Happy Friday Everyone!
Can you believe Christmas is almost here? I am taking the next 2 weeks off to spend with my family, so this will be my last post of the year! Also, I know I usually exchange Christmas cards with some of you and thank you so much to those of you that sent me one. This year did not work out for me to send cards, but I will enjoy the ones I receive so much!
One – Autumn’s 16th Birthday & My Mom’s 75th Birthday!
Autumn turned 16 this month! It is such a big deal when your youngest turns 16, because then ALL your kiddos are driving! She is going to try and get her license over Christmas break and I know she’ll pass! I am going to miss driving her to school and picking her up each day. Not only will it be a big change for her (hello, FREEDOM!), it will be a big change for me!! We had a pretty low key birthday week, because she had a nasty coughing cold that landed up into asthma that needed steroids AND antibiotics for a double ear infection. Then she was all better for a week and got sick again, thankfully with something much more mild. Brian has been sick, I’ve been sick twice (just like Autumn, with a week in-between where I was well) and Nathan has been sick. I think we’ll all be better by Christmas! Whew! On her birthday we went to Tiger Soup Dumplings which is one of our fast food places right now. I just wish it was a little closer to our house! It’s SO, SO good!
I don’t always mention my mom’s birthday on here, but she turned 75 the week of Thanksgiving!! She does SO much for my dad these days, he is pretty much homebound and she does all the caring for him. She’s a superstar!! We went out to breakfast on her birthday and I got her a birthstone necklace from Allie + Bess along with some flowers (with no lilies, because she has cats too and we are MAJORLY scared of lilies now due to how toxic they are to cats!!).
Two – Thanksgiving
We usually go to one of our favorite restaurant in St. Louis for Thanksgiving and we had a great time! I was going to wear a dress, but it was so bitterly cold outside, I went for warmer pieces and a skirt with tall boots!! I am not a fan of winter!!
Here we all are at the table. We always bring a meal back to my dad, I miss having him at all of our family occasions! The food was delicious and we had fun catching up. Thanksgiving was SO late this year, I felt like I’ve been scrambling to get everything together for Christmas since then!
We saw Wicked on Thanksgiving night and it was SO good! I can’t wait for the part two to come out. It was long, but I enjoyed every minute of it!
Three – Christmas Gifts from Sweet Friends
My friend Jessica and I do a few seasonal gift exchanges throughout the year and it is always so fun!! She REALLY did amazing this time… she even got Ollie Bear and Aurora some cute cat toys! I LOVE the gnome she got me with the bows on its hat! SO, SO CUTE! And, she got me the bow glass tumbler from Target that I couldn’t find. Thank you, Jessica! (BTW, she makes some really cute earrings on her IG page, check it out HERE!)
My friend Lauren and I usually do an Amazon gift exchange and we pick out our gifts. Ha, ha! We are so simple, but it works for us! She got me some No More Wine Headache Spoons, a bubble initial necklace and some small fluted glass coffee/milk pitchers. Thank you, Lauren!! We MIGHT be doing a trip to NYC this summer and I’m hoping I’ll be able to see Lauren again when we go! I haven’t seen her since we went to Haven in Charleston before Covid!!
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Then, my sweet, sweet friend Ashley totally surprised me with the Brain Dump planner from Cultivate What Matters!! She is SOOO AH-mazing!!! We had been talking and I had mentioned how the planner would be so helpful to me at some point and she remembered and not only got me the planner, but a brain dump notepad and the floral sticker book!
Here One Moment by Liane Moriarty – This book is about Cherry, who boards a delayed flight and unknown to her, tells every passenger their age of death and cause. She is such an oddball character in this book, but by the end you kind of understand just how she came to be that way. This book flips around a lot from a handful of people on the flight and how knowing their ‘possible’ fate changes their lives. Some of them keep in touch and realize that some of these deaths are occurring as she had predicted and then they try to find her. It’s an interesting book, but also a little depressing… but, the ending all came together better than I had predicted.
Five – This Years Advent Calendars
This year I’m doing two advent calendars for Christmas. I’m enjoying them SO much that I think I’ll do both of these again next year. The first one is the YAWN Coffee and Hot Chocolate Advent Calendar. I’ve done their coffee advent calendar twice, but this is the first time I’ve done a mixed drink variety. The tea has been delightful and I’ve enjoyed it so much, I may try their tea advent calendar (that just has tea) next year so I can try more flavors that they offer in their shop. The hot chocolate one has been SO good as well and the chocolate in the pouch is ACTUAL chocolate shavings!! This all ships from the UK, so you know it is good stuff! The Orange Chocolate hot cocoa has been my absolute favorite so far.
The other advent calendar I did has ended already, because it was only for 12 days. But, I did the Treatbox 12 Day Advent Calendar that has bigger gifts in it than their 24 Day Advent Calendar. I had actually wanted the 24 Day one, but it sold out in early October. So, I REALLY want to try to get the 24 Day one NEXT year!! But, I really loved the 12 Day One!! You can see in this photo I received 2 face sheet masks and 1 eye mask in Day 10 and in the photo above for Day 9 I received this REALLY nice Daily Gratitude Journal. I was REALLY pleased! The funny thing is both of these advent calendars are from the UK!! Ha, ha!
I hope everyone has a nice holiday! Talk to you all in 2 weeks!
