Southern Weddings

Cue the Christmas music, y’all. We’re HOME for Christmas!

Yes, we’ve left the Tar Heel state to spend the holidays with our family + friends at home. Since “home,” of course, is different for each of us, and so you can keep track of your favorite SW gals, we wanted to let you know where and how we’ll be celebrating this year.

Lara: Merry Christmas, y’all! On Christmas Day, my parents and I are boarding a plane bright and early to head for very snowy Vail, Colorado! We’ll meet my husband, Ari, in Ho Ho Hotlanta on a quick layover before we all fly out to the tiny airport in the snow. This is a very non-traditional Christmas for us. We usually all wake up early to open gifts together and mom makes cinnamon rolls. This year, we’ll be noshing on airport peanuts as the Delta sleigh takes us to a winter wonderland. In lieu of our traditional Christmas feast, my brother – who lives in Denver – is picking up sushi for everyone and meeting us in Vail. I just can’t wait for us all to be together and I cannot wait to kiss my hubs under the mistletoe! My 31st birthday (Ack! That sounds OLD!) is two days after Christmas. I plan to be flying down a black diamond as I celebrate this wonderful year. We’ll spend New Year’s Eve eating Mexican food at the base of Peak 8 and watching a slew of skiers slide down the mountain with torches as we ring in 2011. So much to be thankful for!

Emily: Per usual, I’ve traveled home to Connecticut for the holidays. Since both of my sisters are in school right now (one grad, one undergrad!) and I’m on the fabulously flexible SW-work-remotely plan, we’re able to give my Mom her one Christmas wish: having everyone (including new brother in law Cormac!), together for 10+ days. Poor John is only arriving today and leaving right after Christmas (the downside of starting a new job close to the holidays), but luckily for us, our families only live 5 minutes apart, meaning we’ll each get to spend time with the other’s family. I’ll also be heading to Maine for another Christmas with my extended family, and then — THEN — I will be heading to New York to meet up with John’s sisters and take in a viewing of the Martha Stewart Show!! I am quite possibly the world’s most ardent Martha fan, so this is a very big deal. A very merry Christmas, indeed!

Katharine: Kyle + I are shaking things up again. Like Thanksgiving, this is another one one of our first holidays together as a married couple, and we’ve again practiced the art of compromise and in-law juggling. While Kyle joined his classmates on a pre-holiday ski trip, I got to spend some one-on-one time with my Dad and siblings at our home in Virginia. After a few, too-short days at home, Kylie + I jetted off to visit the Gibler clan in Cincinnati, and have jam-packed our vacation with the annual Gibler Christmas party, movie night and lots of Mom G’s great cooking. I’m missing my family more than I thought, and I’m not sure if I’ll ever get used to not spending such a major holiday without them. (Married folks, weigh-in: does the dreaded holiday splitting ever get any easier?) In a few days, Kyle and I will be off to the Cape to ring in the New Year with our college friends. We’ll be thirteen-strong, and I can’t wait! (Pictures forthcoming.) It’s hard to believe it was exactly a year ago that Santa brought me a fiance for Christmas. Wonder what he’ll leave under the tree this year? Happy holidays to you and yours :)

Where are you spending the holidays, dear readers? Any awesome wintry traditions you’d care to share?

All images c/o Kristin Vining. See more on her blog here!