Christmas Break Wrap-up and Happy Epiphany!

I like this picture. It does a pretty good job of summing up my family. We're a very happy crew for the most part (see the genuine smile on my dad's face :) with a lot of fun thrown in (see my brother's face, not quite sure what emotion I'd put with it, but he tends to make this face a lot).

Christmas was wonderful. The week following Christmas was wonderful. New Year's Day and Eve were wonderful. So all in all, well it was a wonderful break and holiday :)

We like our traditions at my parent's house, but we are always up for new adventures. Chestnuts (as you can see above) was one of this year's exciting new adventures. Did you know it's quite the complicated process to actually "roast chestnuts"? Head over to The Art of Manliness (I know, it cracks me up too) to see how it's done. There are knives, fire and whole lot of shakin' going on :) At my house we didn't really have the patience to hold the campfire popcorn shaker over the fire for 25 minutes, so we cheated a bit and stuck them in a rotating popcorn maker on the counter instead. Maybe there's a secret recipe that makes chestnuts amazingly delicious, if so, we didn't have it. They were alright, very interesting, glad I've done it, don't really feel the desire to do it again.

We all (me, my parents, my 2 brothers, my sister and my brother-in-law) made the road trip out to see my sister in Lincoln, Nebraska on New Year's Day. She's a School Sister of Christ the King and they had a lovely Mass to start out the day and then all of the families of the School Sisters spend the day eating and playing games and catching up. It's such a joyous occasion and they are all such beautiful witnesses of Christ's love and joy.

I hope you all enjoyed your Christmas and New Year's. Happy Epiphany! I do love epiphany, by the way. We had a lovely tradition when I was growing up where we'd each get to be "king" for about 10 minutes. We had 10 minutes of ordering people around, being fanned, having people bring us food, whatever we wanted. My brothers tended to make us all play Nintendo, I suppose whatever makes you happy. Enjoy the celebration, and the weekend!



A Merry Thankful Thursday

Christmas is almost here! There's snow on the ground, there's an air of excitement everywhere, there's Christmas music on every station, cookies and candies fill every counter and we all wait in joyful anticipation for the birthday of the King.

I'm taking an extended holiday this year which begins the 23rd and won't bring me back to the office until the 3rd of January. It would be just a bit of an understatement to say that I'm excited about the time off, the time with family, Christmas in general. It should be a good week.

picture circa 2007

See this lovely crew? Well we all look a bit different now, but we'll all be together for the holidays :) Yep, we'll all end up in Nebraska over New Year's to enjoy the always amazing Family Weekend with the School Sisters of Christ the King. We'll get to spend some quality sibling time with our sister sister. It'll be a great week.

Alright, since it is Thursday and there is just so much to be thankful for without further adieu here's my Thankful Thursday list.

At this moment I am thankful for...

(1) The beauty of the Christmas. One of my favorite parts of Christmas is to see the churches decorated for the Lord's birth (see first picture). It's just beautiful and the focus is always where it should be, on Christ.

(2) Friends far and near. It's alway fun to get updates/pictures on faraway friends during this holiday season. It makes me aware of how blessed I truly am to have such wonderful people in my life.

(3) Family. We're a close crew and I'm eternally thankful for that. I'm thankful for my extended family as well, I am truly blessed to be loved by so many.

(4) The inspiration of others. There are so many amazingly talented and creative people out there and I love that I can go to craftgawker or pinterest or any number of other websites and share in their creative fun.

(5) A sweet boyfriend. I don't talk a lot about my boy on here, but he definitely makes the list this week. I'm thankful that I've been blessed with a good man who's made me part of his family, who listens to what I say, shares my faith and loves me. It's pretty sweet ;)

(6) The upcoming break. I'm looking forward to not having a lot planned, which mean lots of downtime, lots of games, good conversation and good ol' family time.

(7) Corny Holiday Movies. I love happy endings, in fact I tend to avoid movies that don't have happy endings, that's one of the many reasons that I love all the holiday movies on this time of year. They are all oh so predictable, but they're light, fun and always end, well, happily.

 

Merry Christmas Everyone!



Christmas Wishes

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I saw this quote and absolutely love it. It sums up the season's essence. Happy 10 days 'til Christmas!

 

"What is Christmas?  It is tenderness for the past, courage for the present, hope for the future.  It is a fervent wish that every cup may overflow with blessings rich and eternal, and that every path may lead to peace."

~Agnes M. Pahro

It's (almost) Christmas Time/Happy Advent!

Christmas is coming. Can you feel it? You can sure see it, but you could see it in early November. But now, now Advent has officially begun, December starts tomorrow and soon, all too soon we will be celebrating the birth of Christ :) I'm excited.

Last night I did a bit of decorating. Finally finished the above wreath (I got most of the ornaments in the post Christmas sales and the wreath base was from the lovely Dollar Tree). I've always loved ornament wreaths, but wanted to make sure to make one that was tasteful, not gaudy like many that I'd seen. I used a tutorial I'd found online to get me started (gotta love pinterest!) and now I have a lovely wreath :)

I've been all about "This Warm December" Christmas CD. I like the different twist on some of the old Christmas favorites and it's just a good mellow soundtrack to get you in the Christmas mood. Here's a little Rudolph love for all of you (from the CD):

I'm starting to put together a list of what I'm baking this year. I just love Christmas baking. There are just so many fabulous recipes and great twists on old recipes, it's just a lovely time to bake. Once I finalize things I'll share some of my favorite finds as well as my to bake list :) Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!