Merry Christmas!

Today's Agenda: Reflect. Rejoice. Renew.

I just finished watching "A White House Christmas" on HGTV.  It was amazing to see all the effort taken to decorate the White House for Christmas and how beautiful and classy it all looked. 

  {Pause another moment to check out these magnolia leaves!}

The tree in the Blue Room (check out the link for WH Christmas trees throughout the years!) has these large structural gold ribbons with decoupage ornaments reflecting each US state hanging on the tree and some of them adorned with blue and white embroidered tags that show this year's White House Christmas theme -- "Reflect" or "Rejoice" or "Renew".  I think it was a perfect sentiment for this time of year -- no matter what your religion is, your traditions are or where you are physically or in life. 

So, I'm off to reflect, rejoice and renew.  And, just enjoy. 

{Before we head out of town, here are some pictures from our holiday so far -- it was thrown a bit off kilter by the snowpocalypse that outshone, or, really, outsnowed, the cocktail party I had planned for my husband's birthday but I still enjoyed setting everything up and planning and a few friends that braved the snow and the metro!  And I loved putting up our tree this year and pulling out old Holiday CDs my law school roommates had made for me in 2003!  And, today I'll enjoy one last day with all the holiday decorations before we head down to celebrate with my mom and sister with the milk punch another great friend from law school made in tow!}