Getting Back on the Wagon

I'm not sure why getting "back into the swing of things"

has seemed so difficult lately. 

But for some reason, I'm having a super hard time

getting back on the blogging wagon.

And the laundry wagon.

And the blow drying my hair wagon.

And the cooking my own dinner wagon.

Eh...I digress.

Is it just me, or does Christmas just get more perfect every year?

As I've mentioned before,

my family is really hokey about Christmas traditions.

It's a common known fact that Christmas is just more fun when you're a kid.

That's why every person in my family 

chooses to act like a kid on Christmas, so the fun's not lost.

Pretty clever, huh?

The last piece to be added to our Advent Calendar. Eeeek!

This was me and Robbie's second married Christmas 

(which holy cow...seems like a lot)

and after two years of marriage and eight-ish years of dating,

I think we're finally starting to figure out the balance.

Usually we spend our Christmases a lot like we spend our Thanksgivings - 

running to and from family members' houses.

And while it gets exhausting,

I've always said I would rather be blessed with too many places to go,

than not enough places to go.

This year we still did a lot of running around

but for some reason it felt much more relaxed than it has before,

which was nice.

Christmas started the Saturday before at my Mema's.

December has always been an interesting month for Mema.

Last year she ended up in the hospital with an infection.

The year before that she had hip replacement surgery.

This year it was a broken arm.

But don't worry, it didn't break her spirits.

And we all got to sign her cast. 

She was pretty pumped.

After listening to my first grade cousins read the Christmas story

(out of the King James Bible nonetheless.

And yes, that's me bragging if you can't tell.

They're in first grade people)

we exchanged a few Christmas presents and even more laughs.

Oh and mom led us in Feliz Navidad. 

She danced too...hence the blur.

We like to call her our "one woman show".

Christmas Eve was spent with the Steberts.

We ate yummy steaks on the grill,

got new jammies, 

and lit the Advent Candle at the Christmas Eve Service,

without burning the church down. 

Christmas morning started at 6:30am 

(I don't want to talk about it)

where Robbie and I exchanged our gifts

and the pups opened their stockings. 

Willow is still working on that bone by the way.

I did not take any pictures because it was 6:30

and I had a sinus infection.

I'll be better when I have human children.

We went to Kinston for Robbie's mom's annual Christmas breakfast

complete with breakfast casserole, grits, cookies, and cake.

It was deeeelicious. 

Around lunch we headed over to my dad's 

where I napped most of the afternoon. 

Sinus infections and 6:30am wake up calls will do that to a girl.

Usually Robbie and I go see a movie on Christmas night 

but we decided to spend the night snuggled in new jammies

on our couch, watching The OC instead.

{Sidenote: I got the entire series of The OC on DVD for Christmas 

and I had forgotten how much I loved that show. 

It could also be a factor into my "hopping on the wagon of life struggle".}

We've slowly started trying to get back into our normal routine.

Fortunately, it's already Friday,

I'm still on break,

and New Year's Eve is right around the corner.

All of these things seem like good reasons to stay out of the routine

for just a little bit longer. 

Willow's currently hating wearing her "Let It Snow" shirt.

I'm snuggled under a quilt on the couch 

staring at my Christmas tree

that, much to my husband's dismay, is still up and running.

I'm going to hang out off the wagon for just a little bit longer. 

Hugs,