Oh Christmas Tree

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree, how I already miss thee. That’s how the song goes, right? Ha! Well goodness, Christmas Break has come and gone and I can hardly believe it. I always look SO forward to the lazy and festive days of Christmas Break and was not disappointed this year. My break consisted of a whole lot of family time, Darin time, and some sweet adventures mixed in too.

You know, back in the day we used to wear matching tablecloths. And we were cool. Don't be jealous.

Pre-Christmas Adventures…

The beginning of Christmas break was full of sweet times with sweet friends. I am so thankful for the amazing people in my life!

Presents…

I was pretty proud of a few presents I gave this year. Typically I agonize over finding the perfect gift. I have said before that I wish “perfect” presents were just giving throughout the year when you find them in the moment instead of scurrying to find a perfect gift under stress. Annnyway, I digress.

In December I discovered a website called Treat, where you can design and personalize greeting cards. Because I LOVE giving and receiving cards so much, this was a seriously exciting discovery. I was so happy with how they turned out and am excited for another occasion to make some more! :)

Another gift I was excited (which actually led me to Treat) was creating a custom puzzle on Shutterfly for Darin. My family gets really into puzzles during Christmas Break (and then the interest quickly dies after) so when I discovered a website where I could custom make a puzzle I was SUPER excited. Again, I was so happy with how it turned out and Darin and I had a lot of fun (and were seriously entertained) piecing our faces together. Ha!

While the shopping and planning process was a little stressful, in the end I was pleased with all of my gifts and was super excited to give them!

Christmas Eve…

On Christmas Eve, we went to Louisville and celebrated at Nanny’s house. It always makes my heart so happy when everyone is together! It was SO nice to spend the day surrounded by some of my favorite blessings and so yummy to enjoy the fruits of my Nanny’s cooking labor. Yummy, I still think we need to invest in a restaurant called Nanny’s Homemade Cooking…or something like that. The day ended with attending Southeast’s Christmas Eve service, which was a family tradition growing up. I always savor those moments of learning and worshipping as a family…especially during Christmastime, as there is just something extra magical about that.

This SO Describes Us

So This Happened…Totally Unplanned

Christmas Day…

Christmas Day was by far my favorite Christmas so far…or at least my favorite “adult” Christmas. Goodness, it was so perfect. We slept in a little, were ridiculously spoiled by “Santa’s” generosity, enjoyed a yummy breakfast, and had fun giving and receiving gifts from each other. It was wonderful. Having all 6 of us together, enjoying a lazy and festive day together was just great. We watched movies, put together puzzles, saw Frozen (oh my goodness…new favorite movie!), and just enjoyed being all together. It was indeed a very Merry Christmas!

Enjoying My New Camera Lens

Wabash…

After celebrating with my side of the family on Christmas Day, we drove to Wabash to spend a couple days with Darin’s parents and celebrate with his side of the family. That was amazing! Except one little detail…I was strung out on drugs for most the time. That was not amazing. Ha! On Christmas night I woke up with my toe throbbing from an ingrown toenail. Having had these all my life, I got up and tried to work on it to relieve some of the pressure, however my efforts failed miserably and I was left nauseas, shaking, and in even more pain. SO, the search began to find a podiatrist that could see me that day. After calling every local podiatrist, we finally found one with an opening (by the grace of God!). I frantically hobbled around my room trying to pack, shower, and get ready to leave for Wabash immediately following the appointment. After excessively over packing, we got in the car and drove to the podiatrist…that’s when I realized what was about to happen. To spare you the details, the surgery was pretty awful. After 5 shots of Novocain and a lot of deep breaths, the surgery was over and I hobbled out sporting a new fancy shoe. I then literally went from mom’s car to Darin’s and we started a trip to Wabash.

After arriving to Wabash, we enjoyed dinner and sweet conversations with Linda and Paul (and I enjoyed the last few years of having a numb toe). It was GREAT to be with them and is always such a joy to just laugh and tell/hear stories. But then my medicine wore off and I was in a ridiculous amount of pain. Wow. No words quite do justice to the level of pain I was in…over a silly little toe. My goodness, who would have thought! After taking a Vicodin and some sleeping pills, I fell asleep and started day two of recovery. Whew, THAT was a rough day. Linda and Paul had planned a fun day of going to see Saving Mr. Banks and going out to dinner so around mid-afternoon, we headed out and started the day. That’s where the real fun began. Goodness, talk about a series of unfortunate events. 1. During the previews of the movie, the fire alarm went off 2. After evacuating the building and having nowhere else to go and it being cold outside, we walked to a Barnes & Noble that was close by 3. The theater reopened so we walked/hobbled back to the theater. At this point, I was in a ridiculous amount of pain from walking so much so decided to take a Vicodin. On an empty stomach. This was one of my worst life decisions to date. Not only did I fall asleep EVERYWHERE we went, I was extremely nauseous and faint for the rest of the night. People seriously probably thought I was on something (which I was) as I walked like a zombie from place to place and fell asleep anywhere I could lean up against. I do remember one kind woman giving up her seat while we waited for dinner…that was so kind I almost cried. Ha! The rest of the night was a continuation of a comedy of errors as I continued to fall asleep everywhere, be quite emotional, and hit my toe on a hidden toy right before I went to sleep. Oooooh, what a rough and painful day that was.

Thankfully, that day passed and the day that followed was so much better which was such a blessing since that was the day we celebrated Christmas with the rest of the family. The day was filled with so many sweet (and noisy) sounds as the kiddos played and explored their new toys. We had such a wonderful time being all together. Mmm, I love this family so much!

I remember {most} of the trip and remember vividly how selflessly and compassionately Darin served me. He was such a beautiful picture of selfless love and I am humbled to the point of tears as I think back to those rough days. I fell even more in love with this amazing man as I watched him so gently and compassionately love and serve me. Thank you for all you do to make me feel so loved, babe!

Lake Pickwick…

The day after we returned home from Wabash, we packed our bags once again and headed to Lake Pickwick. After talking to Linda back in the fall about the progress of her book, she talked about how much she needed a place to get away to focus and write. After SO enjoying our time at the lake back in the summer, we knew the perfect place and were more than happy to accompany her. Oh my goodness, words cannot even describe how perfect those days were. Our days consisted of sleeping in, reading, sleeping, reading, sleeping…you get the picture. And then when we were finished for the day, we ate dinner, played games by the fireplace, and drank hot chocolate. Seriously it was PERFECT. On our last full day there, it was actually warm enough to sit in the sunroom so we snuggled up with some blankets and sat outside and read. Ahhh, what I would give to have a few more of those days!

When trying to find some dates to go down to the lake, we realized that the most ideal time would be to go during the week of New Year’s Eve. Being the introverts that we are, Darin and I thought this was the PERFECT way to bring in the New Year. Ha! We laughed so hard at our anti-social but completely wonderful New Year “Celebration.” Due to the one hour time difference, we counted down (with our phones as we didn’t even have a TV) at 11:00 (12:00 at home) and then once again at our midnight (1:00 at home). Our big celebration consisted of sparkling grape juice, sharing some favorite memories of the year, and laughing at our completely unconventional but perfectly wonderful celebration.

 The rest of the break wrapped up with record breaking freezing temperatures (a whopping -26), lunch dates with sweet friends, and mental preparation for the semester ahead. It was an amazing break full of super sweet family and super sweet memories. I am so thankful.

We Don't Always Wear Denim…

But When We Do, We Match

 Celebrated Mom & Dad's Birthday