day 149

Today it took all the willpower in my body to stay away from the Valentine's Day section at Target.

I knew that if I ventured over there it would take even more willpower not to buy everything they had, so for the sake of my bank account and my roommates (who probably don't want our apartment to be decorated entirely in Valentine's day paraphernalia) I decided to steer my cart in the opposite direction!

(But seriously, is there anything cuter?)

day 119

merry christmas!

We got to spend Christmas morning with the Shadday's, which made opening presents in the living room even more fun! there were 10 piles of presents scattered around the room, some half-eaten cookies left on a plate, and a funny note from santa.

Then we got ready for christmas with the Callaghan's. I was ready (as I'm sure everyone else was) for our first Christmas without Mom-Mom to be difficult and sad. She was so wrapped up in every tradition and every decoration - everything about the christmas season made me miss her. I don't know how else to explain it other than that she was Christmas. It only made sense to assume that Christmas would be less without her there.

What I realized though, is that she was there. We couldn't hug her or hear her voice, and that part was as difficult and sad as I expected it to be. But everything else - the love, the traditions, the decorations, the food (!), the family - still went on and stopped us from dwelling on missing her for too long. So many things that I love about Christmas came from her, and the fact that she left herself behind in all of those things felt like the greatest Christmas gift I'd ever gotten.

It was a great day, as usual, spent with the greatest family I could ask for :)

p.s. how cute is this baby?

day 118

merry christmas eve :)

every christmas eve we take the obligatory dressed up christmas photo shoot in front of the tree.

then we all pile into the car and have dinner at my grandparents' with don's side of the family. we eat mom-mom braun's crab cakes and cole slaw, all of the cousins exchange gifts in a pollyanna, and all of the grown ups do a yankee gift swap.

then we get back in the car and go to "midnight mass" which is actually at 11 p.m., which I don't really understand. but anyway it's beautiful, regardless of what time it is.

then we go home and wait for santa to come!

day 117

Thursday was a busy day of running errands & last minute gift shopping. but i started the day out at the DMV, because guess who lost her license at the airport? this girl, that's who.

yeah... getting back through security was really fun with no license. thankfully i had my social security card (who knows why!) and an expired license...so they didn't give me a hard time. i guess it's a good thing that i keep everything (and that I don't look too suspicious!)

Anyway, I was hoping not to find myself at the DMV again for a while, but there I was in line on Thursday morning waiting for a new license. 1 hour, 2 forms, and $13.50 later, I had one!

day 116

i came home to this beautiful sight tonight!

i didn't make it home 'til close to 11 p.m., but it was great to be back. it didn't feel like christmastime in florida - any christmas decorations seemed out of place when it was above 60 degrees outside!

day 104

tonight I spent a glorious few hours christmas shopping/browsing through the most beautiful Barnes and Noble ever - it was 3 stories! I could have stayed forever. I just love that place.

When I was little my dad used to take me every Friday night - I think that's a tradition I might need to reinstate in my life!

day 103

tonight was our cookie/gift exchange. loving all of the presents under the tree!

(i got $10 to noodles and $5 to starbucks...wahooo!)

day 97

Christine and I got to go to Emily's house for Hanukkah dinner!

I forgot what a fan I am of matzoh ball soup and potato latkes

love my roomies :)

day 95

Happy 1st night of Hanukkah! Emily lit candles and said the prayers and I sort of hummed along every other word. Look at our multi-denominational holiday decorations! So many pretty lights

day 92

knox 210 is officially ready for the holiday season! check out our b-e-a-utiful christmas tree!

day 89

today I'm thankful for:

... a turkey big enough to feed 33

... cousins, aunts, uncles, siblings, parents, and grandparents (i've got a whole lot of each of those things... both in and out of this picture!)

... old traditions and new traditions

... memories, hugs, and Kleenex

... pumpkin roll

... Christmas music

... disposable plates and silverware & rented glasses (aka no dishes to wash!)

... phone calls to the people you can't be with on Thanksgiving

... being in a room where you can actually feel the love

(too cheesy? deal with it.)

I'm just thankful for Thanksgiving :)

day 83

two pictures for today! the first one happened thursday night, but it was technically Friday! We went to see Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, part one at midnight! I've gone to almost every midnight release of HP, so I had to keep up the tradition! (I didn't dress up this time though; I left my wizards robes at home)

But then, Friday night, our friends invited me over for an early Thanksgiving dinner! I was so impressed...there was so much food, and it was all delicious! I'm thankful to have such great friends :)

day 10

shana tova! and thank goodness for a jewish roomie :) emily broke out the apples and honey to celebrate rosh hashanah tonight - yummm. if only we had some challah....