Holiday Highlights

H I , H E L L O !
(Imagine me saying this the way Josie Gellar’s Spanish teacher said it on her first day of class. If you haven’t seen Never Been Kissed then this will not make sense…)

I hope everyone is having a great week so far! As busy as mine has been, it has been pretty great! I’ve been up at SummerHouse a lot which is always fun. 🙂 Anyways…

So I was flipping back through all the pictures I’ve taken over the past couple of weeks and wanted to share a few highlights from Christmas and the start of 2013! I’m so thankful for wonderful friends, an amazing family (on all sides), and the health and ability to travel. Sure does make life exciting! Can I get an Amen?

Highlight 1: MISTLETOGA

2012 marked the 5th year of the always exciting Mistletoga celebration! Five years ago, my roommates at the time and I were dying to throw a great Christmas party, but wanted it to be different from the typical tacky Christmas theme. Somehow we came up with the idea to have a toga party and call it Mistletoga! Toga-like attire is strongly encouraged, and the more creative the better! This party has been a blast for all five years, so I look forward to the 6th annual in, oh… 11 months!

At this party, we had some fun beverages like Rudolph Royale, which was champagne and cranberry juice, accented with frozen strawberries. Simple and delish! We also had what we like to call “Sethnog.” See, last year, my friend/old roommate, Avery, whose apartment is still the home of this yearly shin-dig, asked her boyfriend to make eggnog for the occasion. It was so good that since then we’ve referred to the drink as “Sethnog.” This year we lacked a proper pitcher so the nog was served from a coffee pot! It just added to the party vibe 😉

The snack mix, which I like to call “S’more Pretzels, please!” (corny, I know…) was sort of born out of my need to clear out the pantry of random things… I mixed mini marshmallows, pretzels, and MnMs into some melted bakers chocolate and got everything all chocolate coated. Then I poured it into a big ziplock bag, threw some graham cracker crumbs and a little powdered sugar in there, then shook it up! It turned out pretty well, I’d say… I’ve made it twice since this party and it all gets eaten every time, so that says something! 🙂

Overall, Mistletoga 5.0 was a ravishing success! Moving on…

Highlight 2: TEA TIME!

Two of my best friends, both of whom I’ve known basically my entire life, and I got to get together for tea the Sunday before Christmas! See, one of these friends (named Lindsey) lives in Nashville, so my other friend Mandy and I don’t get to see her too often. So we make a point of having a 3-woman pow wow every year around the holiday.

Since Linds and I lived in England together (and became obsessed with tea and scones), I thought it might be fun to have a mini tea party! We were meeting at around 4:00, so it kinda turned out perfectly, since that’s official “tea time” anyway!

I made some scones which turned out… eh… Let’s just say, I’ll probably use a different recipe next time… But the three of us had a great time! And I had fun getting ready for it, which is a plus for me! 🙂

Highlight 3: The getting and giving of gifts! 

Okay… I admit… I heart gifts… But let’s be honest. Who doesn’t!?

I got some super great stuff this year, all of which I really love (and most of which was off my list! Yay! No returns!) I’ve had a little too much fun with some of my gifts (insert OPI for Sephora gift set that had like 16 different polishes) and others I’ve been wearing non-stop!!  A few faves include Versace Yellow Diamond perfume, Vintage View handmande earrings, nail polish (I also got a gorgeous Butter London color in addition to all the Sephoras!), and the Pantone for Sephora eye shadow palette… I. LOVE. THIS.

I also really enjoy giving gifts because wrapping is uber fun for me… I could spend hours with all sorts of papers and strings! I think we can all agree that gift giving is a very good thing… Yeah?

Highlight 4: The beginning of a NEW YEAR!

My family and my husband’s family all got to travel down to Jacksonville, Florida to celebrate the new year Mississippi State style! We went down for the Gator Bowl, which ended up being maybe the worst football game in history, BUT, other than that, we had a spectacular time! Lots of shopping, eating, and laughing involving the entire MillerHoo clan! (That’s what we call ourselves… Miller + Donahoo = MillerHoo.)

Yay for huge, beautifully decorated trees, fireworks, and an excuse to wear nearly every sequin garment I own! Good times for sure.

I hope you had a wonderful holiday, too!
What was the highlight of YOUR Christmas or New Year?