Try saying that 5 times fast.
Well, there it is, only 6 more sleeps until Christmas is here. Do you have all your shopping done?
Surprisingly, the Morales household is way ahead of the game this year...mostly because we're doing a small Christmas. We actually are done shopping and everything is wrapped. Our out of town gifts are mailed, Christmas cards have been sent, and this Florida girl is ready to see the white sands of Destin - oh, and my family too ;-)
As I just mentioned, we WAY scaled back our Christmas from last year. My family has talked about doing this for year, and this year, without even deciding to, both the Sansom's and the Morales' have cut back. We bought 3 gifts for each other, stocking stuffers, and PJs (per the Sansom family tradition). We bought "group gifts" for family members and it's really freeing to not have to put a ton of money and work into the gifting side of Christmas. It's truly liberating.
I heard about this "Simple Gifting Guide" too late in the game this year to follow it, but you better believe that next year, and for years to come, the members of the Morales Family will be getting the following -
something they WANT
something they NEED
something to WEAR
something to READ
What more could you ask for?
To me, it's been nice to focus on spending time with our friends doing festive Christmas stuff rather than saying we can't go spend money on things because of all the Christmas gifts we got each other...or...the way that it was last year...we just spent a TON of money in November and December and had to spend January recovering. We just can't afford to do that this year without going into debt, which isn't an option for us (You see, we just bought a house...which means three words "THIRTY YEAR MORTGAGE", can I get an amen from fellow homeowners out there?).
I digress. Back to the fun with friends.
Tuesday night Jason and I celebrated this season by attending Home Alone at the Alabama Theatre. Going to the Alabama for a Christmas movie is one of our favorite traditions. This year, we met up with our friends Bill and Mandi, and we had a great time laughing and eating popcorn at the movie, and we had just as much fun after the movie catching up with them at their beautiful home. Last night, we attended a super fun Christmas party hosted by one of our friends from Samford/Jason's work, AND we had a little "end-of-the-year-white-elephant-dirty-santa-party" with our small group. I will say this, our small group is comprised of some of the kindest people ever. No one would STEAL anything during White Elephant/Dirty Santa (or Dirty Elephant as I kept calling it all evening to Jason, I think he was a little annoyed with that name). Tonight, we're taking a break from the festivities and then we'll pick back up tomorrow with our annual ZooLights night.
I was talking to my mom last night on the phone and I told her that Jason and I are literally going to fall into her house on Monday night when we arrive and probably sleep until Christmas morning. Tis the season, though - I love how busy our week is!
I'm truly blessed by a group of women I eat lunch with at work just about everyday. Since I began working at Martin 2.5 years ago, our little lunch group has grown from about 4 of us, to almost 15 of us! Tomorrow, we'll be celebrating Christmas together with a potluck lunch, and I can't wait! But to tide us over until then, let us feast our eyes upon this awesome picture from our work Christmas lunch last week -
Tacky (aka AWESOME) sweaters all around!
I hope you all have a great day! Enjoy the season, and remember that Christ is the greatest gift this world has been given.
