Christmas Week & the future

So the blog I posted before this has the main pictures from Christmas day, so I will go ahead and explain my past few weeks. I see I haven't posted in a while, due to several factors. :)

I went home on the 23rd. But before that, after the doggies got their Santa pics made, we came back and gave them THEIR Christmas presents. (Two huge bones, two smaller ones, and some treats.) They also got a present from "Nana" (my mom) with squeaky toys. So cute. :p I finished up my grad school application stuff and mailed the part that had to be "snail mailed" when I got home on the 23rd. It was relieving, in a way.

I dropped them off at their boarding place. I hate doing it, but it makes it better that they are so excited to be there and the staff knows their names and tendencies. It's homey. One day when I'm not a poor college student, I'll tip them really well. :) We gave them a copy of the Santa picture and they put it up on their wall. I felt like a proud Mama. hahaha. I'm so lame! I love it.

So then I went home to my Mom's house. We didn't do much that night, but Will & I had "movie night." We watched 27 Dresses and talked for hours. We do that a lot, since we are both Chatty Kathy's. lol.

Then the next day was Christmas Eve AKA My Mom's birthday!! She turned 42. But I didn't say that. It was really "29." ;) We got her an awesome "Super Mom" Card. It was soooo cute. Then we all went to eat at LongHorn for her bday and then that night, Ava put out the cookies and reindeer food. Then me, Mom, Will & Zach went to the Christmas Eve service at the church. It was beautiful. Christmas music (esp Quaker style) is my favorite. Actually, church music in general is beautiful to me. It was a beautiful service and really made me appreciate it more. My favorite part? "Let the Christmas spirit affect you as it affected you as a child. Approach Christmas with the open heart that children do." We waited for Ava to be asleep after we got back, and then all 5 of us elves got Christmas Morning ready. :p It's interesting being old. lol. Will and I had a funny conversation about what Christmas will be like when she's older too. :)

Christmas morning - OH what a morning! She had us up by 7-ish and by 7:30 presents were being torn open. She got a ton of barbie stuff, I got a lot of much-needed clothes, Will got clothes and some helpful school stuff, Zach got clothes as well and some cool movies/games. :) We're so old. ;) Then we had our typical Christmas morning breakfast - Zach made his cinnamon biscuits and Mark made the sausage casserole. DELICIOUS, both of them.

Nanny & Papa got there around 12 or 1 and we did those presents. :) And Nanny tried to teach Will how to juggle. haha. Then we had Christmas "linner." lol. It was yummy, as usual. Seth finally came down a little after that and did his presents.

Then Seth & I left to go see his Mom. We went to her & Lee's house and Shane & Heather were there too. We had yummy food and did gifts there too. THEN, it started to snow and actually stick!! White Christmas, at least the most White Christmas we've seen in over 100 years. :p I had to drive home in it (not fun, kind of scary) because it was dark outside and it was like the snow flakes were attacking my windshield. :/ I was stressed. But made it home safely and played in it with Will & Zach. :p Ava wasn't able to. Bedtime and all that. But she got to the next AM when it was done snowing. :)

That day, we went to church. Another gorgeous service. I really love that church, honestly. After church, Ava went to play with her bff Rachel. lol. Mom got to sleep some more and Will, Zach & I went to Dad's for more Christmas. We did the presents with Dad & Maggie and then, of course, went to Summit for some wings and football. Some things never change. :p After that, we watched movies again that night.

I left yesterday (Monday the 27th) and came and got my babies from their boarders. They were soooo tired! :) Matter of fact they are asleep right now too! Now back to reality and bills and bullsh*t. BOO!

But I'm excited for my favorite holiday - New Years! I love the renewing sense that it brings. I hope that 2011 is 3948405493 times better than 2010. 2010 was okay, but it was not that exciting and certainly nothing of great importance really happened. I don't mean that this year hasn't had a lot of learning involved, but I feel kind of disappointed that I didn't really hit any major milestones. I'll have to get used to that, I'm sure. But I guess I did finally stop being a "teenager" when I turned 20 earlier this year, but it didn't really feel like a big deal. I didn't finish anything and I didn't really start anything either. Next year, I think I'll be both finishing and starting things, assuming I get into Grad School! *fingers crossed* I'm actually excited about grad school now. I think I am about 94% certain that I want to do this with my life, and I don't think anyone is 100% about anything like that.

I have a feeling 2011 is going to have a lot in store for me, not just including graduating college and turning 21. :) And possibly, hopefully, starting grad school. I think next year will have a lot of really neat things going on. I'm excited for our little New Years party! We only invited like 8 people, so it'll be small, but that's how I like it. :)