I’m excited to share these photos from our Christmas last week. As usual, we celebrated at my parents’ house in Connecticut.

I bought the four matching mugs below for Christmas last year (thank you Target), and it was fun to use them again.

The pups are the focus of our attention, and we wouldn’t have it any other way. This was Oscar’s first Christmas with us so we spoiled him rotten.

My sister was delighted to receive this pet carrier so she can hold Oscar hands-free.

As I’ve shared on here, my sister is quite crafty. She made the “roam” artwork below:

My dad loves his new travel coat from Scottevest, a company I’ve admired for years — they make vests and jackets with lots of pockets and security features that are ideal for travel.

A lantern mom received for sunset beach picnics at the Cape:

Here’s little Oscar, chilling by the “fire” with his new stuffed friends:

Missy doesn’t like playing with toys so there are less gift options for her, but she loves her new sweater. I also gave her extra cuddles (on a daily basis) and that always makes her happy.

Around lunchtime I ran over to our old church in the center of town to volunteer at the community luncheon. I’ve wanted to do this for years but our day is usually full between opening gifts and spending the afternoon with my grandma. Since Grandma passed away last month, I decided to use that time helping out at the community meal. I assisted with clean-up; there were lots of hands and the work went by quickly. I don’t have any photos but it felt good to give back, even in a small way.

In the evening we went for a walk in downtown Wallingford. It was wonderfully quiet and still.

My mom whipped up a fantastic dinner of stuffed shrimp with brussels sprouts and spinach.

And her apple cranberry crisp is one of my favorite desserts. It’s a tad healthier than all the cookies we’ve been eating all week… though we had plenty of those, too.

After dessert we played some of the new games we received for Christmas. Our family loves board games and we look forward to adding new ones into rotation each year.

Just before bed I snapped photos of the gifts I received from my generous family members. These are all the books on my reading list, so I’m now set for 2016.

My sister found this great globe at HomeGoods. The candle is from Rayne Home Decor; I am obsessed with their Java Buzz scent. The world map mug is from ThinkGeek; it’s heat-sensitive and changes color when there’s hot coffee inside.The camera mug and pouch are from a store in Stockbridge, MA.

My sister got this beautiful map for me from the shop Vintanthromodern in New Haven and then commissioned a calligraphy specialist at Glitter & Bold to write this quote. I LOVE the final product:

I asked for this necklace from Modcloth. Isn’t it beautiful?

And the gift I’m most excited for is this backpack from PacSafe — it replaces the old PacSafe backpack I’ve been using since 2012. My old model was really beat up and I’m thrilled to upgrade to this new one.

It’s even got a pretty map on the inside laptop pocket:

And that officially wraps up Christmas 2015. But I don’t otherwise have a post to recap miscellaneous moments in December, so I’ll share just a few of them below…

I think the highlight of my entire month was finally seeing Hamilton on Broadway. I bought my ticket back in June and had been counting down the days!

And guess what? It totally lived up to the hype, even though I’ve been listening to the cast album (which is 99% of the show) non-stop since it was released in late September. The visuals — staging, choreography, acting — were all a surprise, and they added so much to a show I was already in love with. I started weeping in the last song and was practically bawling by curtain call. I loved this experience so much.

I saw lots of shows in NYC this past month — ten, to be exact — and I will recap them soon. But here are some of the meals I ate while in the city — I love The Little Beet near Radio City because it’s so healthy and reasonably priced (their lentil avocado side dish is SO good). My friend Sarah introduced me to Mimi’s Hummus near Union Square; we both got the hummus and falafel special with red wine. And I tried Capizzi near Port Authority for dinner one night and their pizza is fantastic.

Here’s a few more photos of my favorite pups, Oscar and Miss Bijou:

Here they are perched in chairs opposite my dad’s desk at work — we call this one the “bored meeting.”

Sunset on my evening walk in mid-December:

My family spent a whole Sunday baking cookies this year — we haven’t done that in ages, and it was really fun. We made butter balls, maple cookies, spritz, iced sugar cookies, and peanut butter cookies with Hersey Kisses.

My sister and I stopped by to visit Phyllis, a long-time family friend, and then later that day visited our cousin Terry for dinner. They both got to meet Oscar for the first time.

Oh, and this is Oscar’s “school” photo (taken by me, photoshopped onto that background by my sister):

I love visiting my cousin Elena and her family, so it was great to spontaneously meet up for dinner one night.

Lots of fun memories this December.

And another month year bites the dust… see you on the flip side!