Christmas and New Year

*-+Happy New Year to all! I like the idea of the new year, not necessarily the idea of a new start but just the calm that is after the Christmas season but still having time off ;)

Here is a little about our month of December, holiday décor in home and what's to come in the new year...

December started with a trip to the tree lot for a little dinky tree for the girls ornaments on the loft. They liked it and I missed having a real tree for the past several years. We also had a snow weekend the next weekend. It didn't stick around but it was beautiful while it was coming down.

After we decorated...
             
                      
  
                 
 

  

John and I got to go to the ACC game in Charlotte...at least we saw them win that game.

We traveled to NC for my cousin Roxie's wedding and to celebrate Christmas with my family. It was a privilege to be a bridesmaid in the wedding party and to also have Christmas with my parents, aunt, uncle, brother, sister in law, grandma and little nephew!

The next weekend was already Christmas. We drove to see some special light displays here in Greenville and the girls met Santa for the first time. We just said Hi and took a picture, no reason to even bother trying to sit in the lap! Evie's babbling when she saw the lights was so stinkin cute. I'm so glad I got a video!

On Christmas Eve Eve (yes you read that right) we went to celebrate with John's parents, brother in law and sister. We had a great meal and of course fun with presents.

Christmas Eve was spent at church twice, once for service and once for Christmas Eve service. WE got such a treat at the 10:00 AM service when the choir, pianist, 3 violinist and 1 cellist played Handel's "Messiah". It was incredible.  That night I cooked my first festive meal for my own family and light candles and had a nicer than normal meal together.

Christmas Day came and so did Santa ;) After we opened Santa gifts and ate the traditional cinnamon rolls, we changed and went to JoJo's to see all our aunts, uncles and cousins. I ended up going and it worked out well. ( I was on call with work but never got called! yay!)

As we get into 2018, we look forward to another year with our family, having fun, taking trips, helping, serving and I will be going back to school. I said "never again" after nursing school but here we are. I start at Clemson University on Thursday to become a family nurse practitioner. Here's to hoping the next 2 years go smoothly as possible! I'm going part time at work, full time in school to get it over with ASAP ;) There are several reasons for this but mainly of course for my family.

Here's to productive, happy year!

December in review and a Little New Years

This is a timely post eh? More than half way through January and here comes a December review finally! I'll make it less late by adding in New Years too. Just for fun.

I certainly hope everyone had some joy in their Christmas and got to go to church for the uplifting festivities we find there. I'll never forgot the one Christmas I worked retail and I got to make it to one 1/2 sermon the entire month. It's amazing how empty that can leave you feeling. So now I cherish the time spent there every year. This year was the jackpot for being able to attend all things church because I was maternity leave!!! No excuses!

So we start December with decorating our home. John lit us the first fire of the season and we decorated the tree. A few days prior Ellie and I decorated our little "candy" tree in the play/guest room. I had been promising her to do that so we could do something special together. The first few weeks Evie was pretty fussy and often awake during the day so Ellie and I didn't get a lot of time together.

My girl mom dreams came true with dressing my kids alike for the first time with much more to come...

Evie turned 1 Month on the 5th of December! Through that month she was a good eater-very consistent, woke appropriately-every 2 hours on the dot basically-at night and was very alert during the day. Funny thing. Ellie was always zonked out during the day as a baby and was so tiny (still is!) but Evie is just the opposite. I kinda like these differences which make them their own person. They are starting to look alike more. The same eyes and ears-but Evie has my side of the familys skin tone and hair color I think.

We made peppermint cookies to 1) take to the police officers in our town to show a little appreciation and gosh they were so nice. They gave Ellie a little stuffed animal as soon as she walked through the door and they thought I was dropping Evie off. True story. I said ah no. Just here to drop cookies off...Merry Christmas! and we booked it out. You know police stations are great but they aren't meant to give you the warm fuzzies...

Ellie fell in love with the reindeer in our front yard.

Christmas crafts and a chilly visit to the church playground

We went to our local Christmas parade. It was super cold that morning but we bundled up and had a good time. I've never seen so much candy at a parade. They gave out other little things too. Ellie got the cutest little doll that I remember from the Happy meal toys from when I was little! I know it because I still have one from that collection! After the parade I took the girls to the Christmas Market to finish some shopping.

The last weekend before Christmas we went to Asheville to see the Christmas light display at the Arboretum. We also ate at a German restaurant before that and it was so good. Brought back all the good feels about Germany.

These are just some really sweet pictures from various days.

We made more Christmas cookies and my OCD really shined bright. I had to take deep breaths and try not be a complete control freak!

Christmas weekend was so fun. We went to a wedding on Christmas Eve, then to church and then to John' parents house for dinner and gift exchange.

On Christmas day Santa came (duh) and after we quickly looked at presents and played a little we went to church to sing Christmas hymns. After church we went straight to John's grandmothers and had lunch with family. John still had two more days off after this which was awesome.

Fast forward a few days to New Years weekend and my parents, brother and sister in law came to visit and have Christmas! We had a great time and I tried to hang while everyone was here. I caught some sort of nasty stomach virus (I blame you YMCA!) and woke up feeling bad Saturday morning. Thankfully my mom stepped in to help with food and we all still really enjoyed it all. We ate, opened presents, watched football and played cards. Thankfully my parents stayed another day which helped out a lot since I was still not feeling great.

I went back to work the following Sunday and it was a good start back. I'm part time now so only 2 shifts a week but its enough. I treasure this time with my kids and I'm glad I have the option to just work part time at this moment.