Christmas is Almost Here!!

2 days to go until Christmas Eve!  I am pretty excited.  Ok, ok, maybe REALLY excited.  I have the realization that this is probably the last holiday season where I get a lot of time off for a while.  I fully expect to be working either Christmas Eve or Christmas day next year, one way or the other.  Which makes me sad, but it is going to be what it's going to be.  So for now, I will enjoy this year's Christmas as much as I can.

I have been ahead of the game getting everything done.  I thought I'd take longer to get my shopping done since I didn't have to ship our presents......got it all done in one day.  Figured I'd take FOREVER dragging out getting our cards addressed and sent, got it all done in one-two days (one night to address, 2nd day to stamp, stuff, and send!).  I did drag out the wrapping just a little bit, since some of our gifts were ordered online, it took a while before I could officially say I was done wrapping, but I got that done about a week ago!

I am beyond happy with our Christmas decorations, and definitely hope to add more and more each year.  I saw an idea on Pinterest for displaying your Christmas cards by wrapping a piece of ribbon around your cabinet doors in your kitchen, and then you just pin the cards you get to the ribbon as they come in.  It turned out fabulously!  I am so pleased with it, and will definitely do this from now on! It just makes the kitchen look so festive!  Of course, I'm running out of room, so other card display ideas may be needed!

Here is a close up of that little tray above our sink.  Mike's uncle J gave it to me for Christmas a couple of years ago, and I kind of forgot about it, but found myself in love with it this year!

And here is our fireplace again just for reinforcement, because I still love it so much, although must remember next year to learn how the hell to take care of poinsettias....ours are now looking pretty sad looking.

In recent news, my blonde hair has now been replaced with a beautiful brunette!  I was feeling so bored with the blonde, it always looked the same, then I'd have to deal with the shit-stain looking roots for a month until it was time to go back again.  It was so difficult to keep my hair moisturized, and I needed a change!  I didn't tell Mike, because I wanted to surprise him.  I had to ignore some of his texts asking for pictures throughout the day because I wanted to see the look on his face!  And I wasn't disappointed. :)  He loved it, and stopped mid-sentence once he saw it.  Most people either had that reaction, or it didn't register at all until I started staring at them weirdly for a long time, lol.  But I'm very pleased with it. :)

We also had a really fun time last Sunday.  We had a Christmas brunch with a bunch of friends, and it was super-amazing-delicious.  I got cinnamon roll french toast, and hot damn was it good!!

Then we headed downtown to make our 3:00 reservations at the The Palm Court inside the Drake Hotel for afternoon tea.  It always stunning inside that place, and even more so because it was Christmas time.  The tea and mini sandwiches were amazing, as expected.  I really never thought I would find myself to be the "tea time" kind of gal, but now I drink hot tea every single day.  I have my mom-in-law to thank for that.  I started drinking hot tea after I was finally able to make it to the ladies' tea she organizes at her church.  Chamomile tea is my favorite, but I hope to branch out and try some new ones, like this Rose Champagne tea I saw at Teavana!

I really hope we go back to have afternoon tea again around my birthday!  Cuz then they could play Happy Birthday on the harp for me! :) I'm a child, I know.

I was super pleased with how my cookie exchange and potluck went at work!  Some people took a little bit of work to get them to sign up, but we had about 8 people total sign up, and it was just so fun.  I tried a new recipe I found on Pinterest for Peppermint White Chocolate M&M cookies, and they were amazing!  You can find the recipe here: http://www.twopeasandtheirpod.com/white-chocolate-peppermint-mm-cookies/

This is how mine turned out, not as pretty, but I'm sure just as delicious!

And everyone loved them!  I texted my boss to let her know how much I loved the cookies she made, which were amazing!! And she told me that she and her husband ate them all! :)  I was really happy with them.  I am going to make some more either today or tomorrow to take to our families, because I am sure they will love them!  The only problem is M&M better make these every year if they are to become a Christmas tradition! :) 

And here is Dr. G.'s contribution to our cookie exchange, maybe I won't bug him to sign up for the cookie exchange again next year.  lol

Although those poison cookies were amazing, I need to know what bakery he went to!  And that tray is fluffing adorable!  I was hoping he would let one of us have it, but no such luck.  lol

And everyone brought something for the potluck, and my boss ordered pizzas.  And it just made me extremely happy to see everyone participate even though people were grumbling that no one was going to do it.  It just made me really happy to have pulled it off, and got some of the Christmas grinches to turn a new cheek. :)  And we all ate WAY WAY WAY too much.  I made a cheeseball for the potluck, and I thought it was awful when I taste-tested it.  It was way too salty, but I figured maybe someone would like a lot of salt and brought it anyway.  The whole thing was devoured.  I was truly surprised everyone loved it as much as they did.  It made me want to try some different kinds of cheeseballs, because it was really easy to make!

