What I did on Christmas vacation, by Erin

Matt and I pimped out a gingerbread house we bought at Target (okay actually that was a couple weeks ago)

On the real first day of vacation, Matt and I headed to Philly to spend the afternoon with Katy, Noelle and their new hubbies. After a Pat's cheesesteak, outside, in 30 degree weather (I'm told they really are THAT good), we enjoyed perusing the Reading Terminal Market and Christmas Village. Props to the Christmas Village, which really does look and most importantly smell like a German Christmas market. I even sniffed out some gluhwein from the Chaddsford Winery! We were very glad though to get back to the warmth of Katy's new apartment. It's lovely and Katy was the hostess with the mostest!


We had a wonderful Christmas morning (even though I didn't follow through on my threat to purchase my parents a new dog.) For dinner, we swapped our traditional Greek themed dinner for Italian, complete with Eggplant Rolantini Marinara from Christopher's Deli, which I have previously rated as one of my favorite eggplant dishes in the country.

Santa brought me one more present-- a Boxing Day Blizzard! I'd say Newtown received about 9 inches. I'm a bit bummed to be away from my XC skis and 17 inches of snow, both of which are in Brooklyn this morning. But being with family is just as nice... plus my dad made abelskivers! More on that tomorrow...