of my most favorite photos. Dogs obviously still in tow because as discussed, dogs are people too. 

2015

I can't not have my dogs in my Christmas photos but I'm not gonna lie, trying to get them placed and posed nicely mostly just sounds like, "Maycee come here! No Gunther, I said Maycee. Gunther lay down. No, come over here and lay down. Maycee sit. STAY. Both of you STAY. No, Maycee stay THERE." We are a shit show most of the time but Jennica makes us look nice and normal in our photos and for that I am thankful. 

(actual birds in this photo and homegirl would not be deterred)

2016

Perhaps my favorite year because AS we were taking our photos it literally started to snow. SNOW!

2017

Tried to get Gunther off the log but he wasn't having it. Tried to get Maycee on the log but she was also not having it. You win some you lose some. 

2018

Serious Forbidden Forest vibes this year and I was/am still living for it.

Can't wait to add 2019 to the collection! 

**2020 Carissa here, adding in 2019's Christmas photo:

Dogs, cowboy hat, all the usual suspects are here.

Do you take Christmas photos each year?!

Blogmas Day 17: The Thursday Five Vol. 6

An Inspiration

HELLO beautiful pink wintery cottages 😍

A Recommendation

These Christmas Candy Pretzel Hugs

A Laugh 

A Song

T'is the Damn Season by Taylor Swift

A song about returning to your hometown for the holidays and reigniting an old flame. Is this a Christmas song? A heartbreak Christmas song? Let's discuss. 

A Moment of Happiness

It's hard to tell but it's snowing outside in this picture. I wrote about how last weekend my family and I went up to Greer for our annual holiday weekend trip and it snowed all night while we listened to Christmas music, played corn hole in our cabin, and ate cinnamon rolls. And it made me v happy. 

Blogmas Day 16: New Girl: Christmas Episodes Ranked

Back in November I ranked all the New Girl Thanksgiving episodes so if you thought I'd let December go by without doing the same with the Christmas episodes you would be wrong. 

There is surprisingly, a meager four Christmas episodes out of New Girl's seven seasons. Here are my favorites, from least fav to most fav. 

4.) Season 6 Episode 10 Christmas Eve Eve

The group tries to cancel Christmas but at the behest of one Jessica Day, they instead decide on a Secret Santa exchange. Winston and Schmidt argue over the use of aliases when Schmidt accidentally refuses a package that was to be delivered to Rear Admiral J. Garage-ah-roo (that is the phonetic spelling because who the hell knows how Winston spelled this in his mind). A "classic Schmidt and Garage-ah-roo mess around" ensues in order to make sure CeCe (the name Winston drew) has a gift for the exchange. 

Jess attempts to fly Nick's new girlfriend Reagan into town as his gift but miscommunication ensues and they end up getting into a fight about it. Ultimately, Jess is accidentally left out of the Secret Santa exchange all together when she forgets to put her own name in the draw back in October. When there is no gift for Jess the roommates end up miraculously arranging a gospel choir and Darlene Love performance for Jess in the street complete with falling snow (shredded receipts).

Funny notes about this episode: 

-Schmidt and Winston unable to decide if they love or hate brick and mortar stores. V relatable in 2020.

-Nick can't pronounce "cashmere" ("katch-Mer")

As I mentioned in my Thanksgiving ranking, this episode is at the bottom not because it's a bad episode, but because it drew the least amount of lol's for me. 

3.) Season 4 Episode 11 LAXmas

In this episode the roommates head to the airport together to spend time with each other before they all fly out to their respective destinations. Jess's boyfriend Ryan invites her to London to spend Christmas with his family. She finds out his family is wildly wealthy and she has a major complex about it. It's a mad house at the airport when all flights are cancelled due to a midwest snow storm. 

Jess gets everyone's tickets rearranged and taken care of with the exception of Nick and Winston, for whom she has to haggle with the ticket counter employee. It does not go well. Nick and CeCe sneak into the first class lounge and Schmidt ends up telling off a slimy old dude after he makes a pass at CeCe. It is HILARIOUS as he carries on about how he's from Long Island and this man is a "dirty old bitch." Jess ends up befriending the grumpy ticket counter employee at the airport bar, they drink together sharing their misery and he ends up helping her and her friends get on their flights. When Jess chickens out and doesn't get on her flight to London the group comes together to make sure she does. This is a sweet episode and you love to see everyone come together for our queen Jessica Day.

