"Christmas Eve is coming soon and I can hardly wait!"

I have been spending a lot of time at my Uncle Mark and Aunt Liz's because my dorm is closed for the holidays. Both Luc and Landry are so excited for Christmas. I downloaded 2 iPhone apps they can track and call Santa on. The Santa tracker also has a naughty and nice list I can personalize so they generally flip back and forth between the two lists depending on their daily behavior. I think these apps rock! There's also an online Santa tracker called NORAD that's pretty groovy too. If you have little kids, check it out! I have to brag on Luc and Landry for a second because those kids do a great job of remembering why we celebrate Christmas. They constantly remind me Jesus' birthday is Christmas and that we are baking him a cake. They can't wait to celebrate the true meaning of Christmas

I finally finished all my Christmas shopping both online and in store. I have a few more I need to get but I won't see those people until after Christmas so I'm not stressing over it.

Working in retail gets stressful this time of year because everyone's emotions are heightened. I had a guy come in the other day to Gymboree that was just the sweetest and he just cried like a baby explaining who his gifts were for. He was purchasing gifts for what would be his brother's grandchildren but his brother never got to meet them. He's been filling in for the grandpa role for his brother in his absence. It broke my eighteen year old heart. May God bless all those with heavy hearts this Christmas and be the Great Comforter that only He can be.

Traditions

I spoke breifly on traditions yesterday, but I wanted to touch more on those in this post because I think having traditions is really important. Keeping those traditions is even MORE important.

Our traditions in a nutshell are:

Christmas Eve- We normally spend Christmas Eve at Grammy and Popey's. We used to eat seafood but because 2/4 grandchildren don't care for/are allergic to it, we now eat Mexican Food. We also open presents on Christmas Eve as a family with the amazing Uncle Mark passing out presents. '

Christmas Tree- Our Christmas tree is filled with Hallmark Keepsake Ornaments collected over more years than I've been alive, homemade ornaments made by Brent and I, and ornaments from our travels/special events we attended. Every ornament has a meaning on that tree and that's probably what I love the most.

Cut-out cookies- Mom, Brent and I also usually make homemade cutout sugar cookies. They are lovingly frosted with homemade icing by us as well. It is always such a fun evening and they make delicious treats for days to come.

What are your Christmas traditions?!

"It is Christmas in the heart that puts Christmas in the air." ~W.T. Willis

Hey Christmas....

how did you get here SO QUICKLY?? I feel like I was just celebrating this holiday last week!

Next to Summer, Christmastime is my most favorite time of year. If you know me IRL, you know that I detest cold weather. I've said so on this blog many a day. I do, however, LOVE Winter clothing. I think it is cute and cozy. I also love being snuggled under a fleece blanket watching television in my fleece Winter pajamas.

When I was a little girl, we used to watch the Mara Wilson version of Miracle on 34th Street and hang Christmas ornaments on the tree with our mom. Brent and I love Christmas traditions and make every effort to keep them.

I went home last weekend for the first time since the beginning of October. I love going home but am always very sad to leave. Once I get back to college, I'm happy as can be again though. While home, I ate with my family at my favorite Mexican food restaurant, got my Christmas card picture taken, ate lunch with friends, wrote an essay, saw my step-sister and her children and went to church. It was a jam packed weekend filled with lots of fun and chaos. Luc and Landry's Christmas Concert for school was last night. It was only 30 minutes but it was really cute! It brought back so many memories for me, both good and bad. Above they are with Uncle Mark and Aunt Liz below then their singing Santa Clause at their house. Gotta love them

Clearly I’m a little behind

It’s been a really chaotic few weeks in my life with school and work. I spent 2 weeks working over 40 hours per week and juggling school and it almost killed me. I did nothing but study and work at two different Gymboree stores. I love working at other stores but not during school. Actually, when I did it in high school it was a lot easier than it has been in college. I’m slowly but surely discovering the differences between high school and college. High school seemed to spread things out over the semester pretty evenly and I feel like college has some really slow weeks and then some weeks that are jam-packed with stress and very little sleep. I’m working hard to figure out how to make those jam-packed weeks more bearable. I think by next semester I’ll have things figured out a little better as far as planning and allocation go.

Finals are coming up starting Monday, December 13th and I’m not too worried but more so nervous because I don’t know what to expect. I’m going home this weekend to Houston because I actually got a weekend off. Thank God. I just need a breather. It will be a whirlwind but I anticipate enjoying it.

I’m nixing my thirty day challenge because those things just aren’t me. I can’t religiously write on different topics. I think they are wonderful lists of prompts to get to know others, but I have a hard time doing them and better yet, keeping up with them. If you would like me to write about something off of the list I previously posted, just put your request in my comments and I’ll be glad to do a post for you :)

I had a lovely Thanksgiving with my grandparents, aunts and uncles. I stayed with my grandparents and drove 1 hour 45 minutes to get to work for almost a week. That was totally exhausting. My mom, stepdad and brother stayed in Houston because my brother had to work on Black Friday as I did. I missed having them at my grandparents because we all usually go there every year.

Aunt Liz carving the turkey                  Uncle Mark and Popey on the back porch

My cousin Alyssa (Uncle Mark’s daughter), Grammy, me and Popey

The more than gorgeous sunset at Grammy and Popey’s <3

I hope you and yours had a more than blessed Thanksgiving! Tell me what you did or at least how you’re doing! I’ve missed y’all!