I Love CHRISTmas!

I love the holidays...I love giving gifts...I love reflecting on the gift God has given me in Jesus Christ...and I love spending time with family!

Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.  ~ Luke 2:11

I have not been in the mood for Christmas carols this year for some reason...but I absolutely love this song this season!


Christmas was just time spent with family for us. My mom was set on getting some family photos. Unfortunately, the weather was lots and lots of rain in Shreveport, so we didn't get to go outside as planned. Here was our attempt at indoor picture and using the timer on the camera.

After the eating and gift giving was done, my hubby had to head back to Dallas in order to work today. My brother and his family had one more stop, so I hung out with them for the rest of the evening.

I love these times together...makes me want to move back home...but I'm sure Willie wouldn't be hearing that discussion!

I Love CHRISTMAS!!!

What a Weekend?!

My weekend began with work....yuck! But, it actually wasn't that bad. We had Saturday School, which is completely voluntary. Students can get some proactive tutoring lessons to prepare for their semester exams. We had 156 students turn out! That's about 1/4 of our school. I was so encouraged by their willingness to come to school when it wasn't mandatory.

I spent the afternoon shopping for baby shower gifts and Christmas gifts for my team of teachers at work!

The result was a cart filled with all of this...

Read more about the Christmas gifts I made here. I am very happy with the end result!

I then proceeded to my friend Jill's baby shower! Jill and I taught together and have continued to keep in touch, even though I've moved on to a different school.

Our whole gang was there! Even, our girl Shayna, who recently moved back home to Lubbock to be with family!

We call our little book club "50 Shades of Cray!" We didn't read the book you're thinking of together...you'd have to ask Thanh for a story behind the name. Anyway, it was so cool celebrating the parents-to-be and to get our whole gang together!

Sunday started out with a great church service, followed by celebrating my hubby's birthday! He was totally caught off guard when I told him his ride had arrived...when he looked out side, he was greeted by a limo! And, when the door was opened for him, some of his closest friends were already inside!

Read more about his birthday experience here.

With all the men out spending time together, I got so spend some much-needed time with my dear friend, Angela! We didn't take any pictures, but we did do a little shopping! Can't wait to share some of the steals I found...including a skirt from the LOFT on final sale for $4.88! Woot! Woot! Or in Angela's words, POW!

And to top it all off...I won my fantasy football game this week! I'll be playing in the championship game next week! Woot! Woot! That means I'm guaranteed to end the season at least in second place! I'm super excited!

Hope you guys had a great weekend! I'm so excited that there's only one more week before winter break! So excited to visit my family soon!

Linking up:

     

Elf on the Shelf

Am I the only one whose Facebook and Pinterest timelines have been inundated with "Elf on the Shelf" pictures? Certainly not! I wasn't curious until someone at work shared the story of the elf at lunch.

I may not have the story completely right, but the gist of it is that elf has magic powers and the kids can't touch the elf or it will lose its power. The elf was sent by Santa to monitor the kid's behavior and flys back to the North Pole each night to report to Santa. Each day the elf returns, but since elves like to play games, he may hide and appear in a new location. On Christmas Eve, the elf retires back to the North Pole and waits to rejoin the family for the next Christmas Season. You can read the full "Elf on the Shelf" story here.

Anyway, my co-worker has shared stories of her kids' excitement over the elf and how much fun it has become. Some of my favorites that I've seen on Pinterest and Facebook are here:

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There's only one problem...I don't have any kids to begin this Christmas tradition. I've convinced a few friends to start it with their kids. For now, I live vicariously through them. But, what if they don't sell these elves anymore once it's my turn? You know that got me thinking about going ahead and buying one even though I have no kids. Well, after looking at several Target stores for my friends, and seeing them sold out at each one, I decided the tradition was not for me. But, then came Barnes & Noble who had several throughout the store. I went through an inner struggle of should I buy one or not? Well, what made the decision for me was when I saw this:

Did you catch that? Not only can you buy a boy or girl elf, but you also have the choice of a "light" or "dark" elf! Shut the front door! You mean I can get my future kid an elf that has his (or her) skin tone?! I was sold! (Oh, and not to mention that I got 20% off with my educator's discount! Woot! Woot!) Now, I just had to decide on a "dark boy" or a "dark girl" elf.

It's a boy! I figured boys are more adamant about not playing with dolls and girls can be happy either way. Plus, most depictions of elves are boys anyway. So my future kid, whether boy or girl, will have a "dark boy" elf checking whether he (or she) is naughty or nice!

Okay, I know I'm crazy, but I now have an elf that will sit at the top of the closet until I have kids old enough to enjoy the tradition! I couldn't resist!

Linking up...go check it out!