fab4's christmas extravaganza

Every year, the fab4 hosts an annual secret santa gift exchange. Some years we include others, but for the past two years it has just been the 4 of us. Last year, we went to Reston Town Center, had Clyde's for dinner, and exchanged secret santa gifts at the restaurant. After, we took pictures by the Christmas tree and other trees in RTC.

This year, however, we elaborated on our Christmas festivities a little. First, we went to Julia's house to take pictures by her Christmas tree and other decorations.

While we were there we called ahead to PF Changs (where we were having dinner), and they informed us that it was going to be about an hour and a 45 minute wait. We didn't believe them, so we headed to Fairfax Corner. Sure enough, we waited in the front of PF Changs for about an hour and a half to be seated. Since this was the first time the fab4 had been together since Thanksgiving, we had lots to talk about so the wait didn't seem too bad. Except for the fact that we were all STARVING.

At about 7:50 we finally were seated. We quickly looked over the menu and decided on the the 3 dishes we wanted to split. Chicken Lo Mein, Crispy Honey Shrimp, and Mandarin Chicken. YUM! To keep our minds off of just how hungry we were, we decided to do secret santa while we were waiting. This year was great because we had NO IDEA who any of each other had. Last year there were a few cheaters in the group (Katie and Julia). As it turned out, this year I had Kelsey, and Katie had me! I got the softest teddy bear from Brookstone holding a Dooney and Bourke wallet/key ring. It was perf. Thanks again KZ!

Pretty shortly after we opened presents and guessed who our secret santa was, the food came. We ate in aboutttt 2 minutes. Funny how you wait 2 hours to eat and then spend only 2 minutes eating. At any rate, we can all admit that the food was delish, the gifts were adorable, and the company was the best of all!

After dinner we were planning on going outside and taking outdoor pictures in front of the Fairfax Corner Christmas tree for tradition sake. However, we were all in skirts and dresses and the weather was FREEZING with the gusty winds, so we nixed that idea real quick. We ran to the car, Katie and Julia in flats and Kelsey and I in heels (struggling). So typical.

Finally we made it to the car, which was parked in probably the farthest place possible from PF Changs...convenient. We all just couldn't wait to throw on some sweats and bake, bake, bake!

This year, we were baking Christmas cookies for the homeless. We made Christmas trees, snowflakes, wreaths, candy canes, stockings, etc! Soooo many sugar cookies.

Clearly the sugar got to us and resulted in endless laughter and craziness. KZ and I are to blame for that mayhem. We had snuck just a little too much cookie dough, and had a few laugh attacks (to say the least) that resulted in tears for KZ and rolling on the floor laughter for me. Times like these are the ones I live for though. I don't think any of us laugh like that with ANYONE else. I love my best friends!

MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM THE FAB4!!!!