Betty’s home for Christmas. Actually, Betty’s home for good. NYC was great, but Charlottesville called.  And so all is right with my world.

Somehow, Christmas Eve,  I ended up completely re-doing the Christmas lights on Betty’s tree (oh, my Christmas OCD kicking in….) while Edie came down and helped her put the tree up. 

And Pat came down and helped decorate the rest of her house.

  

I can’t remember a Christmas eve, or a Christmas really, that wasn’t punctuated by ‘check-ins’ with Betty of all sorts.  Phone calls, walks down the street, helping each other do last minute    decorations/wrapping/santapresentbuilding/baking/shopping/just visiting with breakfast/lunch/dinner/drinks/just visiting always happening at some point…..And to have her home after months of being away, knowing she was home to stay?  

There was much joy and merriment.

The ladybug hat was a hit. 

And for the first time EVER, I managed to make some pretty kick-ass looking cinnamon buns for Christmas breakfast.  I started them way ahead of time and let them rise Christmas Eve, before I popped them in the fridge to bake in the morning.  It made a big difference.   

Pat made me that for Christmas.  Isn’t it cool?  I told him I wanted a floor lamp for the dining room – it gets no direct natural light and therefore is unbearably dark this time of year. So he made me one out of a poplar tree branch he found on the ground at the park.  And the lampshade was an old one lying around that he redid.  He asked me for fabric – I was sort of consulted every step of the way of his creation, so it wasn’t a surprise, still it was fun to design something with my honey.  I love how it turned out.  He’s awesome.

The fabric is a knock-off Lily, with embroidered palm trees.  It was in the stash and I was torn between that and a darker, heavier linen.  The palm trees are good.

It was a lovely, lazy Christmas day, with friends & neighbors popping in & out.  I hadn’t put a menu together, but when I did, I found my notes from last year and realized it was exactly the same.  I remembered thinking to myself last year, it was the best menu ever.  Clearly, it was.  I think we have this Christmas thing down.  We have spent the days since lazing around, eating leftover chocolate cake and popcorn.  Other leftovers too, but to be honest, that was dinner the day after Christmas.