December Highlights

I can't belive it's 2021!! I'm not thinking this year is going to magically fix anything, but it is nice to have 2020 behind me!

After bible study, one day me and my sisters got ice cream and ate it by the huge Christmas tree in our town's square. It was pretty fun, even though it was freezing! 

I got my hair cut. It was just three inches, but I was very happy about it. =)

My brother moved into his own apartment to be closer to his work so we rearranged a lot of of the house after that. It was pretty stressful having the whole house out of wack for so long, but it's settling out now. And I got a new bookcase, which is the best thing that has come from all of this. XD

After my last day of work for the semester (My babysitting just goes with the school year), two of my sisters met me for lunch at CiCi's, which was like eating memories. XD It was fantastic. They had a few games you could play for a quarter, so we played one a few times for fun. We got a few cheap necklaces and a lot of fun memories. 

My family spent the day walking around the San Antonio Missions. It looked a little different this year since so many things were closed, but we got to do a lot. We ended the night by going to see a really impressive Christmas light display, and we ran into one of the family's I babysit for, which was super fun!

I spent a lot of time in December watching random Hallmarks, making cookies, wrapping up gifts, and trying to keep my cat from eating ribbon (She had a weird obsession). 

I attended my first online wedding. It was surprisingly nice to be able to just sit in comfy clothes for the wedding and be able to just shut it off when it was over. Also, I almost cried because it was a beautiful ceremony. 

My sister and I went to a Christmas eve service and in the middle of the message, one of my favorite kids I babysit looked over at me and shouted hello from three isles down. XD Thankfully he didn't do it too loud, but I was still having to hold in a laugh. 

My family always celebrated Christmas alone, so not much was different this year. We opened presents pretty slowly throughout the morning, played some games, and took a nice long walk because the weather was amazing. It was a very nice day. I didn't feel as excited leading up to Christmas as I normally do, but it was still a very nice day. 

After Christmas, I seized some time to declutter my closet. I finally let go of a lot of clothes that I didn't like anymore, and a bunch of random stuff that had gotten thrown in there. It felt good. 

My sister and I attended our young adult's group New years eve party. We didn't get to stay till midnight, but we did get to play several rounds of Empires, which was really fun. I actually won a round! (If you haven't played Empires I highly recommend it). Then we sat in my mom's room and heralded in 2021 together. 

Not gonna lie, December was not a great month for me. I don't do well with change, and for a lot of different reasons, this month was chock-full of it. I didn't feel super excited for Christmas, but I did enjoy it when it came. I let a lot of things stress me out that shouldn't have. But I'm super grateful to my awesome family and friends for supporting me this month. <3 

The only new books I read were the two on the bottom, and I was not super impressed with either, but I loved re-reading Interview with the Robot and The Green Ember. =D

Sorry I don't have my movies on here. I ran out of time. The gist of it is I watched cheesy Hallmarks, How To Train Your Dragon, and Toy Story 2. XD

Your Pain is Not Forgotten and 

Why Nativity Scenes Shouldn't Be Pretty Stories by Firefly

Short Story Whimsical Writing for His Glory

Day 16 (But basically all of Blogmas was amazing) Hailey Hudson

How was your Christmas? Any big plans for 2021?

My Top Five Christmas Books

I just put up my Christmas decorations. Yup, a week before Thanksgiving. I know some of you are groaning in , but honestly, I just love Christmas so much I didn't want to wait. I've got a Christmas candle burning and have already done a lot of my shopping. I'm in the mood so I wanted to share my top five Christmas books, so here we go:

Treasures in the Snow by Patricia st. John. This was my all-time favorite as a kid. It still has a powerful message for kids and adults. 

A Very Bookish Christmas. The collection is epic and I'm linking it on Amazon because it's only going to be available for a bit longer before it goes away forever. I would highly recommend all the stories in it. <3

At Christmas Lodge by Rebekah Morris. This is a tiny, but awesome little romance. <3

The Five Little Pepers by Margaret Sidney. This isn't strictly a Christmas book, but it has one of my favorite Christmas scenes ever. 

Gift From the Storm by Rebekah Morris. This is a sweet story with great characters and family relationships. 

Also, as a bonus, Little Women by Lousia May Alcott has some awesome Christmas's in it as well. The book starts just before Christmas. 

What's your favorite Christmas book? 

Decemeber Highlights

December was SO full I don't even know how to sum it up. My family did so much I am kind of still recovering from the breakneck pace. But it was awesome.

We went to two amazing walkthrough nativities. One was with repeating scenes that you walked past. The other was interactive, and you could talk to the characters! Both were super fun, and it was an amazing reminder of the reason for the season. 

