Here’s a look at some of my favorites…
1. Christmas card pictures: in case you missed it I shared our behind the scenes look at our attempt to capture some Christmas pictures. In my mind it would have played out very differently but such is life with two little nuggets. We sure did make some fun and interesting memories along the way.
2. Florida: last weekend my mom and I headed off to Orlando for a quick trip to celebrate my youngest brother’s graduation. It’s official, all 5 of us kids have completed our bachelors. I love this picture of the three of us but some weird glare made it look like we’re coming out of Glinda The Good Witch’s bubble on the Wizard of Oz. Anyone know what I’m talking about? Anyway, we were cracking up at something that was said and this silly moment was captured. It would have been great to have all 5 of us together but my other brother and sister couldn’t make it out.
We escaped the Northeast snow just in time to enjoy that beautiful warm sunshine. Eric sent me pictures of what it looked like back at home all covered in snow. I was a tad jealous when I saw he got to make a snowman and have a snowball fight with the nuggets. I’m pretty sure this won’t be the last of the snow though.
I on the other hand enjoyed every minute or wearing short sleeves, lay out by the pool, and getting a game of volley ball in. Our flight was delayed almost 4 hours coming back, but thanks to United texting me beforehand, there was no sitting around and waiting at the airport going on over here. Instead, we went out for dinner and drinks and got to spend even more time with my brother. I’m still questioning why we don’t live in a warmer climate?!
3. Christmas baking: I got to enjoy a day of baking with my mom and sister and our little helpers before they went to bed. Our chocolate covered pretzels and homemade soft peanut brittle have been a big hit so far. I picked up these adorable little containers at the dollar tree to give our goodies in. I just love a good dollar store find. And how cute did our cookies come out?!
We’re hoping to be able to put a day aside each year to do all of our baking together. And yes, matching PJs will probably be involved. My sister and I wanted to take some pictures and told my mom to come over and join us. She disappeared for a few minutes and then popped up with her hair done, full face of makeup on, and some festive scarf around her neck. My sister and I were dying. We weren’t thinking of having some all out photo shoot but she went and took it to a whole other level. We were laughing so hard tears were streaming down our face which lead to an emergency bathroom run taking place. What can I say, two kids later and my bladder just isn’t the same.
4. Christmas shopping: I tried my best to get most of shopping out of the way early this year and I’m happy to say I felt very accomplished and not overwhelmed this season. I was able to cross a lot of things off of my list by Thanksgiving but there’s always those few last minute things. I took the nuggets out with me one night and while we were in Homegoods A yells, Momma that’s the biggest nutcracker I’ve ever seen! He was so excited and this thing really was huge. Passing up a magical photo like this wasn’t an option. Sorry for standing on your display, Homegoods.
Even the nuggets got involved this year and A was very adamant about wrapping his gifts for his friends and trying to write his name on the labels. Somehow in the midst of wrapping I got bows stuck on my head and little nugget couldn’t resist joining in on the fun. It made things 10 times longer and we probably got 4 gifts done but seeing them want to get involved and teaching them about giving to others was well worth it.
