Christmas 2023

Our Christmas was a little different this year.  Saturday, we went to lunch with my parents and then they came over to exchange gifts. Here I am with my parents:

A cute photo of my girls with my dad.

Gosh, it was so good to have my girls at home and laughing with them.  Isabella brought home this karaoke mic she got at a Christmas gift exchange and it proved to be a lot of entertainment.

Instead of spending Christmas Eve and Day with my side of the family, we went away to an Air BNB for 2 nights.  We just needed to do something different this year.

It was a cute place.

They had a tree, which I realize here it looks like only the top lights were working, but maybe I hadn't plugged in the bottom strand when taking this picture, but they did all work :).

This was where the girls slept.

Aw, there are the lights on the tree!

This was our snack collection....some chex mix, cookies and Jingle Jangle.

If you haven't tried Jingle Jangle, this is a picture inside the tin.

I made some Christmas punch.  I tried to get all no sugar drinks, but it still tasted good!  The recipe is 2 cups of cranberry juice, 2 cups orange juice, 1 cup ginger ale and 1 cup of pineapple juice. It taste really good! I made a few batches during our 36 hour get-a-way.

Since we were in Arkansas, they had the game "Hogopoly" in honor of the Arkansas Razorbacks. We played this along with a few other games.

I had made a french toast casserole in advance I brought, but my girls didn't really like it, so I probably won't do this again.  They like french toast, but have an aversion to anything called a casserole.  How did I raise these southern girls and they don't eat a casserole??

I also had made some cinammon roll muffins.

Christmas breakfast was fruit, muffins, french toast, bacon and eggs. I brought the Santa plates to use for Christmas day and Christmas pattern paper to use as placemats.

There was lots of relaxing, a little bit of tv, playing games, sitting around the firepit and time in the hot tub.  We watched the movie "Daddy's Home 2", which has become something we have done the past few years.  It is a funny Christmas movie if you need a new movie to watch next year with the family.

Even though it was different, it was so nice to unplug and have fun together.  Our family needed this.  We left Christmas Eve afternoon and came back the day after Christmas.

It is a New Year.  While I am thankful to see 2023 leave, in full honestly, I am also approaching this new year with some nervousness, anxiety and anticipation of what's to come.  2023 was the hardest year of my life so far.  I don't have it in me to do a recap, yet I do want to acknowledge the Lord has been near, even in the silence of waiting.  I am a stronger person than I was this time last year.  I know whatever 2024 brings, I will make it.  I am thankful for this community and prayers from friends.

Christmas at Work

 Christmas is a busy time at work for our organization because we host a toy drive at the hospital and a few other events.  Today, I am sharing some pictures from those events and our office decor.

My co-worker and friend I share an office space with is pretty firm on not decorating for Christmas until after Thanksgiving.  I honored her request, but then we did decorate our space to make it festive for the month.

This is my desk...

This is the tree in our space.  The other desk you see is my co-workers.  We have another tree in our entrance area.

This is the view from my desk, which is pretty simple with garland and lights and stockings.

This is in our conference room area.

We did a gift exchange among my co-workers and this Trader Joe's chocolate was one of my gifts.

Earlier this month, we partnered with the hospital and provided breakfast for families at the children's hospital and there was an appearance by Santa, the Chick-fil-A cow and others. I recruited Brook to come help serve.  Here I am with 3 of my co-workers (one was off this day).

Brook and I :)

With Santa and the cow 

Brook came back to the office with me and volunteered for the rest of the day, so it was fun to have her at work with me.

Last night, we had our annual toy drive and served dinner to families at the hospital.  It was a 12 hour day for me, but it was a good day.

This is a snapshot of serving dinner.  I am standing in the green sweater talking to a family who speaks Spanish.  I was basically trying to tell them I don't remember much of my Spanish!  My husband and daughter are in the picture and they came to help serve because we needed extra volunteers tonight. 

 

In another room down the hall, we distributed approximately 1000 gifts for kids in the hospital and their siblings.  

There is so much hurting at this time in so many ways.  Seeing the hurt of families in the hospital is one of those things and I am humbled to be able to be a small part to serve these families.  

I am wishing you all a Merry Happy Christmas weekend!  

 

Hello Monday ~ December 18, 2023

 

Good Monday morning!  Here we are a week away from Christmas.  It is still a work as usual week for me until noon on Friday, but I am still looking forward to the week.  

Last Friday afternoon, Brook and I went to my sister's house to help because she is keeping 4 of her grandchildren this weekend, so those are 4 of my greats.  Here I am with 3 of them and I love getting hugs and playing with these kiddos.

