christmas day.

What are your Christmas traditions? What do you do every year no matter how old you get? What does your Christmas day look like? What are the things that make Christmas so special for you?

Growing up, my brothers and I would get up super early (5:00am or a little earlier kind of early), and would meet up in my room. The rule was we couldn't go out in the living room, dining room or kitchen. We had to stay in one of our rooms until mom and dad were awake. We have a hallway between our rooms, so whoever was the first to wake up, would walk through the hallway to wake the others up.

As a little kid the anticipation of finding out what Santa brought and finding out what is in those boxes that you have had to stare at for days and weeks is huge! Funny thing is....I don't think that has changed much between now and then! ;) Anyway, once Devin, Dustin and I were up, the next task was to wake up the parents. How did we do this? Well....I have a piano in my room. We would play the piano real loud (and it wasn't a song that was played, it was just playing random keys real loud), we would sing at the top of our lungs, yell and scream, clap, knock on the walls, dance around...basically we did anything and everything that was really loud!!

Once they were awake we would all go to the boys' room (there door leads right out to the living room) and open the door and Santa's gifts and stockings were sitting in front of our presents. We would each spot out our gifts and run and get really excited at whatever was laying there from Santa. Then we would open presents from mom and dad. After presents, mom would have breakfast (mom makes a breakfast casserole each year...it's yummy!) ready! Then, almost every year everybody would go back to sleep, but me. I was always to excited to even think about going back to sleep! :)  Most years, we would eventually head to grandma moore's for the day once everyone was up and ready.

Now we are all in college and Dust is the only one left at home. Our Christmas day doesn't look quite the same, but it is still pretty close! :) This year Dust and I woke up at 6:30am....so did my parents! Dev and Kel came over at 7:00am. We opened our gifts. Mom made the breakfast casserole, cinnamon rolls, and some fruit. We ate "played" with our gifts for a little bit then got ready for church. My grandma and grandpa came down for lunch....my mom went all out! We had ham, stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy, green beans, broccoli and rice casserole, and rolls. Thanks mom!! :) We spent the afternoon and evening playing games and lounging around.

Santa was very good to me this year. ;) I got a new camera, a new pair of TOMS, some really comfy and soft pajama pants...AND they have polka dots on them which makes them even better! :) I got other stuff too, but I won't list everything out. I know you probably really don't care. haha All of this to say, even though we are older, we still enjoy those Christmas traditions that make Christmas so special to me and my family.

I am blessed to be able to celebrate Jesus' birth with my awesome family! Happy birthday Jesus!!

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Here are some pictures from the day:

Jordan! :)

Dustin and Devin.

She was pretty excited about her new shoes! :)

Dad and Jordan sharing a moment! haha.

I love our Christmas tree!

We got to dog-sit for the afternoon/evening! :)

One of my favorite pics from the day! ;) We kind of did
the same thing. That was not planned!

Dad didn't want his picture taken....haha.

Me and my mom! :)

She decided she wanted to take a "silly picture".  She kept
asking, "What do I do??" haha

:)

Devin and Kelli. They are my favorite!

Sisters! :)

Chrissy and Jordan are buddies!

Dustin and Chrissy! :)

Mom took this pic. I tried cropping myself out but part of my sleeve
is still in the pic. I wanted a pic of the tree at night though! It's pretty!

Jordy and I. Of course she was sitting perfectly still until mom took
the picture. I think she was on the verge of licking my face! That or she really
didn't want her picture taken! haha.

I love my new camera!!!!

AND.....I found out one of my good friends who has been in Uganda since July, is engaged! Her boyfriend was able to go spend her last month of being in Africa with her. And he proposed!! Congrats Meghann and Clark!! So happy for you guys! :)

Merry Christmas!

Well....I have been really slacking on my blogging. My apologies. I would like to promise that it will get better, but the next couple of weeks will be super busy for me, as I will be in Texas and then Georgia. But...I will do my best to get some posts in there somewhere. And when I get back in Topeka things will slow down a bit and I can take more time and get caught up on all the things I want to share with you.


Until then, I wanted to wish you all a very Merry Christmas! Last night we had Christmas at my grandma and grandpa's (my mom's side) which was a lot of fun! And there was SO much food!!! I feel like that is all I have been doing....eating. And it hasn't been healthy food either. Lots of finger food, sugar cookies, peanut butter balls, peanut clusters, puppy chow, and the list goes on. My mom has been VERY busy in the kitchen!!! Thanks mom! :)


Tonight Dev and Kel came over and we ate before going to Christmas Eve service. After the church we played Scattergories at Dev and Kel's. It was pretty entertaining! :) Even though it is Christmas Eve, I am still having a hard time grasping that Christmas is tomorrow! Looking forward to opening presents with the family, eating more food, playing games, relaxing, and celebrating Jesus' birth.

"Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared among them...'Don't be afraid!' he said. 'I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people. The Savior—yes, the Messiah, the Lord—has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David!'"

~ Matthew 2:10-11

And....here is a little video to end with! Merry Christmas from the girls at Chi Alpha, minus Mirah and Kelsey. :(  Enjoy and have a wonderful holiday!! :)

http://sendables.jibjab.com/view/DknpGhaIQvMhKucH?cmpid=jj_fb_friend_holidays

and so break begins...:)

First of all: Christmas is officially one week from today!! This is blowing my mind....I don't believe it. I can remember when I was a little kid and December seemed to be the longest month....it took forever for the 25th to finally come around. Now it sneaks up on me and is here before I know it! I might also help if it was snowing outside or something....60 degree weather in the middle of December doesn't feel much like Christmas to me!

Second of all: I am done for the semester!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yay!

I have had a great start to the break! I took my last final Thursday and to celebrate being finished, a couple of housemates and I had a coloring party while we watched Christmas movies and drank hot chocolate! :) And yes...I am 22 and I love to color still! It was one of the highlights of my week actually! Something that made that day even better though....my dear friend Stefanie who is currently living in Colorado showed up! She wasn't supposed to be home until Friday, but she surprised us all and came a day early!! What a great surprise!

Today was an awesome day and much needed!! It started out with breakfast at Hanover's with some of the Chi Alpha girls...and baby Benjamin! :) Their biscuits and gravy=delicious! Which reminds me, I have leftovers for breakfast! :) That was followed by the best coffee date ever with some of my favorite people....Tay, Ari, Stef and Kelsey! :) We may have sat at Starbucks talking for about 3 1/2 hours! It was a great time. We all live in the same hall here at the Chi Alpha House....correction, we LIVED in the same hall...Stef now lives in Colorado. It was a nice hall reunion and the first time ALL of us had hung out together in a while! There was lots of laughing (as always) and good conversation!

Tonight....we went and looked at Christmas lights!!! Topeka Bible Church has a really awesome Christmas light show and if you live in Topeka but have never been, you need to go!! If you don't live in Topeka, I hope someday you are able to experience it. But here is a link to give you an idea of what it is all about! :) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HIOM6FO4Gvc  It's so awesome!! We followed this up with looking at the Christmas lights in the Potwin neighborhood. There are a lot of beautiful houses decorated with lots of beautiful Christmas lights....what more do you need?! ;)

That's all for now though.

Be on the look out for more posts! I am now on break so I will have more time to write...and I have several things I want to write about so be prepared! :)

things that make me happy...

Christmas lights! 

:)

People in my church back home put together "final packages" for the college students to help get through the joy of finals week! :) I may gain 10 pounds by the time
next week is over!

Also....I have a camera to use temporarily until Christmas! :) Oh happy day!! Thanks, Mary! :)

finals.

Well...I have been slacking on my blog posts. I apologize about that! I have been so busy with school and work and spending time with friends. I am officially done with classes and all I have left to get through is finals week! I have 4 tests, a project, and a few random assignments left. It will be a busy week for sure, but I sure am excited to be done! I am really looking forward to Christmas Break!!!!! Lots of friend time, book reading, spending time with family, movie time and some more friend time!! :)

Last night I celebrated my first "Christmas" of the season! We had our Chi Alpha Christmas party! We all met up at El Mezcal, which is a mexican restaurant. It is very similar to El Pueblito back home (the best Mexican restaurant in my opinion!) so it made me think of home a lot. But it was pretty good....still not quite the same as El Pueblito though! :) After eating, Ariona and I made a quick detour to Classic Bean which is a coffee shop for a yummy chai latte! Then back to the House we went. We did Secret Santa.... last week whoever wanted to participate wrote on a card with their name. 3 things they wanted for $10, and then we drew names. I ended up with a Starbucks gift card!! Heck yes! Just in time for finals week! Thanks Michael!


Tomorrow, we will be celebrating Christmas with the Eccles side of the family! I am looking forward to it! Excited to see everyone again! This year will be a little bit different though...we lost two special people last year. In fact, the Christmas get together last year was the last time a lot of us were able to see Uncle Alan and TJ before the car accident. I know that we will all enjoy each other and it will be a wonderful time, but I know that we will all be missing them. Nonetheless, our time together will be full of laughter and fun! :) Anndddd I get to see my parentals, my goofy brothers, and Kelli!! :) It shall be a great day!


After finals week is over I will get back into the swing of things in the world of blogging. I really do enjoy it, and I have so much I want to write, but my stack of homework is calling my name.