{ #blogmas Day 24: Merry Christmas Eve!}

Merry Christmas Eve everybody!!

Today was a pretty chill day around here, which is exactly how we like our holidays.

D's dad came with gifts for the kids. So did his grandma, aunt, and Tristen.

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{ #blogmas Day 22: A Couple Last Minute Gifts!}

I know I said I was totally done shopping already, but when I went to finish up the Christmas Eve Boxes I noticed that I had four extra peppermint spoons. I could have kept them, and let them go bad in my cupboard. But I chose to gift them. And the only way to do that, was to make them into hot chocolate kits!

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{ #blogmas Day 21: Christmas Eve Boxes!}

I found this idea on Pinterest a couple years ago and it has become one of my favorites! I've added a little something every year. It has become a fun way for us to have family time on Christmas Eve. The boxes are from Hobby Lobby again this year. Most everything inside the box is from Target though. 

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{ #blogmas Day 20: Christmas Survey!}

A Christmas survey! I encourage you all to fill it out and either post it to your blogs and let me know you did so I can read yours, or answer the questions in the comments!

1. Do you know what you want for Christmas already? 

-Share with us 5 things from your list.
1. Fitbit
2. Treadmill
3. Slimmer waistline
4. New Purse (cause one can never have too many)
5. Uninterrupted sleep (because that's what every mom wants right?

2. Have you done any Christmas shopping yet? I'm completely done.

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{ #blogmas Day 19: Christmas With Siblings!}

For the last several years now my three siblings and I have gotten together around Christmas to exchange gifts and just spend some time together. With all of us being grown and having lives of our own we don't see each other near as much as we used to.

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{ #blogmas Day 18: An Amazing Aunt I am!}

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As I've said before, my favorite part of Christmas is giving gifts to the people in my life. This includes, my niece (Soapie) and nephew (Monkey). This year we might have gone a little crazy with my nephew though. To be fair, he is my favorite nephew ;)

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{ #blogmas Day 17: Stocking Stuffers!}

I don't know about you guys, but stockings are my favorite thing to buy for! The big gifts are fun, and I love watching the kids open them. But there's something so fun about the stockings. When I was a kid we would send my little sister in to our parents room to wake them up (cause dad couldn't yell at the baby lol) and he would tell us to go get our stockings. We'd bring them back to my room to open them and see what all each of us got. It was so much fun!

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{ #blogmas Day 16: Oh Christmas Tree}

Is my tree a beauty?! Of course I would think that though right?

I'm sure you all remember from last year but I in case you're new to the blog...I got it from my grandma. She used to have it standing (fully decorated) in the large storage building they own. She basically centered a Christmas party around it. I have wanted it for years. And finally a couple years ago, she let me have it.

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{ #blogmas Day 15: Christmas Decorations!}

Who doesn't love Christmas decorations? I certainly know I do! Which is why I tend to put them out right before thanksgiving and leave them until New Years. Except last year. Last year I had everything put away Christmas day. But I don't think that will be the case this year. We shall see.

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{ #blogmas Day 13: Counting Down!}

You know what the most annoying thing about having kids at Christmas time is?

How many more days til Christmas? Is Santa coming tonight? How many sleeps til he comes? Is he coming tomorrow? How many days does that mean? Is he coming this week?

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{ #blogmas Day 12: Santa Claus is Coming to Town!}

This has been a topic of conversation for the girls in my mommy group on Facebook. So I thought I'd ask you all the question also. Let you weigh in.

Do your kids still believe in Santa?

The short answer for me is No and Yes.

I have three kids. Of course the two teenagers know the truth. Gaige just sort of stopped believing a couple years ago. I'm not sure what made him stop believing, but he did. One day he just said Mom, I know you and dad buy the presents. I tried to tell him he was wrong but that kid is just too smart for his own good sometimes. He still likes Christmas, he plays along for Owens sake. He talks about Santa and tries to help me keep Owen believing.

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{ #blogmas Day 11: What's Under the Tree?}

I saw this on facebook the other day and thought it fit this post. We are spoiling our kids this year. And I'm not ashamed of that. D works hard and a lot to be able to afford what we are able to give them. My Christmases as a child were always big. We didn't have this much stuff, but we had plenty trust me. His were smaller. We both want to give our kids a good Christmas. I like to see the

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{ #blogmas Day 10: Christmas Cookies!}

I am not going to lie folks, I can not make a Christmas cookie to save my life. Not a good one anyway. Sure we go ahead and do the sugar cookies, mainly because Owen loves to do them. But I have just never been able to figure out how to make them stay soft. They usually cool down and end up crumby and hard :(.

But I did find a recipe on Facebook this year that I'm going to try out.

