Christmas Parties

Christmas is officially one week away & we couldn't be more excited! The girls get out of school tomorrow & I cannot wait to have some down time with just the 4 of us around the house. This is why I love not traveling or going on vacation over winter break - I just want to catch up on life! I cannot wait to stay up late watching movies, eating & sleeping in with the girls. Having said that, the past couple of weeks have been anything but that. For some reason I feel like we have had more Christmas parties than usual, but I'm here for it! I've had a couple of fun lunches with my girlfriends, but my favorite was Holiday Tea at the French Room at the Adolphus Hotel in Dallas:

Isn't it gorgeous?! I hadn't been here since Bryan & I were dating. My company had their Christmas party here, so it had been a while, but it was just as pretty I as I remembered. We talked about doing this last year, but we waited too long to get reservations. This year, I got online at midnight back in October & was able to grab them:

I couldn't help but take pictures because it was so pretty! Ok, we'll move on to the dining room where the chandeliers were gorgeous:

It was a true tea with different teas brought out with our different courses. The picture above is my plate & I know it doesn't look like anything special BUT I was beyond excited because I had told them beforehand that I was df & gf so they had made me a plate which was very similar to what my friends were having. I didn't feel left out at all, and it all tasted delicious!

The first picture below is the traditional desert course, which is what my friends had:

and this was mine - I even got warm scones straight from the oven & they were delicious:

The decorations in there were a little more girlie & you know I loved it! Plus, they had live music with a harp:

Honestly, not only did I have the best time with these 3 ladies, but I was honestly surprised how much I got to eat & how great it tasted:

I am definitely going to put a note on my calendar to make reservations again next year!

I also drove to Dallas another day to have lunch at Paradiso, which is in Bishop Arts with Jamie & Julianne. This place blew me away also - it was so cute & girlie Christmas with pink everywhere:

I love doing life with these ladies!

I also went to 3 other Christmas parties at night & somehow got 0 pictures. Bad Shaye!

Bryan surprised me with a night out in Grapevine. I don't know why we have never really come here before since it is the Christmas Capital of Texas. Main Street was shut down & it was decorated with twinkle lights & photo ops everywhere:

We went to dinner at a steakhouse & then we had tickets to a Michael Buble tribute. And you know I love me some Michael Buble, especially at Christmas!

Because I have seen Michael so many times, I feel like I know his stage presence & mannerisms pretty well, so it was kind of funny seeing this knock off guy trying to duplicate him. He was a great singer, but sometimes it was a little too much:

But it was still a fun night & I love Bryan for planning something like this for us:

The girls have been partying also! Earlier this month they had their KLife Christmas party for all of middle school:

And they had their small group parties also. Sadie's was at a friend's house & they had a tshirt exchange:

We hosted Sophie's 6th grade party at our house & it was 2 days before her birthday, so we celebrated her as well:

I mean look at how excited she was! They all had fun singing to her:

and then we played Sophie's favorite, Christmas bingo with m&m's:

Then they made Christmas ornaments:

Finally, Sadie's soccer team had their party:

Lot of Christmas fun with more to come & one more birthday too!