My sisters and I attended our first Christmas Tree lighting in a nearby town. We got there and were looking around at all the booths... and missed the actual lighting. But it was super fun anyway. 

And probably my low point of the month; I scrapped my first car. I was pulling out of a parking spot, didn't pay enough attention, and ended up scrapping the car next to us pretty bad. The good news was it was at our church, and the family was really nice about it. =) 

We had our annual Christmas party and attended two more. So many fun people, so many good desserts. ;)

I did a lot more crafting this month than normal. I got to sew book sleeves and paint dozens of Christmas cards. I listened through several audiobooks and just had a blast. =D 

I did a couple of babysitting jobs, which was fun. Most of my jobs follow the school year, so I was glad to have the work, and I loved hanging out with the kids. Driving home at midnight with my sister one time after a job was interesting. 

My family went to San Antonio. The city is just about the best. We went to all the missions except the Alamo (it's honestly no fun), and then we went down to the river and walked for a while. They string Christmas lights on every tree that dangle down and just make the place feel magical. 

We celebrated Christmas early because my brother worked the 24'th and 25'th. So the Sunday before we opened presents, played a lot of games, and just hung out. It was awesome. 

We did a lot of light searching this year. We drove around with homemade hot chocolate and enjoyed people's light displays. My sister and I went to a walkthrough light show on a lake that was pretty awesome. 

And the last thing we did for the year was have a sibling Wii party. We shut it off just before midnight and heralded in the new year together with moderately quiet cheers because our parents were asleep. =)

Most of this months was re-reads. (Actual I only read three new books. Oops) So, my favorite new book was A Very Bookish Christmas and my favorite re-read was Happiness Hill and the Destiny Trilogy. <3

I'm Engaged Aria Lisette

Light has Come Totally Graced

Library People A Storynerds Life

Tongues in Trees A Farm Girls Life

12 Days of Christmas... Traditions Stories by Firefly

Fun Things to do When You're Sick Life without a Latte

Blogmas 2019 (The whole series is fantastic) Now All I Know is Grace

How was your Decemeber? What was your favorite part about Christmas?

Five Christmas Songs I'm Loving

It is getting so close to Christmas! I wanted to share with y'all five songs that I've been listening to on repeat this month. These are all songs that just make me excited for Christmas, and remind me of the reason of the season. There is also one that's just an epic version of Carol of the Bells. ;)

Just as a note, all of these videos lead to youtube and all copyrights belong to their respective owners. 

How Many Kings by Downhere

(Probably my number one Christmas song of all time)

It's About the Cross by Ball Brothers

(If you haven't heard this, do it now. It's amazing.)

One Small Child by David Meece

I Heard The Bells by Five Strings

(This is the best version of this song I have ever heard)

Carol of the Bells Alala

(A fun dramatic version to shake it up.)

What are your favorite Christmas songs? Drop them in the comments below and I'll check them out and tell you what I thought!

Currently... Christmas Edition

It has been a super busy week over here of Christmas prep. With everything from sending out presents, going to parties, and writing cards. So I thought it would be fun to do one of the "Currently" posts I used to do a lot on my old blog. So here we go!

Currently, I am... 

Reading... A Very Bookish Christmas. It's a delightful collection, you should check it out before it's gone at the end of the month!

Watching... Christmas movies! My favorite being The Christmas Card. <3

Listening... How Many Kings by Downhere. One Small Child by Aaron Pelsue Band.

Writing... Christmas cards and gift tag labels. Both super fun to do. 

Trying... To keep Christmas gifts a secret. It's getting harder the closer we get to Christmas cause its just. so. exciting!

Crafting... Painted Christmas cards. It is so much more fun then I thought it would be and I may have spent three hours doing it one evening. ;)

Doing... Lots of laundries. With Christmas comes parties, more outfits, which means more laundry. 

Loving... All the time with my family at Christmas events, and getting to hang with freinds!

Hating... How fast the month is going. Like how are we already almost halfway???

Discovering... New music. I got Music Unlimited really cheap, and I've been enjoying getting to try out a lot of music. (If you've got any recommendations, drop them off in the comments!)

Enjoying... My little Christmas tree on my desk. <3

Feeling... Happy. =)

Thinking... About my last job of the year tonight. I've got some super fun kids I'm babysitting. 

Hoping... To get some more Christmas cards written so I can send them out on Monday.

Considering... Making myself some tea. 

Starting... To get into full-blown obnoxious Christmas mood when you won't be able to get me off topic for long. ;)

Finishing... Up Christmas shopping! I did the last of it today!

What are y'all up to? Are you ready for Christmas?