15 more minutes until Christmas vacation! I still cannot believe it’s Christmas. Literally cannot believe it. Wasn’t it just yesterday that I was out on the boat enjoying summer weekends in Maine? Time is freaking flying, but that’s not to say that this girl is not insanely excited the holidays. I had an incredible Thanksgiving in Maine and Christmas is sure to be even more wonderful.

After work today the boyfriend and I will head to Maine. I’ll spend a night out on the town with girlfriends, dressed in holiday dresses and sparkly tights. Sipping champagne and drinking wine.

Christmas Eve means last minute preparations with mom. My sister and her husband will come over in the late afternoon and my immediate family will exchange gifts. Christmas Eve dinner is a longstanding tradition between my family and my neighbors. They’ll come over, we’ll have a candlelit dinner and give thanks for our health and happiness this year. Then we stay up late, drinking wine, spiked eggnog, blasting tunes and enjoying one another’s company. The kids will most definitely outlast the parents, and we’ll retreat only when our eyes are so tired and our cheeks are as rosy as old St. Nick’s. Our families have been best friends and direct neighbors since I was two, so this family means the world to me and Christmas Eve is our special night.

Christmas morning mom, dad and I will wake up together. Probably get a Starbucks and return home to nibble on the most delicious, moist rum cake in the universe (made and delivered by one of my neighbors and her children every year). It’s odd to think my sister has a family of her own now, but I suppose that’s just life, huh? After we fill the car with presents, food and ski gear, we’ll drive north to my grandparents house. Of course along the way we’ll stop at a gas station in Auburn, the same gas station we stop at every year, so that my dad can purchase scratch cards for us kids (now a days that’s just me!).

Christmas day is the one time of year that my whole family gets together. Two cousins won’t make it this year as they are in Colorado, but the rest of the gang is there. More family members come than do for Thanksgiving, so it’s incredibly special. The annual yankee swap is guaranteed to bring laughs and fights, and dinner and drinks are sure to put us all to sleep afterwards.

This year I’ll stay up north, where the boyfriend will join in the late afternoon, and we’ll be busy skiing with my cousins for a few days.

Photos found on Pinterest here and here.

And… get this. This year, boss man gave our group the entire week off. So I’ll be home in Maine for the week between Christmas and New Years. I’ll return to Boston late next week because (drum roll and giddy dancing please) Heather, Nathan and baby CB are visiting for the weekend!

Well, that’s where I’ll be for the next 7 days. What are your holiday plans?