So my plan for today was a holiday home tour. The problem is, that would actually require that my house be decorated for Christmas. I’m usually done with Christmas shopping in early November and then completely decorated by December 1st, but I’m falling way behind this year. Being out of town over Thanksgiving certainly contributed, but I think a fair amount of laziness has to be acknowledged. I am planning to get the remainder of my decor up over the weekend and have an extra post up to share them all before Monday rolls around.
For today, why don’t we play catch up? I could have called it 5 on Friday, but there are more than five things. Let’s just pretend for the sake of linking up, mmmmkay?
While we were on vacation last month, K snapped some pretty cute family pictures for our Christmas card. Of course, we were all freezing and making weird faces and I ended up thinking outside of the box for our cards this year, but I’m still pretty smitten with these shots. We’re planning on a full family shoot sometime over the holidays and I cannot wait! Since we missed out on beach pictures this summer, it’s been over a year since we had a family photo session.
Have you seen this mayonnaise?! I found it at Walmart last week and was super pumped to try it out. It isn’t exactly Whole30 approved, but it is way better than the Kraft mayo I usually buy and it tastes better than my homemade version. Here’s to healthier chicken salad in my future!
I chalked a pretty Christmas sign for a friend over the weekend. It was ready just in time for her Christmas decorations and this fun little photoshoot with my amazingly talented sister {more to come about her newest endeavor next week!}.
I ran this week. Nothing revolutionary happened, but I did realize that I’m not a complete flake. My pace wasn’t anything for the records books, but I got in two 4 mile runs and I didn’t die. I predict that in a few more weeks, I’ll be right on track for the half-marathon in February.
On Wednesdays, Ella has been going to a local church with one of her best friends. We only have children’s services one Wednesday a month, so it’s been nice for her to have some additional bible study time with children her age. This past week, they put on a nativity play for their parents and it was hilarious. Think elementary school kids dressed up like animals, fighting over straw and making appropriate noises. We were dying.
And leave it to Ella (who thrives in the spotlight) to be the narrator in a play at a church we don’t even go to! She & Jana tag-teamed and did a fabulous job.
Our cousin Jay was also in the play and he was a fabulous wise man!
Do you need some new-to-you Christmas music to listen to? While we eagerly await the January release of the new Drew Holcomb album, we’ve had their first holiday album on repeat. I dare you not to love their version of Hark the Herald Angel Sing!
Did you watch the Lifetime mini-series of The Red Tent last week? If not, I’m pretty sure you can still catch it on demand. And in case you didn’t already know this, it was a book first. I read this book my senior year in college, while my grandmother was recovering from brain surgery. It was a pretty scary time in the life of our family and we all passed around reading material in the waiting room for several weeks. It is hands-down, my favorite book of all time. In case you aren’t familiar, it is biblical based fiction and tells the story of Dinah. The catch phrase for the movie seemed to be, “The Bible gave her one line, now her legend will be told.” If fictionalized Bible stories rub you the wrong way this book might not be for you. Diamant took many liberties in the telling of this story, but wow does it make it real. The thing the book did for me at age 21 was remind me that the characters in the Bible were real people with real stories. We are only told one thing about the life of Dinah, but before that she was born and after that she kept on living. I seriously sobbed through the entire movie and was so impressed with how well it was filmed and how beautiful the story was. It could have been on the big screen for sure. Now I need to dig out my well-worn copy of the book and read it again!
I got my hair cut on Tuesday. I’m not really high-maintenance when it comes to hair. I don’t color it and I always get it cut at one of those walk-in places. I just decided at ten o’clock that morning that I thought I’d like it short, so I ran in and got it chopped off while the girls were in dance class. It will take some getting used to, but I’m so glad I did it! I have had long hair since Sophie was a year old, so it was time for a change.
My friend Beth (also a graphic designer) and I were texting back and forth about how much we loathe cheesy fonts a few nights ago. These meme always gets to me. Comic Sans, anyone?
And just in case you ever wondered how we do Christmas lights in the country, here you go. Josh’s parents moved into a new house earlier this year and we had no idea that this would happen on their street during the holidays! I filmed it because the kids weren’t with us and they deserved to get to see it, but we’ve since taken them back. There are several streets in our sleepy town who go all out for the holidays and my kids cannot get enough.
Well, I think that covers everything that has happened to us in the last week or so! I hope you are gearing up for a fabulous weekend and that you’ll come back tomorrow night to see how our Christmas decorating adventures come together. How is the big day less than two weeks away?!?!
