The Christmas That Was

I've been putting off writing this post for several reasons. One - I am still in deep denial that Christmas is over and two - I have been too lazy to upload my Christmas pictures. The latter reason isn't even a sufficient excuse considering I only took about 2.5 pictures of the entire holiday. But hey, at least I'm consistent.

Christmas this year was simply delightful. Although I'm pretty sure I could say that every year. As usual Robbie and I spent a lot time hopping back and forth between our families. And as usual, we were exhausted but more than thankful to have so many wonderful places to be and people to see.

Christmas started for me last Friday. It was a half day at school and pajama day (aka the greatest school day ever). And y'all. Words cannot explain the amount of joy felt in my classroom that day. We opened presents from our friends, watched movies, and had the BEST hot chocolate party (thanks to my awesome Aunt Debbie)! I'll admit, there was very little academic learning that took place but I think what did happen was equally as important for my kids. We had a chance to just hang out together and celebrate our classroom family and share the appreciation we have for each other. And I know that sounds lame. But it is what it is.

I posted a picture of all the new books my assistant and I got for our kid's Christmas presents a few weeks ago and mentioned how seeing all those new shiny books makes me tempted to keep them all for myself. Seeing and hearing the excitement on their faces definitely makes giving them the books worth it all. But because I'm paranoid I'm scared to actually upload the pictures of their faces, you just have to trust me. It's priceless. Just saying. 

Friday night I met some girls for a small Wine and Cheese Party, three of my most favoritest things (wine, cheese, and party). Robbie was out of town so naturally I spent most of Saturday in bed with the dogs. It was my first official day of break after all. That night I put on my finest Santa attire and headed out to a Tacky Christmas Party. I'm not sure when or why being tacky for Christmas became such a good idea but it is quite possibly the funnest thing ever.

Sunday we celebrated Christmas at my mom's with my Mema and all the cousins. If you remember last year, Mema spent Christmas with a broken arm. This year, she's been in rehab recovering from open heart surgery. It's never a dull moment with her. We were able to break her out of the home for Christmas, which was nice. We didn't do our normal gift exchange this year which was weird (you know how I hate changing traditions) but we still had so much fun just being together.

Monday, ECU won their bowl game so I had a happy happy husband! And we got to spend the evening with more family and friends!

The rest of the week kind of all blurs together. Christmas Eve was spent at my mom's with the whole Stebert clan. We went to the Christmas Eve church service and then exchanged presents in our new Christmas Eve jammies. Christmas morning Robbie and I woke up early squirrely and exchanged our gifts. I hit a home run with Robbie's stocking this year, he even said so himself. This is a big feat for me. By 7am we were on the road to Kinston for breakfast dinner with Robbie's parents. Apparently once we have kids, Christmas breakfast will become my job which is fine, except whew...his mama's got some big deeeeelicious shoes to fill. That afternoon we went to my dad's, ate more food, saw more cousins, and opened more gifts. Christmas night was spent at Robbie's grandma's house and then later on a Christmas movie date. Thursday Robbie and I made our last Christmas stop to his other grandparent's house and then spent the rest of the day at Urgent Care thanks to the bad back Robbie had been dealing with through all the aforementioned Christmas excursions.

After a pretty lazy weekend, we're ready for another fun-filled week. Fortunately, New Years is not nearly as busy as Christmas. But usually it is almost twice the fun!

Speaking of New Years - any big plans?

 Any big resolutions?

Anyone has shocked as me at the fact that 2013 is over?

P.S. Shout-out to my girl Lauren. I'm still so sad that amongst all the craziness I missed our blate! New Year's Resolution - plan lots and lots more!!

Hugs,