When my wonderfully large group of friends received the news that we wouldn't be together for the Holidays, we spent about five minutes being sad before collectively coming to the realization that there was no reason why we couldn't still celebrate. It was crunch time, we had about three weeks before the next batch of our loved ones were peacing out. (Unfortunately, we weren't quite brilliant enough to come up with this idea before the first couple of people took off, but now we'll be more prepared next time!)
NEWHALLOWTHANKSMAS
This was our brilliant idea!! We decided to combine all of our favorite holidays so that we could still make our 2016 Holiday memories!
All the ladies got together a couple days before the big day to quickly make a list for decor and food. We didn't get too much...we knew we'd probably end up with a TON of leftovers, at the same time, we wanted to cover everyone's favorite holiday dishes.
We had a deep-fried turkey, ham, mashed potatoes & gravy, sweet potato casserole, green bean casserole, cranberries, apple pie, pumpkin pie, caramel apple dip, sangria and apple cider!
On the day of NewHallowThanksMas, a bunch of us showed up early to decorate the house. The hallway and bathroom were decorated for Halloween, Thanksgiving dinner would take place in the dining room, the white elephant gift exchange for Christmas would take place in the living room, as would the New Years countdown and toast.. let's be honest..who takes their tree down before New Years?
Everyone showed up between 4 and 5, we had a Halloween cocktail hour..or two...with appetizers and drinks. We also had amazing photo frames made by my sister-in-law that would help us document each Holiday! Everyone showed up in a Halloween costume and when the turkey was done deep-frying, we donned our favorite football jerseys or Thanksgiving themed attire, and sat down at the table for a FEAST!
Ever-determined to make it to Christmas, we caught a second wind, cleared the table, refreshed our drinks, and started blasting the Christmas music!
Around 8:30, we gathered around the Christmas tree, passed out cards to determine order, and started the white elephant gift exchange. Presents were set to a $20 budget and ranged from a very popular rainbow unicorn mug and a stuffed sloth, to toilet golf, a fart machine, lava lamp, and a baby doll.
We sat in the living room acting like we were kids on Christmas morning who had just opened up the gift they had asked Santa and attempted to be nice all year long for. Then we attempted to fill whatever crevice we had left in our stomachs with apple pie and pumpkin pie. I took a mental picture of everyone holding onto their new toys, wiping pie crumbs off their faces and realized I'd remember that moment forever. Christmas is my all-time favorite holiday and it hurt a little to know that we, like so many other families, would be separated from our loved ones this holiday season.
We sat in the living room acting like we were kids on Christmas morning who had just opened up the gift they had asked Santa and attempted to be nice all year long for. Then we attempted to fill whatever crevice we had left in our stomachs with apple pie and pumpkin pie. I took a mental picture of everyone holding onto their new toys, wiping pie crumbs off their faces and realized I'd remember that moment forever. Christmas is my all-time favorite holiday and it hurt a little to know that we, like so many other families, would be separated from our loved ones this holiday season.
Not gonna lie....we didn't make it to midnight. But 10:00 is still impressive...right? We poured the Martinelli's cider into plastic champagne flutes, passed out New Years goodies, and started the countdown. As I sat on the ground, counting down to our fake midnight, I looked around the room at my friends, my family, and I felt so incredibly thankful to have been a part of such an important event. I don't think any of us actually realized how much we needed this night until that moment.
Deployments are already so difficult. The person who goes has to leave behind a piece of their heart and adjust to literally a new world for a while. And the people left behind have to take on the responsibilities of their loved one and simultaneously keep going about their lives, hoping and praying that the time will go by quickly until they are reunited. NewHallowThanksMas may sound ridiculous to a lot of people, but we needed it. Halloween is here, which means the Holiday Season is officially upon us - but I don't see this upcoming season as a bunch of holidays that I'm going to miss celebrating with my dude. Nope! We were just ahead of the game and celebrated in August.
