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Merry Christmas, everyone! We are so happy to be with Ian's family this year to celebrate. I am very aware of how blessed I am to be married to someone like Ian, but on top of that I got SPOILED with the best in-laws ever. I love them so much and I am so grateful for how they have welcomed me and how much I've learned from them. I seriously get emotional thinking about it. I feel so at home in their family.
We are working on moving soon, but we are waiting on a lot of military paperwork and processing, so we have no idea when it's going to happen! Which means we will probably have the new baby back with my family and move afterwards. Since we don't have our own place for Christmas this year, we made an effort to do little family things just the three of us.
I am learning through all this unknown that Christmas is the BEST time to not have it all together. The insane irony of Christmas is that the celebration of a savior who was born in a barn has turned into the most self-centered and consumerist time of the year. And God is forcing me out of the slavery of perfection through this beautiful, crazy life I get to live with my hardworking husband and my spunky little boy and this constantly moving, constantly growing babe in my womb. I am learning, not the state of poverty, but the spirit of poverty. The freedom of detachment from materialism and perfectionism. The freedom that comes from a humble baby king who was born in a stable. What tidings of great joy!
And now for some things our family has been loving this season:
I have this dough sitting in the fridge and I can't wait to bake and decorate tomorrow! This recipe is ideal for decorating because it's really not that sweet so frosting is welcome. (I am not a fan of sickly sweet frosted cookies.) They are full of spices and a great texture! I usually just whip up an easy royal icing and stick with the classic gingerbread with white frosting because I love the way it looks.
2. Homemade Stocking Tags
These are stupid easy but I just wanted to share. I saw so many cute stocking tags this year and I decided to just write everyone's names on paper gift tags from Hobby Lobby. You know, so Santa doesn't get confused.
Precious children's book for Christmas! It's about all the animals in the barn cleaning and preparing for special guests (spoiler alert: the Holy Family) There are so many ways you can go with it for kids. For younger kids you can do the obvious animal noises and they eat that up, (Rowan is a BIG animal noise guy right now) and when they get a little older you can explain that the stable is like your heart and you need to prepare it and "clean" it for baby Jesus. You get the picture.
4. Festive Barrettes
Another Kate + Grace find that I'm loving! Barrettes and hair pins are such a trend right now and I'm going to try them out for Christmas to be extra extra. They are unfortunately sold out now so I'm glad I snagged them! I've also seen some cute ones at Target and at Francesca's!
I haven't gotten my eyebrows done in over 6 months. It's a war zone. I do what I can with tweezers and then call it a day. This product is an eyebrow mascara and adds thickness and some color but it's nottt too dramatic because I can't pull off the dramatic look. It's so easy. I just sweep it on and feel a little bit more put together. It's pricey but it's lasted me for at LEAST six months- the exact amount of time I haven't done my eyebrows. I use the shade ash blonde!
Would this be one of my "favorites" posts if I DIDN'T post something from Trader Joe's? I love all of their candles and I love that they are $3.99. All the smells are lovely but we have been enjoying the gingerbread one for Christmas! Their candles always sell out super fast too so get them when you can!
This is the sweetest, most hilarious Christmas story and you absolutely HAVE to listen to it on audio book. My family has listened to it every Christmas for at least 10 years and everyone adores it- from the kids to the adults! Make sure you download for your Christmas travels!
I must have road trips on the brain. My sister and brother-in-law got this toy for Rowan for Christmas and it was a life saver on this road trip! (Also great for Church!) It has all the little things toddlers obsess over on one mat and Rowan just fixates on it. Also it's educational-sensory-Montessori-fine-motor-skills-learning. All those words sound good together right?
I've talked about these cinnamon rolls on Instagram and I'll talk about them again. Ian's favorite treat of all time, these are our favorite for Christmas morning (And Ian's birthday, and on alternate Tuesdays). There is COFFEE in the frosting. They are dangerous. They are homey. There is coffee in the frosting. They are terrible for you and therefore perfect for the Holidays. They take forever but they are worth it. And there is coffee in the frosting.
Ok that was a rag-tag bunch, as usual! MERRY CHRISTMAS and HAPPY NEW YEAR! I'm excited to be back next year and to start talking baby stuff because this due date is sneaking up on me!
Jk that was a lie I am not one of those people. I am counting down the days.
