We made it home from Italy the afternoon before Christmas Eve. Luckily, Christmas Eve ended up being a holiday for both Matt and me, so we spent the day finishing last-minute preparations around the house.
In the late afternoon, we went to church for Christmas Eve mass. Then, we and our friends went to our favorite Chinese food restaurant, Ming, for Christmas Eve dinner.
We finished the evening back home watching National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation.
Santa came during the night, and we were all up bright and early for Christmas breakfast and some presents. Santa actually wasn’t supposed to come this year since we had already ordered a phone for Brooklyn, and Ryan has been skiing on his new skis since November. But Santa always finds a way to provide. 😉
After breakfast, we began our Christmas movie marathon. We started with The Holiday, followed by The Nightmare Before Christmas. By the time it was Matt’s turn to choose, our internet wasn’t really working, and we couldn’t get any movies to start besides Hallmark Christmas movies. Time was running out anyway, so we watched a little of one more movie and then started getting ready for dinner.
This year, we had dinner at the neighborhood restaurant with three other families before returning to our house for card games and dessert. It ended up being a pretty late night!
We missed being home with family, but at the same time, it is so nice not having a rushed holiday and being able to relax all day. We love the closeness of it just being the four of us and not having to prepare any meals is the icing on the cake!
Brooklyn’s senior year of high school is next year, and we told her she gets to pick our plans. Whether she wants to stay in Germany, go back to the US, or go on a trip, we shall see!
Gilcrests Abroad 