This post may contain affiliated links, which means if you purchase an item I will earn commission at no additional cost to you. Thank you!
“We attract the life we are grateful for”
Happy Saturday and Merry Christmas! I hope you had a lovely time celebrating Christmas, whether you were with family, friends, or alone. I know this year was hard on all of us, and some of you may have had to celebrate alone or perhaps without a family member. I hope you found some way to enjoy the day.
Our family Christmas was much different this year. We didn’t get to celebrate with our entire family, just immediate members like my sister, brother-in-law, and my nieces. I am very grateful I was able to have spent the holiday with my family, but really missed seeing my aunts, uncle, cousins, and especially my grandmother. My poor 98-year-old grandmother had to spend Christmas alone. It really breaks my heart, but we had to be smart about gathering. Luckily I was able to chat with her on the phone about her day. I pray we will all celebrate together in-person next year.
Since we could not all be together we decided to cancel our annual wrapping contest. Every year we have a theme wrapping contest that stems anywhere from favorite winter activity to Harry Potter to football. The winner of the previous year picks the theme. I won last year with the life-size Nutcracker that I made. We thought about doing it over Zoom but decided to postpone until next year so we can visually see everyone’s creation. As my uncle said, “my entry would engage three of the five senses consequently not conducive to a zoom call”……ha! The theme this year that I picked was “Musical Icons”. I was really looking forward to creating Dolly Parton in a sequin dress playing the guitar. I guess this gives me an entire year to perfect it. Since we postponed the contest until next year, I have proclaimed myself the official winner. Back to back gift wrapping champion. First in history. Undefeated since 2019. My family has failed to admit this.
In another typical 2020 fashion, our wifi went out right before church service started on Christmas Eve. Since we could not be physically at church, we were going to stream service. Our wifi went out only to work again for the last 6 minutes. We tried searching for another church service but couldn’t find anything that was going to be on in-time before dinner. So no Silent Night or reading of the scripture for us this year. Really is sad.
Although Christmas was different this year, I did enjoy it. I had so much fun with my nieces and being with my family. I love watching my 3-year-old niece open up gifts and getting so excited about Santa and reindeer. Kids really put things into perspective about what is important, especially a year filled with stress and sadness. They remind me to find joy and happiness in the little things. I am very blessed to have them in my life. And speaking of my nieces, I receive the best gift ever. My one-month-old niece (via my sister), asked me to be her Godmother. When I opened up the card and read it out loud, we all started crying. It was very sweet and I am over the moon happy! It means the world to me. Now I have to give the little stinker a dollar for every special occasion (a tradition my grandmother started and my aunt and uncle, who are my Godparents, give to me). Although this gift will be forever my favorite, my second favorite gift(s) is a tie between a massage gun and Dolly Parton’s new book Storyteller: My Life in Lyrics.
Besides celebrating Christmas we spent the entire week baking yummy treats like GF gingerbread doughnuts and GF mini cheesecakes. We drove around Upper Arlington (my hometown) looking at the winners of the Christmas lights competition. There were some very beautiful decorated houses and others looked like Clark Griswold’s house. I love the houses that sync their lights to the music played through the radio. Before looking at Christmas lights, my parents and I went to a local church’s drive-through live Nativity scene. That was really lovely to see.
Overall we had a nice Christmas and we made the most out of it. There were lots of laughs, tears of joy, and love. That is all I could ask for. At the beginning of the week, I had a breakdown. I sobbed into my hands; releasing the stress, sadness, fear, and frustration I have been feeling. I’ve been feeling defeated and stuck lately; like I am banging on a bunch of doors to open and nothing has opened yet. I know I am still in my waiting season and things will work out in God’s timing, but sometimes you just need to cry. And it was nice to have my parents there to give me a hug and to tell me everything will be alright. I miss hugging people.
This weekend we are planning on being couch potatoes. Ohio State does not play until next week against Clemson in the Sugar Bowl. I hope we beat them! Since there isn’t a football game I have to sit through my dad watching John Wayne movies and basketball games all weekend long. Besides watching John Wayne win the Civil War for the 100th time, I will be spending the weekend finishing my book and shopping for a new one, working out, and enjoying the snow.
Have a wonderful weekend xo
1.Possible SATC reboot- interview with SJP
2. A cozy sweater dress to wear at-home on NYE
3. Oh I want this scarf in every color
4. A chic satin jumpsuit for NYE
5. Craft trends to try in 2021
6. The color of your underwear on NYE has a specific meaning
7. Fun New Year’s Eve party ideas at home
8. The story behind Slim Aarons famous “Christmas Swan” photo