Holidays at the Paraoan Residence

The perfect ornament we found at Target! We ordered our Christmas cards from TinyPrints for the first time. I love how they turned out. PC - Jenn Velicaria

THANKSGIVING

I had an awesome 4.5 day weekend. We hosted Thanksgiving for the first time! Sean and I made green bean casserole, bacon wrapped smokies, meat and cheese tray, and a cheese skillet fondue. My family brought over turkey, turkey, mashed potatoes, lumpia, and pancit. For dessert Jenn made cupcakes and my aunt made brownies.

On Black Friday we went to Lowe's, Home Depot, Sam's Club, and Fred Meyer's. My favorite purchases this year: an electric skillet, handheld vacuums, a sander, a drill, and a Fry Daddy. As far as holiday shopping goes, I did most of my shopping online this year. I've become less tolerant of crazy crowds and I love the convenience of everything arriving at my doorstep.

CHRISTMAS

We also got to host Christmas. We celebrated on Christmas Eve and relaxed all day on Christmas. Sean and I made rib roast (I got a 13.5 pound roast from Carrs for $75!), green bean casserole, and spinach dip. My family brought over shrimp cocktail, pancit, mashed potatoes, dinuguan, kare kare, sisig, and pie. It was all so delicious! Some of the presents I got this year - various calendars (I Love Lucy, Mickey and Minnie, Moana), a new Clarisonic, Simon & Seaforts gift cards, Glacier Brewhouse gift cards, and Disney gift cards.

I was really excited to decorate for the holidays. We started decorating our home in mid-November. Outside we put a Mickey head projector and  Mickey and Minnie LED sculptures. I also finally bought reindeer and a snowman from Bell's Nursery! Words can't even explain how happy I was to finally have a place for them. I've wanted to buy a set for a long time, but had no place to put them when we were still living in our condo.

We bought a new 7.5 ft artificial tree. I love how thick and full the tree was. We prefer unlit trees because we're very specific on how we want the lights to look, haha. I hate "warm" lights and love the brightness of white lights. We bought new LED strands and put double the lights on our tree. It was SO bright and I absolutely loved it!

We put our old tree in the office and a few small trees around the house. We also started our Disney Christmas village. I can't wait to see it grow! I love Christmas so much and I look forward to 2017's holiday season.

NEW YEAR'S EVE

Sean and I went to his friend's house for a few hours and then we ended the evening at my aunt's house. I love ending the year with family and starting the year with family. :)