Keeping up with Katy: KUWK Christmas: Days 1-6

Whew! Six days into this KUWK 25 Days of Christmas... and I need stronger coffee.

But so far I have absolutely no regrets with my little holiday challenge. You know how antsy we get these three weeks of December before we're "on holiday?" Well this kind of cures that. Knowing I'm doing something festive every night gets me through the workday. It completely wears me out, but it's way too much fun to care :)

If you're not up to speed on what I'm up to you can catch up here, and for those of you that are - let's get crackin'!

So December 1st was your token "kick-off" to December. After Kelsey and I got home from work, we turned on the Hallmark channel, uncorked a bottle of wine, and finished decorating the house. I got a head start last weekend, but we put up the last tree and did the finishing touches together :) And then we proceeded to sit on the couch and have girl talk in our warmly lit home. So it was a pretty fantastic Tuesday.

This is also where I learned that Kelsey thinks ornament hangers are not necessary, and you can just shove the tree branch directly through the hole on the ornament (where the hanger would go). So we shoved and shoved, and then at the bottom of her box, with about 5 ornaments left, we found a huge pack of ornament hangers. #shewasmistaken

Tomorrow I'll be sharing a "tour" of the holiday decorations, so you'll have to come back to see :) For now, I'll just leave you with this little gem.

Cheers!

Last year Jeff bought me Christmasopoly (because I am a child during Christmas and love games), but we never got a chance to play. So Day 2 was Christmasopoly and Frozen Hot Chocolate!

After work I ran over to Jeff's where he made us some dinner and built me a fire (boyfriend for the win!). We then turned the TV to the Rockefeller's Christmas Tree Lighting and busted out the board game. The game was pretty entertaining! You collect reindeer, presents of different colors, get holiday cheer and bah humbug cards - it's just a really festive game!

At one point my holiday cheer card said that every player had to sing Jingle Bells or pay $100, so Jeff, Toby (his roommate), and I all sat around the coffee table caroling. Again - pretty entertaining :)

I also made us some Frozen Hot Chocolates for the evening, and both boys sucked theirs down instantly. New recipe is a keeper! If you missed that recipe last Thursday you can find it here.

So let's recap:

Crackling Fire

Rockefeller Christmas Tree Lighting

Frozen Hot Chocolate

Christmasopoly

....that's a pretty fantastic Day 2 :)

On day three I got home from work, got in my pajamas, turned on all the Christmas lights, made some hot cocoa, and settled in to watch CMA Country Christmas. I look forward to Country Christmas every year, but this year's was a pretty big let down in my opinion. In fact, I stopped watching an hour in. To see my thoughts/recap of the first half, click here.

Day 4 was a Friday (woo!) so things could get a little more interesting. Friday night, Jeff and I met my friend Emily and her hubs Landon for date night at the Gaylord in Grapevine. For those of you who aren't familiar, the Gaylord has a beautiful and decorated atrium during the holidays, and it also has an ICE! exhibit. The ice exhibit is a 14,000 square foot ballroom with mazes of themed ice sculptures (including an ice bar and a slide!).

So I've been to the ice exhibit a few times before, and I have never in a million years been that cold. The website says they keep it at a "numbing 9 degrees," but this year must have been negative nine because we were just miserably cold. It was hysterical (mainly watching the men shiver - cause men rarely shiver), but it was definitely the fastest I've ever walked through that exhibit. Oh man.

If you've never done it and live in the DFW area, I would most definitely recommend it. Yes, I know I just told you we were miserably cold, but it's just beyond amazing that these things can be created out of blocks of ice.

I love this girl. She may no longer love me considering she hates being cold more than anything in this world - but she powered through like a champ :)

...because why not?

One of our favorite holiday traditions :) There's a little store right outside of the ice exhibit, so we bought ornaments for the past two years and plan to continue that little tradition :)

...plus we get to act like 5-year old children. Always a good time.

Aaaaand this is my favorite picture from the night. This was right after we returned our big blue parkas and began the thaw out process. So we took a "show us how you really feel" selfie.

Saturday was an incredible Christmas-filled day that made me oh-so-happy and oh-so-tired. No really, I realized I may need to slow my roll or I'm going to take a one horse open sleigh right into a Christmas coma.

But again - it was a blast. So let's recap!

First things first, I woke up (way early) and went and had my annual Christmas card photo session with my girl Lisa. I'm doing a separate post on the adventures of said Christmas card photos next week (after I send the cards out), so for now I'll just leave you with this. It pretty much sums up the experience.

After that good time, I drove down to Midlothian to meet my sister's family and dad for the town's Christmas festival! It was Amy and Brent's last outing with just little Miss Brooklyn - so it was pretty special. Soon they'll be a family of four!

Aaaaaany day now!

They had a petting zoo..

balloon animals...

and random dancers in the parking lot...

And also a big purdy tree. Love my dad!

After the festival, I drove back up to Dallas and got ready for the first Christmas party of the season! My friend Kristie and her husband Jordan throw an annual (annual meaning they've done it twice now and we told them we're making it a requirement) Christmas dinner where we just spend good ole fashioned quality time together. And also play with all of the kitchen gadgets and fine china they got from their wedding. #registryforthewin

I love throwing parties, but every now and then it is a lot of fun just being a guest. Especially when it's at a Kristie party. Cause that girl knows how to throw a party.

I had a fancy cloth napkin that had a jingle bell napkin holder. Need I say more?

What was hysterical about that night is that Kristie and I were complete twins. We never discussed wardrobe for the party, but when I arrived and she opened the door we just immediately died laughing.

#welikedtoknowit

I loved Saturday. The first Saturday set the bar pretty high for the remaining Sautrdays to come. And I most definitely slept like a log Saturday night.

On Sunday afternoon, me, Amy, Jeff, and my dad all went to see Vocal Majority's Christmas show!

Vocal Majority is a Dallas based men's chorus of over 100 guys who volunteer their time and talent to this group. My dad is a huge fan of these guys, and has been coming to their Christmas shows for several years now. Since I'm usually performing in the Prestonwood show I don't get to attend, but this year I got to go and it was just so amazing. These guys are beyond talented and it's entertaining to hear the "common" Christmas songs sung in a unique way. Jeffrey was such a fan he even bought himself a CD! :)

You couldn't take pictures during the show (I pulled out my phone to snap a quick one and Jeff gave me the stink eye), but I snapped this before the program started. It just made me happy :)