Sweet, sweet holiday season!

Can you believe Christmas is over?

Honestly it's something that shocks me every year. I cannot believe how fast Christmas Day passes by! It's gone in the blink of an eye. Noel and I definitely soaked up our time together and loved every second of it!

Christmas Eve was spent just the two of us which was absolutely fabulous. We went and toured some ice sculptures with hot chocolate in hand and then drove endlessly for hours looking at Christmas lights while listening to jingling tunes.

We also spent Christmas morning with just us which was also great! Normally we are up early so we don't have to rush opening our gifts and then right after we're done we're jetting off for the day.

This year, we didn't have to be at my mom's until early afternoon, so we had the whole morning to ourselves. We opened our gifts to each other and of course Jackson opened his stocking. He actually has more gifts to open but was so overwhelmed with excitement about the toys in his stocking, we have left them for another time.

We headed over to my mom's in the afternoon, opened gifts with her and my grandpa and lounged around until dinner. Noel's parents joined us for turkey dinner which was so yummy!

On Boxing Day we did it all over again at Noel's parents. His sister and her family were there and it was a really fun, but tiring day.

Overall, we had an amazing Christmas and I really feel blessed for the time I was able to spend with the people closest to me.

Oh and I got some pretty awesome gifts as well -- my favourites being a Keurig coffee maker, a Cricut cake machine and some more training sessions with my trainer! Yay! Noel's favourite was the foseball table that I got him. We spent two hours last night setting it up and I think a tournament is calling our names tonight!

Hope you all had a great Christmas too!

Merry Christmas

Merry, Merry, Merry Christmas!!!

I hope you all have a wonderful holiday!!!!!!

Four more sleeps!

Christmas is creeping up fast! I am so excited for family time and good food! :)

I have a lot going on this week as we work our way to Saturday. Sometimes I think I'm crazy to leave my baking to the last minute so everything can be as fresh as possible. It's just something that I have always done and yes, I have tried baking that has been previously frozen and most of the time it tastes perfectly normal, but for myself, I like to bake things at the last possible second!

So tonight I'm starting to bake! I've cut down this year because I've found in year's past that I bake way too much and it either gets thrown out or we eat way too much! Also, every house has its own baking, so there is lots going around for sure!

This year I'm baking snickerdoodles. This is my first time baking these little treats and I've heard so many good things about them! I'm also baking butter tarts and reindeer cupcakes. Yum!

So between tonight and tomorrow night I have to get my baking done and house cleaned! Thursday we are having our annual Christmas party at our place with our families which is always so much fun! Normally we have this party on Christmas Eve but with my niece and nephew having to go to bed earlier these days and with my sister in-law and brother in-law having to get ready for Santa, that evening has become a little cramped for everyone!

So, this year we've opted for the 23rd. This is always one of my favourite nights of the year. Our families come over, we have wine and other drinks, lots of appys and baked goods and great conversation. It's also so much fun to get my nephew overly excited for Santa's arrival!

I'm actually looking forward to Christmas Eve being a quiet one with just Noel and I. We have some really neat ice sculptures in our city that we're going to go and check out and we might drive around a little to look at lights. It'll be so great!

Christmas Day will be spent at my mom's house. Of course we'll open our own gifts at home in the morning first. And Noel's parents are coming over to my mom's for Christmas dinner. It'll be nice to see both sides on Christmas Day.

Boxing Day we'll do it all over again at Noel's parents house with the kids! I am definitely looking forward to that!

Merry Christmas!

Christmastime!

I am truly loving this time of year! It's always one of my favourites and I can't believe that in a few days Christmas will be a week away!

Christmas is always hectic for Noel and I as we try to see all of those most close to us. And having my parents divorced also throws a wrench into things. It can be difficult to see everyone and feel as though you had a meaningful visit.

This year, on the 23rd, Noel and I will have both our families over to our place. Normally we do this get together on Christmas Eve, but with our niece and nephew being at the age where they go to bed about 7 p.m., and my sister and brother in-law doing the Santa thing on the 24th, it would make for a short visit with them. So instead this year, we're having everyone over in the late afternoon of the 23rd.
I love hosting these types of things. I always make way too much food, we drink way too much and I just love having those I love around me.
One stress for me at the moment is not having a clue what I'm going to be baking for the Christmas holidays. I am quite the planner (Noel just loves it -- sense my sarcasm on this!) and normally I would have this planned to a tee -- but for some reason, not this year! I really need to get on that.

I'm kind of looking forward to having Christmas Eve to spend with Noel alone. I'm not sure what we'll do -- maybe go and look at lights and have a couple of glasses of wine and just enjoy the evening.

Christmas Day will be spent at my mom's after we've had breakfast and opened gifts at our place. Noel's parents are coming over for dinner as well which will be great! Then the next day we'll do it all over again at Noel's parents. I look forward to watching the kids open their gifts and play with their toys. They bring so much joy to our family and they put a whole new meaning to the holidays.

So, that's our plan and I can't wait! I'm all done my shopping and most of the gifts are wrapped. Now I can just enjoy the holiday season!

I leave you with a picture of our Christmas tree! It's not the best quality as it was taken on my iPhone.

Happy holidays!