I feel like a kid again...

Christmas is less than a week away and everyday goes by so FAST I can barely believe it.

By the time I'm outta work it's already dark and cold as Antarctica - the last thing I wanna do is go Christmas shopping! All I can think about at this point is eating.

Thankfully, I got a lot of Christmas shopping done on Saturday. Since it was best friends birthday, she wanted to spend a good part of the day at Crabtree - which, if you know me, is not my kinda thing. I like the kind of shopping where you go in with a list and come out with everything on your list, no more and no less. I don't like to shop around or spend hours at the mall but it's something my best friend could live her life doing so I went.

Lets just say this, Crabtree the weekend before Christmas = a nightmare.

I love the holidays, don't get me wrong, but the ONLY thing I hate about this time of year is how greedy people can be. Pushing through the mall, people being impatient and angry, people strolling for parking spots like they're going to die if they have to walk more than five feet...I can't stand it.

I'm reminded what Christmas is about EVERYDAY when I walk in my room at work. All 17 of my four year olds run to greet me and proceed to tell me Santa's coming soon and it's gonna be Jesus' birthday! They're all so excited about all their family members coming into town. Everyday I hear stories about what family members are coming in when and where, if they're flying or driving, and of course, if they're bringing lots of presents. The looks on kids faces when they talk about Christmas and Santa, it's priceless. It's like when I'm at work I'm in a magical little world where I can't help but be happy because all my kids faces light up the second we start making Christmas ornaments or wreaths.

When it comes to Christmas, kids put all the magic back in it. All the talk of how Santa gets down the chimney and how he's able to eat every kids cookies ALL over the world. It makes me feel like a kid again and for once it feels nice.

Aloe, Onions, and Christmas Trees!

There are 8 million other things I need to be doing right now, like working on my portfolio for Ed Psych that's due in TWO days but instead I feel the need to blog...

1.

Christmas is FAST approaching and Mack and I just put up our very FIRST Christmas tree tonight!

It's a skinny little thing ain't it? It's our first tree so Mack says we gotta give it some slack, especially since my wonderful mother let us borrow it so we could then store it in her attic until Christmas next year, yay for Mom's who have massive attic space!

2.

The ornament shown at the very top was sent to us in the mail from Mack's little sister, Sunny, we loved it so much we had to put it as close to the top as possible so everyone could see it.

3.

Carley Sue isn't very happy with me at the moment. The Christmas tree is actually in the spot where her bed usually goes (hints why she's sitting so close to it now) and she was extremely mad that I chose to move her stuff and therefore proceeded to try and eat the Christmas tree once I got it up. What a baby.

4.

Mack got us this AWESOME magnet for our fridge from his sister Shawna - she made it. She also makes all kinds of other cool stuff (pictures, cards, etc.). Check her out peeps - http://www.etsy.com/listing/88539084/spread-joy-original-miss-lizzie (this is one of the MANY things she talented at!)

5.

Now, Mack's mama would be a proud mama if she could see this...

My aloe plant's gotten SO big it's taking over my counter - I love it though, it's not really liking being inside, but it loves my kitchen lights and continues to grow because of it. Thanks for all the aloe wisdom Mama Diana!

6.

All y'all out there who love some snacks, let me open your mind to something amazing...

Hello Trader Joe's. These things are the BOMB (and not bad for you may I ad). Mack and I ate whole bag the first day we got them and continue to love them. Thinking about them makes me hungry. Yummy.

7.

Last of all, this little man sitting in front of us at the last State football game had this shirt on and I'm in love...

LOVE IT!

Hope everyone's having a wonderful time decorating for Christmas!

What a crazy time of year.

a.

I can't believe it's December 7th - it's already exam time and Christmas break is finally in sight...

b.

I spent last week/weekend celebrating my birthday with the ones I love. Starting on Wednesday my family had lasagne for dinner and cinnamon pizza for dessert. Then it was back to focusing on the last week of school until Friday came.

d.

Friday was spent celebrating a friends birthday which was great. I spent all day at my parents getting all 100 (no joke) boxes of Christmas decorations down from the attic. After hours of that, mom and I set out on a shopping adventure.
Mack and I then turned around and spent Saturday night celebrating my birthday with my friends. (Note: Chili's doesn't take reservations, they do "call ahead seating" which doesn't do anything for you, my party of 12 had to wait for an HOUR before we got seated - psh!) Either way it was great to spend time with my friends.

c.

Sunday was spent with the Cooper fam celebrating my birthday yet again at the Bass Lake Ale House which has delicious food. We then went back to my parents to put up the Christmas trees and ornaments with my best friend. Once both 8 foot trees were up and one was fully decorated it was time to go to TSO. My parents bought the four of us tickets to go see it for Mack's birthday since he LOVED them last year. If you don't know what TSO is, you better learn, FAST, because they're the bomb diggity. Here's a video for you...

(they're still WAY better in person)

d.

The weekend finally ended sadly and now I'm full gear into two weeks of exams. I got my first exam out of the way today but I still have a portfolio due tonight, an exam Friday, and two portfolios due next week. Please pray for my sanity!

e.

Christmas is in sight which I'm thrilled for - the tons of Christmas shopping I have left to do, not so exciting, but it'll be worth it on Christmas morning when everyone opens their gifts and you see all the happy faces and family that you love.