If nothing else, please just watch this episode to watch Schmidt tell off the old creepy dude and carry on about his Long Island roots. It will earn you some good lol's.

2.) Season 2 Episode 11 Santa

This episode begins with Winston getting a cranberry stuck in his ear. The gang agrees to try and hit up all the Christmas parties they can in an effort to spend time together before Nick leaves for Chicago. Jess wants to go out to all said parties in an effort to stop thinking about Sam and ends up running into him at the first party. Sam tells her he wants her back, she doesn't know what to do about it so she tells him she's in love with Winston, who still can't hear due to aforementioned cranberry stuck in his ear and hilarity ensues. Nick attempts to impress his stripper girlfriend by trying to prove how sexually uninhibited he is. It does not go well. Jess changes her mind about Sam and the gang all ends up at the hospital (where he works) so that she can chase him down and get him back. 

Lol's:

-Nick attempts to give his girlfriend a lap dance who's like, "puh-lease." She then attempts to give Nick a lap dance until Schmidt marches over and is like "puh-lease" and proceeds to give Nick a lap dance. SO FUNNY. 

-The gang gets pulled over on the way to the hospital and believe that "black Santa" has just let them off without a ticket. At their belief this officer is truly black Santa, Jewish Schmidt declares he is "so sick of hanging out with Christians." 😂

1.) Season 1 Episode 9 The 23rd 

In this episode the roommates attend Schdmit's work Christmas party where Schmidt is playing the part of sexy Santa. Prior to, Jess's boyfriend Paul tells her he loves her to which she replies "thank you." She feels bad and doesn't know what to do about it. After a conversation with Nick she decides she has to break up with him. Later, Nick accidentally spills the beans to Paul thinking Jess already talked to/broke up with him. Nick gets locked outside on the patio with the both of them as they break up and hilarity ensues. "Mom I can't talk right now I'm in a real weird situation" -Nick. Meanwhile, Winston befriends Schmidt's boss's son and gets offered a job as his nanny. Schmidt stands up to his boss telling her he doesn't want to be sexy Santa any longer and weird sexual tension commences. Nick ends up missing his flight home as the group takes Jess to Candy Cane Lane on the way home to see the Christmas lights. The lights are all off because it's late so the gang starts yelling at the homes for them to turn their lights on. It's a Christmas miracle when it works and Jess is happy after her breakup, and so is everyone else.

This is my favorite episode because the scene where Nick is stuck outside with Jess and Paul as they break up is so. funny. So awkward, so funny just...*chef's kiss.

Please tell me you've watched New Girl by now?! What are your favorite episodes? Who is your favorite roommate? LET'S DISCUSS. 

Blogmas Day 15: A Gangland Christmas in Greer, Arizona

I mentioned earlier this Blogmas how taking a Christmas trip with my family up north every year has become somewhat of a tradition. Last year we went up to Greer, Arizona and loved it so much we returned this year.

So Thursday Nate and I packed up as many jackets as we could and headed north. The drive there was normal and fine until we got to about Pine Top at which time, we slowed to about 35 miles per hour, observed one vehicle slid off the road and another vehicle crashed into a tree. Ice y'all. Ice and snow so very recent that snow plows were not out yet. 

When I looked outside the window to see the mountains and trees covered in snow while Dean Martin sang on my "Christmas Classics" playlist it was dreamlike. And then I would return my attention to the road ahead shining brightly with a sheen of ice and quickly be reminded that we are not in fact in a dream and should proceed with caution (lots!) . I think I annoyed Nate with my declarations of "Be careful. Just be careful ok? Should we slow down?"

We arrived safely (thank you, Officer Townsend) and posted up in the cabin we'd be occupying for the next three nights.

On Friday, we quickly discovered the cabin had corn hole boards and bags just sitting there, looking lonely, asking to be played with (heyooo). Our only choice was to oblige them. So we did a little rearranging of the furniture and voila - all the indoor space and vaulted ceilings we needed for a full 21 ft game of indoor, Christmasy corn hole.

