Christmas Recap

MERRY CHRISTMAS....even if its a couple of days late!! I hope all of you had a simply wonderful Christmas spent with family and celebrating the true reason for the season. I thought that I would take a post and recap my Christmas.....or more of my December break:)

December for us is always full of parties, multiple Christmas celebrations, traveling, and spending time with friends and family. Needless to say we are busy from the start of December till the new year. On that note, I suppose the business accounts for my lack of planned posts during the break...ugh....but have no fear I am planning on taking TONS of pictures while our family is in Branson Missouri this next week and hope to have a number of posts up in the new year (fingers crossed!). 

Every year we either host or co-host a Christmas party with some of our good friends. This year we co-hosted a fabulously fun Christmas party with lots of laughter, the annual White Elephant gift exchange, cookie decorating, and catching up with friends that are home from college. The Christmas party was also an "ugly Christmas Sweater" party! However, I opted out of wearing a Christmas sweater as a number of us at the party were planning to attend a Barn Dance that evening ...unfortunately it was canceled due to rainy weather. Nonetheless, the party was a blast!

I couldn't have a recap of my break without mentioning the most anticipated movie that every homeschooler and geek alike has counted down the days till it finally came out.....the new STAR WARS movie!!! I might not be as big of a fan as my best friend, but that didn't keep me from wearing my Star Wars shirt and going to the drive in with three of my best friends! Yes....we have a drive in movie theater ten minutes from our house and it is the COOLEST thing ever.....especially since they play swing dance music before the movie starts:) 

Next up on our agenda for December was our first Christmas celebration (we have 4 in total) at our grandparents (my mom's parents) house in town. That is always a fun day spent with my uncle's family, two cousins, and our grandparents. We always pitch in to cook a big lunch of chicken fried steak, chicken fingers, mashed potatoes, broccoli and cheese casserol, and much more. 

Our second Christmas Celebration is the one with my Dad's side of the family holds on Christmas Eve night in my dad's small hometown. Ever since I can remember this Christmas celebration has been one that me and my siblings look forward to every year with all of the memories and traditions that it holds. We first attend Christmas Eve service at the small Lutheran Church in town (that my dad went to growing up). Then we come back to the house to head a HUGE dinner, take pictures, have our annual gift exchange, have a white elephant game, and then finally play our annual game of BINGO well past 12:00am!!! It is a BLAST!!

Do you recognize this dress? This is my eShakti dress from my review two posts back. I thought it would make a fabulous Christmas dress and it absolutely did...even if my hair managed to somehow be "Downton Abbey" inspired and my dress emulating the 50's :)

I don't think I have ever shared a family picture with you all before so here it is!

Left to right: Taylor (youngest), Me, Dad, Mom, and Hunter (middle sibling).

Oh, and this is my Paw Paw (my dad's dad). He is 96 years old and even at such a distinguished age he still runs the family farm raising cattle, goats, and sometimes chickens.....he truly is an inspiration! 

Remember me mentioning our annual BINGO game....well these are our retro BINGO cards that my Granny Minnie collected many, many years ago! You can play bingo.....but when you play with retro bingo cards it makes it 10x's better:) 

Last but not least is our own family Christmas which we celebrate late in the afternoon on Christmas day. Our family Christmas is not much of an elaborate affair, but always memorable just the same. We always start with our stockings (my personal favorite) and then open our presents from everyone! After our own festivities at home are done, we usually head over to my grandparents again to spend the evening visiting or watching a movie. 

We actually got new stockings this year from World Market and they are the cutest things ever!

Our last Christmas celebration is the one with my Mom's side of the family (which I will unfortunately be missing this year) which will be held in January.

I couldn't help but share my Christmas Recap with you all and hope that your Christmas was just as wonderful. Apart from our many parties and Christmas celebrations I usually spend my favorite holiday watching LOTS of Hallmark Christmas movies (I probably watched close to 10...some for the 2nd and 3rd time), listen to Christmas music (though not enough and I regret not getting out my Christmas records), shopping here and there, and baking (though not enough for my taste....see what I did there!). Nonetheless, the Christmas season is one to cherish for the memories, celebration of Jesus's birth, and time spent with family. 

To close....you know you live in Texas when you can wear shorts and flip flops on Christmas day....yes our Christmas weather was 70 and 80 degrees. I am thoroughly missing the cold, but hope to get plenty of it in Branson this next week!

MERRY CHRISTMAS (a day or two late) and HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

What are some of your Christmas traditions?

Did you travel anywhere?

What was your weather like?

- Madison