The weekend started off on Friday when my sister’s flight arrived on time from Honolulu. She had literally paid an arm and a leg for this plane ticket, and since she could only stay for 72 hours, we calculated that she was paying $28/hour to visit us this weekend. Of course, with that kind of pay scale, we had to make her time worthwhile!
We started off Christmas Eve with my all-time fave holiday tradition: The Nutcracker ballet! I’m sure you all remember that I grew up as a dancer, and my parents had hopes at one point that I would be one of the ballerinas in this production. Obviously, that never happened, but I still love the ballet. The Nutcracker is my favorite classic story, and I truly enjoy going every single year (even if the story doesn’t change!)
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| My mom (post surgery and already moving!), me, and my sis |
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| Me and Melissa |
For the record, I am not a giant! I’m only 5’5″ which is below average, but I am wearing heels in these pictures…and my sister and mama are seriously short! We even got our pictures taken at the ballet and the photographer told me I was too tall and I had to bend at the knee to fit in the frame! Seriously, I’m going to get a complex or something!
Anyway, I’m not sure my family enjoys the ballet as much as me (AHEM, Missy!), but they humor me and go. I appreciate it 🙂 Unfortunately, one of my sister’s gifts was caught up in the UPS drama that was taking Denver by storm on Christmas Eve, but we didn’t let that get us down!
Yesterday, of course, was awesome. I woke up early and zoomed back over to my parents’ house. After waking my sis up and getting my mom situated with her foot all comfy cozy, we embarked on our gifts.
Let me take a moment to explain how ridiculous my fam is with Christmas: it’s almost embarrassing. We honestly, truly enjoy purchasing gifts for each other and we have a tendency to go overboard. Like, by a lot! I feel like I was incredibly by spoiled by all of my family and I loved absolutely every single gift I received. I did notice a trend with my gifts this year that was very different than in years past: I’m not a vagabond anymore.
You guys all know that I spent a large part of my 20s traveling the world, living in tents, and being a ski bum. As a result, my gifts often reflected my outdoor interests, etc. However, this year my fam realized that I am enjoying settling down and getting a bit more “domestic.” As a result, my gifts reflected that portion of my new life! A few of my faves….
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| A really nice comforter set that I’m in love with. So cozy!! (Don’t even think about taking my bear–he is like 30 years old!) |
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| Self explanatory, I think! |
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| A food processor!! |
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| A juicer |
I am in love with all of them. I haven’t had a chance to use the crock pot or food processor yet but I am in love with the juicer! That glass of juice in the pic is a combination of 4 clementines, 2 apples, and about a cup of fresh spinach– and it was tasty!! I am sensing a juice cleanse in the next few days, so I’ll keep you posted!
And, last but not least, these suckers arrived in the mail a few days before Christmas:
My new Brooks Adrenaline 11’s that I won from The Boring Runner! I got them in a different color than I have, and I’m not going to use them until I wear out my current pair. But….not gonna lie. These babies are staring at my from the depths of my closet, begging to be taken outside!! 🙂
Sigh…and now it’s back to the daily grind. My sis left this morning, but we’re already making big plans for my visit in February. We have this awesome trek on the agenda that I can’t wait to share with y’all!