Christmas fun recap

I admit I haven't been in the Christmas spirit this year. The weather's been weird and my surgery left me cranky. I've been feeling a bit bittersweet about the fact that next Christmas will be different from all my other Christmases past (even though I can't wait for my first married Christmas with J). So I'm glad that I had yesterday and today to spend with my family the way we always do:

Kicked off the holiday by rocking my new Christmas jammies on Christmas Eve. They were cute AND comfy!

Forgive the smile, my face was still aching from wisdom teeth!

Christmas morning opened presents with the fam:

Dad rocking the Santa hat... that hat is like 20 years old!

My family loved the gifts that I gave them, even though they weren't incredibly extravagant. I'm blessed that my mom and dad are paying for my entire reception, so I told them not to get me anything special, but they didn't listen:

Two beautiful shirts, a LOFT gift card, and a Kindle Fire! I'm a lucky girl. Spent the rest of Christmas in my pjs watching movies with my mom, dad, and uncle. My brother had to work (apparently people still watch the news on Christmas Day?)

Today, my brother, mom and I hit the mall in search of good deals and a good meal! I hit the jackpot:

 

I bought an adorable red blazer from Marshall's (never ever find stuff there!) and two cute blouses from Old Navy. Then I went to Loft where my mom found me a great coral sweater for 4 dollars and a pair of black crop pants for work for 14! I also ended up getting a graphic tee and a pair of jeans from there as well.

Afterwards, the three of us ate at Maggiano's. The food was so yummy. At one point I just looked at the two of them and told them thank you. My family has taken such good care of me this week and I'm such a lucky girl to have them in my life.

Off to finish watching Love Actually. I hope all of you had a wonderful Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

I woke up this morning to the sound of my brother telling me to get up. I came downstairs in my new pjs that I received last night. Opened some fun presents with my wonderful family. All the while getting teased by my dad and my mom telling us to stop and smile. Just like every other Christmas for the last 20+ years.

Dad a few years ago, laughing at my brother's reaction to his gift. 

It blows my mind that this is the last Christmas that I will be spending this exact way for the rest of my life. This time next year, I will be married. J and I will be spending Christmas morning together. Waking up together and maybe starting traditions of our own. I absolutely cannot wait for that, but for right now I'm going to enjoy every single holiday filled moment of today. Starting with chowing down on some cinnamon rolls with my family.

I hope all my blog friends have a beautiful day today. Merry Christmas to all of you!

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Holiday music makes everything feel better...

I've come to this realization:

Nothing makes me feel better than jamming out to some holiday tunes. Except maybe a cuddle session with J. :)

My kiddos had resource all afternoon and I canceled my grade level meeting to give my team even more time to get stuff done before the holidays (my boss gave us a half day yesterday for the same reason!). Even though my throat feels like it's on fire, I decide to set my Pandora station on my phone to my *NSYNC Christmas station.

And wouldn't you know it? Even though I felt like poo all morning and was worried I would waste away the afternoon, I still got a ton accomplished. I have to give all the credit to the Christmas music. So here are some of my favorites that came on:

"Last Christmas" the Glee version. To be quite honest, all of the versions of this song rock, but this one is definitely my favorite.

"My Only Wish This Year" by Britney Spears. I totally danced around my filing boxes while listening to this one. I think if my VP had walked in she would have died of laughter for sure.

Yes, I know Chris Brown = major douchebag. But this became my favorite version of "This Christmas" before he let it be known that he is a class A jerk. Love some R&B Christmas songs for sure!

Okay, so the ENTIRE *NSync Christmas album is my go to holiday album. I actually need to download a copy, because my CD is so scratched some of the songs don't play. But "All I Want is You This Christmas" is the one that I always hit repeat on. Something about harmonies, the lyrics and the music just screams Christmas to me.

There you have it. Pandora totally knew that I've been bummed that Holly on SiruisXM has been straight up lame lately, so it came through and played my favorites. Now I still feel sick, but it's a happy sick! What are your favorite Christmas songs?

Where did November go?

Guys, my lesson plans are blowing my mind right now. Why? Because of the date on them: Lesson Plans Week of December 3rd. DECEMBER 3rd! What in the world? How on earth is it already December? Crazy!

But I must say, I'm extremely excited that it's December. Just like a lot of other people, this my absolute favorite time of the year. I'll even post a cheesy Christmas pic to prove it to ya.

Adorable right? My mom used to make us take these every other year until my junior year of high school. My mother is the queen of Christmas and I'm pretty sure she is exactly where I get my love of the season from. I mean, look at her Christmas tree:

Yep she's definitely where I get my love of Christmas from. I love Christmas music (my kids' thinking music at school last week was from the Nutcracker!). I love anything peppermint. I love baking. I love spending time with my family and giving them gifts. In fact, I kind wish I could them all their gifts right now, but I'll wait. :)

I'm really bummed that I had a massive headache all weekend and wasn't able to put up my Christmas tree with J. Hopefully we'll be able to do that tomorrow. I like going to his apartment and seeing the tree all lit up next to the window.

What's your favorite thing about December?