CLIPS FROM THE CLARKS: Christmas Festivities

I love Christmas time....hate the cold, rainy weather but love the lights, the music, the hot chocolate, and the general feeling of excitement. I have noticed that each holiday this year has been so much more enjoyable having a child. It is an excuse to really go all out and have a good time. And in line with going all out, we had our Christmas tree up November 18th!!! We usually wait until after Thanksgiving but we were in Texas for two weeks and I didn't want to wait until we got back to put it up...because December 4th is way too late!!!

Last week the city we live in did a tree lighting event with carollers, hot chocolate, pictures with santa, etc. Perhaps my expectations were a little too high but the tree lighting was literally just an existing tree with a few strands of lights wrapped around it!!! It was still fun to be out and enjoy the evening and get a few photos...including one with Santa.

To continue our holiday festivities, we were invited to a Christmas dinner at the home of the doctor (Dr. Vaughn) David works for. A little background to how this evening came to be: Turns out Dr. Vaughn was at a charity event a few weeks ago and they were having an auction to raise money. One of the auction items was to have Top Chef Season 4 contestant, Chef Ryan Scott, cook for a party in your home. Dr. Vaughn won the auction and therefore hosted a party for 14 guests, with the most spectacular food you can imagine cooked by a celebrity!!! I have been on several cruises and a lot of really nice dinners back in my days practicing as a Physician Assistant, but this put any meal I have ever had to shame. It was a 6, yes SIX, course meal and I swear each dish was better than the next and I have never been so full in all my life!! The menu included things I couldn't even pronounce!

Dr. Vaughn had all the furniture in his condo removed to fit this amazing table in his living room!! This picture doesn't do it justice, but the table looked like something out of a Martha Stewart magazine...the decorations were amazing.

Here was course one: So pretty!