Holidays with our families

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Our holiday season this year was filled with family time, yummy food, tons of presents, and happy memories. For Christmas, D's family rented a house in Connecticut, and we spent Christmas eve and day with D's extended family. One of D's aunts lives in CT, and we all got together at her house for the celebrations. It was wonderful to reconnect with everybody. We got into the holiday spirit by playing Secret Santa, which worked out really well for this large crowd of about twenty people.

The house itself was amazingly decorated in a very modern, minimalist style. I tried to capture it on camera before the sun went down.

The living room.

Lots of open space. Note the long table set in the background.

Whimsical place setting highlighted the holiday spirit.

As a total coincidence, my family also decided to rent a house in Connecticut for New Year's. This is one of the biggest holidays for my family, and we try to spend it together every year. The house my parents chose was a beautiful, spacious carriage house with lots of open space and a view of a lake.

The carriage house.

Snow finally arrived in the Northeast, and we celebrated the New Year in a winter wonderland. We mostly gravitated towards the first floor, which was one huge space that encompassed the kitchen, dining area, living room, and a very functional fireplace.

Hanging out on the first floor.

Closeup of the kitchen with the marvelous stove.

My family generously offered me and D the master bedroom, complete with a four-poster bed, a walk-in closet the size of our current bedroom, and a bathroom the size of a golf field (with a jacuzzi!). The master suite had way more space than I knew what to do with. It was intimidating!

Master bedroom with a four-poster bed.

On New Year's eve, we ate way too much excellent food, and then got together around the fireplace to exchange gifts.

Presents and fireplace.

It was so wonderful to spend the holidays with our families. And as a bonus, I got to enjoy beautifully designed houses along the way. What a great way to start the new year!

Comments

  1. AmandaJanuary 3, 2013 at 9:10 AM

    Seems like you had a great time, I miss holidays with so many people, families are the best. But this year we spent both Christmas and New Years with friends + brother in law, and it was quite nice in its own way too, for some reason it felt grown up (I guess because we were fully on hosting and organizing mode).
    All the best wishes for you.

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    Replies
    1. AnnaJanuary 3, 2013 at 4:45 PM

      Thanks, and yes we did have a wonderful time! When I was living on the pacific coast, I missed my family a lot around various holidays time, although I tried to see them as much as possible, so I get what you are saying.

      We have tentative plans to host for the holidays in the next year or two, which to me also feels like such a grown-up thing to do! It's like a major milestone.

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