Friday night after my sister and her husband arrived, we had dinner and played more corn hole, followed by a rousing game of Heads Up and a "Guess the Christmas Carol" emoji game where you have to guess the Christmas Carol based on a series of emojis provided. As expected, my mother won - she has a PhD in Christmas songs so I would expect nothing less of her. Some of them were difficult, I'll give the rest of us that much however, let me state for the record - I am thoroughly disappointed in my father who guessed "Oh Holy Night" for more than one answer and left many others blank. The cherry on top was the guess "Gangland Christmas."

GANGLAND CHRISTMAS. AS IF THAT HAS EVER BEEN THE NAME OF A CHRISTMAS SONG THAT YOU HAVE EVER HEARD OF IN YOUR LIFE? I just...I mean...it's just...like... DO BETTER, DAD. 

Runners up for funniest guesses of the night were Nate's "I Pray for Christmas,"

and, "Happy Christmas Dance."

Saturday we ventured out to find some snow! There wasn't quite enough to go tubing (hello rocks and bumpy hills) but enough to play in and satisfy this desert dwellers winter heart. 

If you scrolled through these pictures and in your best Drifters impression your brain started going "duh duh duh dum bum bum bum ba dum I'm dreaming of a whiiiiiiiite Christmas" it's not just you it happens to everyone. We frolicked and we played the Arizonan way - which is just a lot of flailing about and fool-heartedness because we never see snow and that is always so painfully obvious. 

But YOLO can't stop won't stop!

Saturday night we headed over to the Molly Butler Lodge for dinner. While eating we were debating driving over to Eager afterward to try and see some Christmas Lights at the X-Diamond Ranch. We eventually decided against it because 1.) it was SO COLD - perhaps too cold to be milling about outside, and 2.) It was getting late. This decision proved to be the right one because in the time it took to leave the restaurant and drive the couple miles back to our cabin it started SNOWING. Like, a lot. Exhibit A:

Exhibit B:

So instead, we pumped up the Christmas jams, baked some cinnamon rolls, and played corn hole while it snowed outside. When I tell you that I stood next to the window drinking hot chocolate and Bailey's in my Christmas jammies, while watching snow fall from the sky I need you to believe me. I know it sounds made up but it happened y'all. 

We were living in a damn snow globe for the night and it was the best night ever.

Every year these holiday weekend getaways are different from the last in the best possible way. I can't wait to see what 2021 holds!

Blogmas Day 14: Currently - December

If I were to tell you what I am literally, currently doing at this exact moment it would be sitting in my bed, listening to my dog snore while my husband watches Alaska the Last Frontier on the Discovery Channel. If I were to tell you what I am figuratively, currently doing at this exact moment it would be basking in the Christmasy glow of mid-December. Mid-December is an underrated sweet spot - all the Christmas stuff is in full swing yet we still have just over a week of holiday anticipation before the big day comes! 

Wishing: A happy birthday to the Queen, Taylor Alison Swift

Obsessing: over evermore and how for her birthday, Taylor Swift gifted us with another surprise album. QUEEN. 

Loving: Real Housewives of Salt Lake City

Now, after a few weeks worth of episodes, it's hard to imagine the Real Housewives without this franchise. Favorite housewife so far: Heather Gay. I'm also super into the wintery vibes of Salt Lake City. 

Eating: Jingle Jangle from Trader Joe's

I was very recently introduced to this (actually, while watching Real Housewives of Salt Lake City with a friend) and I don't know how I've gone all these holiday seasons without it. What a delightful, tasty, chocolatey, treat!

Unpacking: all my stuff from the most amazing, snowy, Christmasy weekend in Northern Arizona - more on that in an upcoming post! 

Wondering: if I've developed a thing for snow globes? I found the most amazing snow globe last weekend when I went to Prescott with my family - the kind that is battery operated so you never have to shake it so it's just in a constant state of snow globe glittery magic? It is my new favorite thing. 

My mom found another amazing snow globe this weekend in Greer and I wanted it so badly (the store only had one) that Nate searched the internet for it after the fact, found it, and bought it. Does this make snow globes my thing? Some people do the nutcracker collection thing, are snow globes mine? Have I started down a very slippery slope? TBD.

What you are into in this fine, mid-December sweet spot?!