Christmas in Dixie

Ever have those weekends where Sunday night you breathe a deep breath and say, yeah, we did that one right. That was this weekend for us.

Eh, well, most of us.

Despite the 70 degree temperature, it’s Christmas season and I love it. David and I each have a movie that screams CHRISTMAS to us. For him, it’s Christmas Vacation. For me, it’s Love Actually. Saturday was my turn.

With the Christmas tree lit and a bottle of red, we set up camp in the living room to watch my movie.

Do you FUNdo? It’s one of my favorites, though we rarely get the set out. It was perfect for a leisurely dinner while I recited lines from my favorite movie.

Whenever I get gloomy with the state of the world, I think about the arrivals gate at Heathrow Airport. General opinion’s starting to make out that we live in a world of hatred and greed, but I don’t see that. It seems to me that love is everywhere. Often, it’s not particularly dignified or newsworthy, but it’s always there – fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, husbands and wives, boyfriends, girlfriends, old friends. When the planes hit the Twin Towers, as far as I know, none of the phone calls from the people on board were messages of hate or revenge – they were all messages of love. If you look for it, I’ve got a sneaking suspicion… love actually is all around.

What a fitting picture, right? We spent a morning at Davidson College with my friend, Lauren. She’s uber talented and after seeing her sneak peeks, I’m chomping at the bit to see all our pictures!

How I’ll choose only a few for a Christmas card, I have no clue.

And you know we can’t go to Davidson without eating at Toast. For those who have never been, here’s why-

Always fresh, always delicious, always quick.

Being properly fueled, we were prepared to party with the animals.

Our neighborhood Christmas party featured crafts, Santa and Zootastic (who has an incredible lights display going on right now, FYI)! The animals, which included a 6 week old tiger, a kangaroo, a fox, a ferret and a cockatoo were a huge hit with the kiddos.

The snake? Well, it wasn’t my favorite. Despite it’s kisses.

Maybe he smelled cookies on my breathe?

These butter pecan cookies were meant to go with coffee. Light, a bit crumbly, not too sweet. Perfection.  After all, what is Christmas without cookies?

Our weekend concluded, as it started, with pizza.

I used my whole wheat pizza dough recipe and confirmed that it’s a keeper.

The weekend was wonderful. Though with pizza (x2) and cookies and lack of exercise, unless you count walking through the luminaries, I’m feeling ready to get moving today, but that’s a topic for another day.

Right now I’m still savoring the family time, the cookies and the Christmasy feeling of the weekend.

Do anything holiday-esque this weekend?

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