My sister is such a fun grandmother at the age of 56! She was hosting an Elf movie party for the kids that night, so we helped her with the decorations.

Friday night, we walked to the lake in our neighborhood to see the Christmas lights along the water.  The only thing better than seeing Christmas lights is seeing them being reflected in water.

Saturday morning, I wrapped the girls presents because neither of my girls were home.  I wrapped while watching the Hallmark movie "Christmas at the Biltmore". This is my favorite Hallmark Christmas movie of the season so far!

Saturday afternoon, I worked on tagging coats.  My sister and I are hosting a coat drive for the 3rd year in a row in memory of my great nephew, Callaway.  We have 76 coats collected and we will deliver them to 2 schools today.  This is such a joy to do!

Sunday, I went to church and we had a church Christmas dinner that evening.  It is always good to be with my church family.  

I always enjoy the weekend to get caught up on reading blogs, listening to podcasts, going through emails, laundry and watching Hallmark movies. 

Hope your weekend was good and enjoy your Monday festivities!

Hello Monday ~ December 11, 2023

Happy Monday to you!  I feel like the time from 11/11 to 12/11 has gone by so fast.  The next few weeks are full with lots of little things in addition to normal schedules.  2 weeks from today is Christmas!

On to the recap of last week and last weekend.....

My in-laws were in town last week from Tuesday through Saturday.  My mother-in-law went with me to a women's Christmas gift exchange with ladies from our church.  It was a fun night!

That is my mother-in-law on the far left, another friend from church, one of my best friends and then me. I made a few holiday goodies while my in-laws were in town. I am repurposing Jingle Jangle tins!

Candied pecans & M&M/Rolo/Pretzel bites

Crustless egg/sausage/cheese casserole

Chocolate Chip M&M's

(this was a mix and I just added the festive M&M's)

This was dinner the night they arrived.  Turkey sausage with BBQ sauce, Pimento cheese, cheese, apples, sourdough bread, crackers and pita chips.  

Saturday morning, my in-laws left and Brook and I went to a birthday party for 2 of my great nieces.

These sweet sisters turn 1 and 3 this month.

My great nephew came dressed up and told me he was playing a news reporter :)

Brook and another precious great niece.  She is almost always smiling, but was a little overwhelmed with all the people at this party.

All 4 of those girls are some of my great nieces.  They are all so cute and sweet.

Saturday night, my husband and I went to hear some live music at an event in memory of a friend of ours who passed away this summer.  It was fun to hear music and see old friends.  This was next to a famous building that has pretty Christmas decorations.

Did y'all see the official Christmas photo of William & Kate?  I love seeing these!

I kept the nursery Sunday at church then relaxed, watched a Hallmark movie and washed some clothes before getting ready for a new week.

Thanks for reading and enjoy your day!

Currently ~ December 2023

Good morning!  I am linking up with my friend, Jennifer, for this month's Currently series.

We are focusing on what we are loving, gifting, wrapping, hoping and attending.

Loving

I am loving all the twinkling lights in my house and seeing lights in yards.  I love hearing Christmas music in the car and in stores this time of year.  

    

Gifting

I have been buying lots of Christmas gifts!  I finished all my shoppping, with the exception of one co-worker gift I need to purchase before next week.  I don't have a long list of people I buy for anymore and with a tighter budget this year, my shopping was 99% done online.  I can only think of 1 thing I bought at a store!  I buy for my husband, daughters, parents and in-laws.  As much as I adore those greats, I have 8 of them, so it gets expensive to buy for them all.  I try to give them little random gifts throughout the year instead.  

Wrapping

I have wrapped only 2 gifts so far.  My in-laws are in town visiting this week & we will celebrate Christmas early with them, so these are their gifts.  Honestly, I am nervous to wrap anything else for under the tree becasue I think our dog will get into them. So, this may be my first year to not put any gifts under the tree.  

Hoping

I am hoping to have a peaceful, fun Christmas get-a-way with my family.  I am hoping we have a time to re-connect with each other and disconnect with phones.  I am always excited to give my girls Christmas gifts.  They picked out 99% of what they are getting, but it is still fun to wrap and see them open gifts! 

Attending

Tonight, I am attending a women's gift exchange with ladies from my church.  This weekend, I have a birthday party to attend for 2 of my great nieces who are sisters, turning 1 and 3!  Other than that, my schedule is pretty light.  

Have a great afternoon!