Merry Christmas friends! It's been so nice to be away and enjoy the holidays with Brandon's family and my own. We are so grateful for our awesome family and the (over) abundance of gifts we received. Each year I say that if I didn't get one thing I would be happy. After moving ten hours away spending time with family has become something I cherish so much. I would take more visits over gifts any day, especially with our upcoming move out of the country.
My favorite thing about this Christmas was sitting by the Christmas tree hearing my mom tell stories of Christmases when we were little and how hectic playing Santa was.
The funniest thing was our annual game of Balderdash. My brother-in-law comes up with the most hilarious/ridiculous definitions and then we quote him for the rest of the year.
With all the joy comes a little sadness. This might be the last Christmas with our dog Rudy that we got 15 years ago on Christmas Eve. I hate to think about it, but we all know that his days are numbered. Christmas also makes me miss my Grandma Norma. She made our stockings and I love their uniqueness. I feel like it will be wrong to ever split the four of them up.
I realized during the holidays the different little joys the internet brings. I gifted two handmade items from a shop that I found through Instagram and I received one from the same shop from my brother. It makes me so happy because I love supporting handmade. Note to self: Next year be sure to take advantage of the cyber Monday deals handmade shops offer.
I also made the BEST buttermilk pancakes from a recipe shared by Shelley. Not kidding. If you stop reading now to jot down this recipe and forget to come back, I don't care. Go write it down, and then make them. Now. It blows my mind the little joys internet friends bring. They just make your life better and the people in your life too if you make awesome recipes they share.
Of course Tag man loved playing with his cousin Buoy all weekend but he sure was worn out when they left today. That little man is wiped out.
I'll be flying solo for five weeks while BD is overseas for the start of our new adventure in Japan. Thank goodness Japanese Santa stopped here. He brought jet lag medicine, chopsticks, and chopstick trainers. Yep, going to need those.
I also felt like I needed to break in my new toy from BD with a post. He is way to good to me.
So here I am again documenting some of our life for anyone interested. To all of my new friends made through the world wide web, THANK YOU for sharing your life with me and so many others. I hope you ALL had a merry Christmas and that the new year will be full of great memories for you and your families.
Lauren
You'll catch on to chopsticks really, really fast. I'm sure of it! I love reading your blog. Thanks for sharing!
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