Today is day 1 of 9 days off.  I am so excited to have some time off.   I am also really excited for our road trip to go see my family!!  We are leaving at 5 in the morning Christmas day, and come back the 29th late.  It is going to be so nice to have all of this time with them, and get to enjoy my mom's cooking!  And Waffle House of course, big priority is to eat as much WH as I can!  Before we go though, I have a LOT of baking to do:

Gotta make more of the M&M cookies, my Santa cookies, and of course....Puppy Chow (Or muddy buddies,whatever you want to call it).  I also want to squeeze in some pampering time before we pack, and pick up our rental, etc.  Luckily, I was on the ball with all of my other Christmas tasks, so I have plenty of time to just relax, too!

Gotta get another cup of coffee and get moving.  Next blog won't be until the New Year probably.  So, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!  Next post will be NY resolutions and goals!

Just what the doctor ordered!

Yesterday my office had our annual Christmas luncheon, and we had an amazingly fun time. Everyone has been somewhat upset this week because the owner changed the requirement to be considered full-time because of all of the health insurance things changing, and some people lost their benefits.  So, it's been a rough week for everyone to be happy to come to work for obvious reasons.  And it has just been insanely busy, which is always the case at the end of the year.  The worst part of it is when people get upset with you because they want to squeeze in their cleaning or a crown before the end of the year, and we have nothing to offer them.  People get much nastier this time of year about things like this.  Luckily, I have dealt with it enough that I recover quickly from getting my head bitten off.

Anyway, getting off topic here!  So, everyone has been pretty stressed out, and yesterday was exactly what we all needed.  The whole day me and my friend talked about food because we were saving our appetites for lunch, and we were starving!  Even when we tried to stop talking about food, we kept talking about food!  Luckily, several patients blew us off at the end of the day, and I collected all of the payments up front when the last patients came in so that we could hightail it out of there!  My friend and I came back to my house to change, and then ran over to the restaurant.

Our lunch was at Ruth's Chris in South Barrington, and it was so unbelievably good!  And all of us girls were ordering different kinds of martinis, and passing our drinks along so others could try them.  And I was pretty drunk by my 3rd one!  And my instagram account shows how crazy I went with pictures, were a lot of them weren't very clear cuz of the lighting in our private room, but it still documents the fun!  Me and my friend and another coworker walked around the shopping center to sober up a bit before we drove home.  And we hammed it up with the sales girls in one store who were "mad and refusing to help us" because we didn't invite them to our fun party, lol. 

Oh, and the hygienist kept ordering fru-fru drinks for one of the doctors who is always a bit of a loner in the office, and he hammed it up for us....so it was just exactly what we needed.  I am hoping it will help those who are upset to see they still work at a great office, and I think we got to bond more than we usually get to in the office.  I even managed to muster up some niceness to a coworker who usually does nothing but rub me the wrong way at work and had given up on.  But I think part of that was the alcohol, lol

We have 17 days til we go on our road trip to see my parents.  And hopefully I can get some time in with some friends while we are down there, too!  But I am completely ready!  I am only waiting on 2 items which shipped yesterday, faster than expected!  And I am going to finish wrapping and ribboning what I do have here!  And then I gotta decide on what kind of cookies I'm going to make for my cookie exchange, which right now has 7 people (I got one of the male doctors to sign up, and he wrote poison cookies next to this sign up, lol).  I will be happy with 10, and honestly, I am hoping no more than that because I don't want to make anymore than 60 cookies for this! 

And I have to muster up the courage to make my next hair appointment.  I'm such a wimp.

Weekend Update!!

So Mike and I were able to finish our Christmas shopping the other day, and I was so happy to get that over with! We do have some things ordered online that we are waiting to get, but it will all be here before Christmas! Deciding on what to get for our family was fairly easy, even with the bare bones lists (or non-existent) we got from some. I feel excited about what we got!

I wrapped up the gifts we have in our possession, but I was too tired to put the ribbon on them. So post-its are all they have on them right now, lol. I like doing the ribbon, but I do not like the wrapping part. So I am thankful that a lot of the gifts this year require gift bags. Of course , I still have more to wrap once they are delivered, so I'm only halfway done with the wrapping here.

But at least the shopping is done, cards are sent out, and the house is decorated. So I can spend more time just enjoying Christmas movies and music, and do some baking!!

Mike is having one of his friends over for the game today, and I am just gonna relax today. The last 2 days have been brutal at work, and I need to recharge