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{ #blogmas Day 9: My Christmas Wish List!}

Instead of writing down a bunch of materialistic stuff I want for Christmas (which I already received), I remembered a funny thing I read a few years ago. So that is what I leave you with!

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{ #blogmas Day 8: Winter Items You Can't Live Without!}

I can honestly say that I am not one of those girls that has to have a certain kind of anything to be happy. I'm pretty laid back when it comes to creature comforts.

However there are a select few items I don't think I will ever make it through another winter without!

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{ #blogmas Day 7: Favorite Home Made Gifts!}

I think home made gifts are probably my favorite gifts to give and to receive. It shows that someone took the time and energy to think of something they think you would love and they created it for you.

Being a mom, I get home made gifts all the time. My boys especially have always loved to make things for me. Be it a drawing they did while bored at the table or something they made at school. It's always special to me. Of course I don't keep everything. I'm a pack rat, not a hoarder.

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{ #blogmas Day 6: Opening Gifts!}

I am such a horrible blogger! I thought I had a post for the 6th but I didn't. Then when I realized it, I forgot to write one. Blah. But I am back and I'm ready to Christmas blog! So here we go!

For as long as I was growing up, we always did Christmas the same way. My grandparents would usually have a small Christmas with us on Christmas Eve, then they would take us to our parents house and we would spend Christmas Day with them. Of course it was never just us sitting around the house enjoying our gifts. We were up at the crack of dawn, done by around 10am, then it was off to my dads parents farm where we would open gifts there. We were then shuffled to my moms dads house where we would open gifts once again. It was so chaotic and overwhelming.

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{ #Blogmas Day 5: Christmas Food!}

What's better than presents on Christmas? Food!!

We are not super traditional when it comes to what goes on the table on Christmas. When I was little my grandma would make a turkey and all kinds of goodies because she would host a party on Christmas Day. But as the four of us (my brothers, sister, and myself) got older, the turkey was slowly given up for soup. Usually potato soup. Or cabbage. I like both.

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{ #Blogmas Day 4: Christmas Music!}

I love Christmas music! I'm not really a fan of the traditional songs. They're OK, but I like the ones you can get down to in your car lol. So here we go!

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{ #Blogmas Day 3: Favorite Christmas Movies!}

I think I've mentioned this a time or two before, but I love Christmas movies. Like I could watch them year round. In fact, Hallmark Channel is my favorite channel because it plays them all the time. In fact, because I already posted about my all time favorite Christmas movies last year (or maybe the year before?), I thought I'd stick to my favorite Hallmark Channel movies.

So here we go!

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{ #Blogmas Day 2: What Christmas Means to You}

Christmas means family to me. It's all about family. It has always been a time for all of us to get together.

My family in Arkansas would make the eight hour trip to stay with my moms dad.

A few days prior to Christmas Eve we would all gather at my grandparents house (the four us already lived there so..we just kind of hung out at home lol) where my grandma would make a big meal. We'd eat, exchange gifts, and just have a good time all around.

On Christmas Day we had a ton of places to go. My parents would load us (and all our gifts since we would take everything to our grandparents house) up and head to the Farm where my paternal grandparents lived. There we exchanged gifts and played video games. We were there for a couple hours.

Then it was off to my maternal grandfathers house. Once again there was food, gifts, and good times. My cousins and I spent the majority of the day in their finished basement. The Nintendo (oh man I'm old..) was a favorite past time. As was playing pool and watching movies on their big screen.

Later we would head back to my grandparents house where my parents would unload the van and we'd all pile in showing our grandparents what everyone got us and what Santa brought ;).

At some point either leading up to Christmas or on Christmas Day, we would have Christmas with my grandparents. Just my grandparents and the four of us. No one ever knew about it, it was just between the six of us. But it happened.

The common factor in all of our Christmas traditions is always family though. And that's what Christmas means to me, being near family, spending time getting caught up on each others lives. We spend so much of the year running around like a chicken with its head cut off that we often forget to check in with family. Christmas was a time to slow down and enjoy our family.

I love Christmas for this reason.

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{ #Blogmas Day 1: Favorite Holiday Tradition}

When I was a kid our traditions were few. Most of them included the four of us begging our grandparents to not make us stay with our parents that night and our parents getting pissed that we didn't want to stay with them. Not the best of traditions right?

I don't have that problem with my kids. We all live in the same house. I'm their parent and we have sort of made our own traditions..or I've tried to anyway.

To be totally honest my favorite tradition was always going Christmas shopping with my grandma. Every year (almost) we would bundle up and head out to shop..on Christmas Eve.

My grandpa would call her up, tell her someone had paid their bill for him fixing their car, and we would be off. It always snowed that day. Always. We'd spend all day shopping and come home with our station wagon (or van) full of gifts for everyone and their neighbor.

It was so much fun!

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