Wow, is it really 10:40pm?

Okay, my day just disappeared...

I shopped for the last few Christmas gifts (including something for the husband), then spent the majority of the day decorating the house and preparing a nice dinner with caprese salad*, wine, and a plate with tasty cheeses, apple, bread, rice crackers, etc.

That may sound like an odd dinner, but it's something we do when we need to just chill out and relax. Normally we have chill-out music, but tonight we had on the Christmas music, which is a huge range, from Brad Paisley and Gretchen Wilson to Avril Lavigne and The Barenaked Ladies, to all the old classic stuff. And of course the Colbert Christmas special music... I kill myself laughing whenever one of those songs comes on :)

The pets were also required to be festive** for the evening while the husband and I just relaxed with a fire burning. I didn't take pictures this year, but here's a couple pics of them from last year.

She was pretty tired when I took this, notice the red-crack-eyes that beagles always get.

The cat is obsessed with bows. He steals them off every single gift and runs around the 

house with them. Such a funny little brat.

Anyways, it was a wonderful evening... just what we needed to get into the spirit of the season since we've both been a little stressed 'cause of all the travelling/driving around.

I hope everyone has a chance to have an evening of relaxation with all the craziness of the season :)


*If you don't know what this is, it's an Italian salad where you cut slices of tomato, sprinkle with a little salt & pepper, add a leaf of fresh basil, then a slice of bocconcini cheese. After, it's most common to drizzle with a good quality olive oil and balsamic vinegar, but I have this interesting balsamic reduction, which is thicker and sweeter, so I use that instead of the oil & vinegar. My husband is Italian, so we often eat Italian food.

** No, I'm not a crazy person who dresses up my pets all the time. One day a year, that's it :) ...though I do think the cat would look adorable in a ghost costume for Halloween... and maybe a pumpkin for the dog ;)