Christmas, Christmas time is near

As hard as it is for me to believe, Christmas is less than 2 weeks away. Holy cannoli. It has totally sneaked up on me this year. But at least I have a cute, festive house to come home to after a long day sitting in front of a computer with a right hand that’s permanently frozen because my space heater was on the fritz back in August and I had to throw it away. Curse me and my bad circulation.

But now, back to our cute festive house. Neither of us are fans of house fires, so we invested in a nice pre-lit artificial tree this year and love it (now that John, being the superhero he is, found the one light bulb that was only halfway in and therefore causing an entire section to turn itself off and on randomly). I also got all crazy and bought a new tree skirt that matches our Christmas stockings, even though there was NOTHING WRONG with the one we already had. Eesh. Spending money so frivolously these days, I tell you what.

And to add to the festiveness and excitement of the countdown to Christmas, my cute mom gave us these puppies in time for December 1st, continuing a Christmas tradition that has been ongoing since I was a wee little girl.

A daily dose of chocolate does a body good, right? Or, if you’re my nephew Jake, sometimes it’s more fun to eat all 24 pieces in one sitting. I like the way he thinks.

Last week was the Week of Parties. We had John's work party on Tuesday, my work party on Thursday and a family party with my mom's side on Saturday. Whew. (We didn't have anything on Friday night, and I was more than content to just stay at home. I may even have put my pajamas on at 6 p.m. Don't judge me.) This year, we bucked tradition by actually winning prizes at our work parties! It was a thing of miracles, I tell you. Although technically, we didn't in actuality win anything at John's party...it was given to us by default after a guy at our table's raffle ticket was drawn twice for the same gift and he didn't want it. So we came home with a cute apron, a mixing bowl, some cookie sheets and a cake and brownie mix...and I had flashbacks to my bridal showers. But hooray for coming home with something. The win at my work party, however, was too legit to quit. I've worked at my company for a little over five years and have never won anything...so hip hip hooray when they read my name and handed me a $50 gift certificate to Market Street. Aww yeah. Free date night for us!

This year for the Austin Family Christmas Party, besides the mainstay White Elephant gift exchange, we had ourselves a pinewood derby, Christmas-style. Sounds a bit weird, eh? Good thing everybody on the Austin side is RIDICULOUSLY competitive so we all got really into it. There were some great cars...the infamous leg lamp from A Christmas Story, the Grinch's sleigh and the Griswold family Christmas tree strapped to the top of the car were a few of my favorites.

John and I stretched the theme a little bit and decorated our car in honor of my very favorite Jazz player (and pretend boyfriend) Paul Millsap. Because sometimes all a girl wants is Paul Millsap wrapped up under her Christmas tree. Unfortunately, we learned that Paul does better on the basketball court than he does in a derby race, but he still gave a valiant effort and for that he has my eternal devotion. Love you, Millie.