Update

So I just realized it was 2 weeks ago when I posted last so I figured I better give a quick update before it is too overwhelming.

James and I went to Amarillo to hang out with Dan and Susan and her family for Thanksgiving. James' parents were on a cruise so it was kind of a fend for yourself holiday. But we had a really nice time. Relaxing and just enjoying hanging out with the nieces and nephews. Ate too much and had the best caramel pumpkin cheesecake and caramel apple pie. I'll be working those pounds off months down the road.

Then it was on to my fave part about Thanksgiving. The day after. Ever since we moved to Austin, it has become a sort of family tradition with Susan and Michelle- my sis in laws- to go Black Friday shopping. After Thanksgiving dinner we scour the papers, find any of the deals we just can't live without and make our lists. Then we wake up at the crack of dawn and go out to pretty much the same places every year. Start at Kohls for the 4 am opening, shop there until Old Navy opens up at 6, go to Starbucks for a hot chocolate and latte to warm up (it is usually FREEZING cold there) and then on to the mall for a few assorted stores. Then Michelle is worn out by 11 am and Susan and I hit Target and have lunch before heading back to meet the boys and watch the Nebraska game.

Sounds crazy right? It may be but we always have a good time and enjoy just being able to catch up with each other. And then since we are all together it is also a great time to get exactly what is on the nieces and nephews wish lists and knock out that whole group in one shot.

That was basically our holiday weekend. And then a long drive back to Austin to work on Monday morning. I spent all week last week procrastinating about doing my laundry and picking up from the trip but this past weekend after spending Friday night and most of Saturday helping decorate for a wedding reception, decided it was time to quit procrastinating. I cleaned the whole house - mainly in anticipation of getting all of my Christmas decorations down.

This is one of my favorite times of the year. I love to decorate the whole house for the holidays and I'm especially excited this year because it is the first year that I will have Christmas at my house. All 4 of my sisters, my 2 brother in laws and my cousin/adopted sis and her husband and daughter will all be here along with my parents. So for those counting that is 13 people in one house. YIKES!!! What a crowd. But I'm super excited because they all get to come here and hang out with me. And I'm taking the whole week off of work which is super exciting too. As you can imagine I'm counting the days down. But there is my quick wrap up of my past couple of weeks.

Here are a few pics of my decorations. I got this cute little vinyl at Kohl's and was so excited to put it up. James was less tha thrilled when I forced him to help but I think it looks great.

This is a pic of my decorated tree, and then my Willow tree nativity set that was my Christmas gift last year. I love it. And then a ceramic nativity set that my friend Mary is making and I had her make me one. I love nativity sets and I try to get something like this each year to add to my collection. Not sure where I'll put them all someday but oh well.




This weekend is the Pflugerville Downtown Holiday Stroll and I really enjoy that, they have lots of great little booths - my friend Steph will be there with her jewelry so anyone interested go see her. :-) And I'll be there seeing what other sorts of great little crafty things are around. The holiday season is always full of fun little festivals and activities around Austin so it is never dull. I think we might also try to go to Main Street Bethlehem in Burnet this weekend before it closes. If you haven't been to that before it is great. There is a church in Burnet that puts this on for the first 2 weekends in December. Everyone dresses like they are in Jerusalem during the time of Christ's birth and you can walk through "downtown" Bethlehem and see all of this, interact with the people, freeze your butt off and get this great Bethlehem bread.

Well I hope I haven't bored you all to tears but there is my latest update. Hopefully we'll get our lights up this weekend early in the day on Saturday so that I have time to do all the rest of the stuff on my list.