A Marvelous Christmas 2013

I am blessed in so many ways. Sometimes it’s hard to see since I’m so wrapped up in all of the little problems or nuances in day-to-day life, but holy cow. I am not only blessed, but spoiled!

I got to hang out with Dave’s family the weekend before Christmas and then I got to spend time with my dad’s side on Christmas Eve and my mom’s side on Christmas day. And I even got a 4th Christmas with Dave’s immediate family this past Saturday. Surrounded by family and love, all of the worries of the world seemed to melt away! It’s crazy how much more I appreciate these moments now that I live a few hundred miles away from my Nebraska family!

 

Favorite Christmas Moments:

Spending time with Dave’s family at the farm.

I love his family. The adults are hilarious. The kids are stinkin’ cute. I was pretty much never bored.

 

It was also pretty fun seeing Dave play with the little kids.

 

Spending time with my family.

This is one of those things that you shouldn’t have to say…like “I enjoy breathing.” For some reason I still feel the need to point out how much I love spending time with my family.

 

Seeing my nephew walk!

Last time I was here he was taking a couple of steps, but mostly those were the steps required to not fall on his face when going from person to person. Now he can walk 10 steps if he so pleases. He’s getting so big!!

 

 

Being a proud cousin.

I have many nurses and caretakers in my family (two jobs which I would fail miserably at) and it absolutely warmed my heart to see my cousins’ compassion for the people they take care of on a daily basis. I was taken aback at how much love they have for others and it gave me motivation to live the same way.

 

 

Favorite Presents:

Fitbit One.

I got a Fitbit! (For those of you who don’t know, it is a handy device you clip to your clothing that tracks your steps…plus a load of other things. I suppose you could say it’s a fancy pedometer, but that hardly does it justice!) I’ve been wanting one for so long since I am convinced I walk at least two miles a day at my Cafe job. I will be doing a more thorough review of this soon!

Giada cookbook.

Giada is my BFF if you didn’t know. One time I tweeted to her and she tweeted back. We are obvi hanging out soon. 😉 I love her healthy yet indulgent style of cooking and I’m super excited to crack the book open.

What I Talk About When I Talk About Running book by Haruki Murakami

I started reading this while waiting for an oil change this morning and I was almost disappointment when my car was finished! This author’s writing style draws you in as he simply writes a trail of thoughts on running and life.

Homemade gifts.

I was so tickled to get a gift from my brother Josh’s boyfriend that not only had a Target card and a mug filled with delicious tea, but a diarama of sorts. It involved a plastic horse taped to the bottom of the box with likely all of the horse puns you could think of–starting out making fun of my riding boots I wore at Thanksgiving.

My mom is an excellent knitter and crocheter and I always love the things she makes me.

My aunt and cousins also made everyone delicious goodie bags that I may or may not have finished already.

Ukulele.

Yep. I got a ukulele. So I can play this song:

But really my sisters both have ukuleles and after watching Jake Shimabukuro for a couple of hours on YouTube with Dave one night.

Plus I really miss playing an instrument. In a desperate attempt to pay bills a few years ago I sold my viola (like a violin, only slightly different strings) that I had played for years and I’ve never gotten over it. I’ve tried guitar, but the one Dave has is too big and hurts my fingers…so there you have it! Ukulele! Thanks Dave! 🙂

I also got a candle with the scent called “whiskers on kittens.”

It has natural flavors and extracts. (Of kittens??) It smells quite pleasant despite the odd name.

 

You know something funny? I actually felt like I didn’t take that many pictures this year. Ha!

I hope you all had a lovely Christmas! I will be preparing some “best of” posts this week, so get excited! And if you’re a blogger, I will hold a link-up for “best of” posts because I really want to read all of yours! 🙂

 

Tell me…

Do you celebrate Christmas? If so, what was your favorite gift you received (or gave)?

Do you play or have you played a musical instrument? Tell me about it!

 

Linking up to:

Marvelous in my Monday with Katie at Healthy Diva Life

Week in Review with Meghan at Clean Eats, Fast Feets