I can’t believe another Christmas has come and gone. I feel like we just put up the Christmas decorations and now Christmas is already over. Next, the New Year!
I hope you all had a wonderful holiday with your loved ones. Also, thank you to everyone who sent me a message about my last post. I think depression and mental illness go unnoticed a lot and does not get talked about as often as it should. Hopefully I can change that a little bit on here! I have already heard from so many people who told me they were going through or had gone through something similar.
After being sick, I was ready for a week of baking with my mom, singing Christmas songs, watching Christmas movies, and spending time with my family. I am worn out from all this baking though. I honestly don’t think I will eat anything sugar-related until my birthday…January 10th. Haha! We made everything from gingerbread cookies, to puppy chow, to snowball cookies, and Christmas crack.
I can’t remember what I did day by day. So let’s just start with Friday. I went to Church in the morning with my mom for the Nativity Royal Hours. Then we went to work for a little bit. We came home early and I got ready to go babysit a sweet 1 month old baby!
Saturday morning consisted of lots of coffee and a trip to the grocery store for baking supplies and food for Tuesday dinner. Around lunch time I made a quick salad with lettuce, a veggie burger, tuna, sauerkraut, and avocado ranch. I needed a break from all the cookie dough tasting! I had flour ALL OVER my pants.
Saturday evening consisted of errands with my mom, Vespers at Church, and trying out a new taco salad at a new (to me) taco place! We also watched Elf that night as a family. My dad and I can almost quote the entire movie, it’s our favorite.
Sunday was Christmas Eve and began with a quiet and peaceful walk with my mom. When we got home, my entire family got ready for church. After church, we changed into comfy clothes, drank some alcohol, played games, and listened to Christmas music while we waited for my Grandpa and Julia to arrive.
I haven’t been drinking any alcohol lately so the below drink immediately made me sleepy. Haha!
When my grandpa and Julia arrived we all ate curry chicken, roasted potatoes, roasted brussel spouts, and watched National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation. This was my first time watching this Christmas classic! I got anxiety watching it because their house was so messy and their family was so crazy.
I couldn’t fall asleep AT ALL Christmas Eve night. I may almost be 22, but when it comes to Christmas Eve I am 5 years old again. I ended up falling asleep at 4 a.m and waking up at 4:30 again from my internal alarm. I tossed and turned until 5:30 a.m when I went downstairs to put the cinnamon rolls in the oven to rise. I went back upstairs and fell asleep until 6:30 and then decided to just get up and start making breakfast. I lived off coffee Christmas day.
The cinnamon rolls were as large as my head! My mom and I had to split one!
I used this RECIPE from Simply Taralynn to make cinnamon rolls and they were
“THE BEST CINNAMON ROLLS EVER!” – a direct quote from my entire family.
I ended up making cinnamon rolls, peanut brittle and apple pie from Taralynn’s blog. Every single recipe was seriously so wonderful and will become staples in my home at Christmas time!
After enjoying a nice breakfast as a family, we all opened up our stockings. I love stockings! My mom and dad always comes up with unique things to put inside.
This year was a little different for us. Normally we have a Christmas Eve midnight service at my church but the service was actually Christmas morning! After stockings, we all got ready for church.
Going to church on Christmas day was probably my absolute favorite service of the year so far. Being at church with my entire family, seeing so many people show up, it was just seriously wonderful! There was a certain excitement within the church. It was a wonderful reminder of what Christmas is all about! I know that is cliché, but I don’t care. I loved going to Church Christmas morning.
After church, we all headed home to open gifts! We turned on the Christmas music, made tea, and spent the next 2 1/2 hours opening gifts one by one. Just like the next person, I love getting gifts. But giving gifts is probably my favorite. I love the excitement on someone’s face when you give them a gift. I also love watching other’s open gifts and seeing what they got. Is Christmas the best or what? Like every Christmas at our house, many tears were shed. My family is all about the thoughtful and heartfelt gifts and this year was no different!
Also, I can’t wait to use my new camera! I feel like a real blogger now 😉 Thanks SANTA!!
I will treasure these Christmas memories all my life.
After gifts and a little cleaning up, we made our way to my cousin’s house for a big Christmas dinner! There must have been 40 people there. It was a mad house! But in the best way. Lots of love around! Barrett even came from his parent’s house. I hadn’t seen him in a week so you better believe I gave him the biggest hug. He even shaved off his beard!! He is modeling my new headbands in the below picture 🙂
After getting home from my cousin’s house, Barrett and I exchanged gifts. That man is the sweetest.
Once we exchanged gifts, we bundled up and headed to the ice skating rink together! I hope this become a tradition because it was so much fun. We invited my family to come along but they were pretty tired. It ended up being just a special date night between Barrett and I and I wouldn’t have wanted to end Christmas any other way!
After ice skating, we snuggled up and chatted about our weeks until I fell asleep. I love this guy!
The next morning I woke up and my mom and I went on a 3 mile run / walk. It felt good to push my body to run after taking some time off from being sick so much! After our run, I enjoyed coffee in my new coffee cup from Barrett’s parents while I ate some oatmeal.
I took a quick shower and got ready for another day filled with family! We said our goodbyes to grandpa and Julia (loved having them here!!) and said our hellos to my Aunt Kati, Uncle Rick, and cute cousins Trent and Lydia. The rest of the day was filled with the game Heads Up!, lots of laughing, wine, and a delicious “linner” (lunch and dinner?).
My mom made homemade lasagna (it was INSANE!), I made a ceaser salad, and we also enjoyed some warm bread dipped in olive oil.
I also made a homemade apple pie to serve with ice cream! Once again, I got the recipe from Simply Taralynn. That chick knows how to bake!
Look at that lattice! Thanks mom!
After we ate, we said our goodbyes to my family and Barrett and I headed out to do some errands.
The night ended with me editing pictures for this post while watching Gilmore Girls! I fell asleep around 9 p.m. since it was back to a 4:45 a.m. alarm clock for the gym today.
I hope you all had a wonderful holiday with your loved ones.
Thanks for stopping by the blog today. <3
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