Happy Christmas.

Christmas in Washington – Paul McGehee

I’m currently somewhere over Wisconsin (I think – I’m TERRIBLE when it comes to geography) en route to DC, where we’ll spend the next several days with my parents and my sister’s family, enjoying amazing food (my mom, an incredible cook, believes food is healthy as long as it’s made from scratch – no matter how many sticks of butter were used in the process. And who am I to disagree with my mom?!), watching movies, taking walks (40* will feel positively balmy compared to the -13* we woke up to this morning!), reading, and, what I’m looking forward to the most, playing with my 2 year-old mini-me niece. 

Growing up, my memories of Christmas revolve around the tree and the presents (and maybe the cookies!)… turning on our musical Santa lights first thing on Christmas morning, wrapping my presents perfectly (pre-pinterest) after spending hours at the mall shopping, ripping through the colorful paper to unearth my new treasures, and (oddly) lining up my presents in my room as if it was a store (I guess I was meant to work in retail…). My parents did not grow up celebrating Christmas but they gave us a traditional, magical experience, and I am so thankful for that. These days, we forego presents in favor of experiences, and I’m most thankful to have such wonderful people in my life, who have taught me that all that really matters is spending time with the people you love (especially while eating cookies!).

Thank you, thank you, thank you for spending some of your time with me this year… for reading and supporting The American Edit and American-made in general. I wish I could eat Christmas cookies with each one of you… but for now I will just wish you a Merry, Happy Christmas and New Year!

I’ll be back to regular posting after the new year, and I have a lot of amazing things planned for TAE in 2014. For a glimpse of DC (and maybe even my favorite cookies?), follow along: