tis the season to be jolly and joyous.

Now that Christmas has come and gone, I actually have a brief moment to document the days leading up to our celebration of Christ's incarnation here on earth. Per usual, it flew by in the flashiest of flashes and I don't feel I had nearly enough time to participate in all the festive activities that I wanted to, but here's a quick rundown of the pre-Christmas happenings.

First on the agenda was Christmas cookie baking and Christmas light viewing. My parents and I spent a Sunday afternoon at Michelle and Nick's rolling out dough, cutting out cookies and decorating dozens of sugar cookie angels, trees, stars and snowmen. I'll be the first to say it is quite the trick to roll out cookies, cut out shapes, transfer them to a baking sheet and make icing with a 4-year-old wanting to help every step of the way. They might not have made the prettiest cookies, but at some point, I had to lay my perfectionist tendencies aside and realize it's about having fun and making a Christmas memory (baby steps). Just to give you a visual, her idea of decorating the finished product was dumping an entire container of sprinkles on one single cookie.




After we sufficiently depleted several bottles of holiday sprinkles, it was time to see the magnificent Christmas tree at the Shops at Legacy and look at the lights in Deerfield. It was an incredibly chilly night, but we put on brave faces in an effort to capture the best Kodak moments possible. Meredith and Haylee weren't really having it (I can't blame them - it was beyond frigid), but I think we managed to get a couple of keepers. After that, we piled into the car and weaved our way through the crowded streets of Deerfield. The light displays were impressive as usual, but no pics were taken. I was too busy enjoying the sights.






Among the rest of the pre-Christmas celebrations were the trains at Northpark with my nieces (I have no idea where those pictures went), the 3rd annual Jingle Mingle (hosted by Meagan and Bryan this year), the 4th annual Gingerbread Throwdown and a Classy Christmas Party (hosted by friends of Hailey's). Unfortunately, I only have a small smattering of pictures from these festive occasions. I have fallen into a bit of a photographic slump and have gotten pretty lazy. I am pleased to say, however, that I got back in the game for Christmas, so that post will be chock-full of pictures.






So there you have it, a small snapshot of the days leading up to Christmas. Up next are Christmas Eve and Christmas. Stay tuned...

for unto us a child is born.

"For to us a child is born to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace."
Isaiah 9:6

"We consider Christmas as the encounter, the great encounter, the historical encounter, the decisive encounter, between God and mankind. He who has faith knows this truly; let him rejoice."
POPE PAUL VI, speech, Dec. 23, 1965

"I will honor Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year."
Charles Dickens

"There are two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle."
Albert Einstein

"The mystery of the Holy Night, which historically happened two thousand years ago, must be lived as a spiritual event in the ‘today’ of the Liturgy. The Word who found a dwelling in Mary’s womb comes to knock on the heart of every person with singular intensity this Christmas."
Pope John Paul II

"…God became man, not so that he might be with us, but so that we might be with him. In other words, the incarnation is the starting point of our divinization.…It comes about so that, having become in a sense ‘divine,' we may be capable of effectively working with Christ to rebuild the world for the glory of the father. We are thus not passive bystanders at the incarnation. The incarnation radically transforms the history of the world and the personal history of each of us. Because of it, each of us must measure up to God's plan and play his proper role in it."
Adrian Nocent, OSB

"…What we celebrate is our redemption in Christ and the transformation of all creation by the presence of the divine in our midst."
Anonymous

a little bit of this. a little bit of that.

So I've been a horribly inconsistent blogger these days...blame it on laziness if you will, but I really did want to share some pics from my mom's birthday, Thanksgiving and a couple other things before Christmas hit and we were too far gone.

Last month, my mother celebrated the 30th anniversary of her 27th birthday. She's not only my mom, she's also the beloved "mimi" of two of the most precious girls in the universe, and no, I'm not the least bit biased. We celebrated her birthday by grilling out, opening presents and eating birthday cake. We kept the festivities going with a girl's brunch to Breadwinner's. It was really nice for the three of us to spend some time together and I think we camped out for almost 3 hours. Happy Birthday, Mom!







The family was a little disjointed this Thanksgiving. I was in Austin and they were kickin' it in McKinney. My day started with the Christmas parade, followed by mimosas and then plenty of cooking. Obviously, you can't have a cooking party without music and dancing, both were in no short supply. Once the turkey was trimmed, the sweet potatoes whipped and the stuffing golden brown, we sat down to an exceptional feast. It was almost disappointing how much variety there was as I felt like I could only manage a few bites per dish. But, all was not lost, they made delicious leftovers the next two days.












The rest of the weekend was so fun and definitely felt like a vacation. There were wine tastings, shopping, movies, strolls through downtown and South Congress...I had such a blessed time with my dear cousin and friend (fousin), Christina.




And, since I just can't get enough of Austin (or my fousins), I headed back down 35 to celebrate China's birthday and Sean's graduation from UT. Our weekend started with China's birthday celebration: sweet and savory crepes at Flip Happy and a wine tasting at Stonehouse Vineyards. It was a gorgeous day, so after our tasting, we headed to the patio and enjoyed the beautiful weather. I think we could have stayed all day, but we had to take a ridiculous amount of pictures before jumping in the car and heading to Sean's graduation. Happy, happy birthday, China!!! I hope I get to celebrate the next 27 with you!



















After a delightful afternoon, we made it to Sean's graduation which was surprisingly painless. Being a December graduation, there wasn't a terribly large amount of grads, so all the candidates were able to walk across the stage. We made sure to cheer loudly for Sean. After the graduation, we all had to get our snapshots with the recent grad. So a huge congrats to Sean. I'm so proud to call you my cousin and apologize for all the torurous years you had to endure (being the only boy) with the Nsync videos, dance parties and the like. I know you are going to be successful whatever it is you do!











So consider yourself updated and ready for Christmas coverage via Abundant Life. Until then, may the peace of Christ surround you and draw you in during the blessed and wondrous season.