I am STOKED that today is December 1st! December is my most favorite month of the year. Why?
Second of all, it has the wonderful holiday of Christmas in it. Christmas is actually my second favorite holiday (Thanksgiving is first), but it's the one I get the most excited about! I absolutely LOVE shopping for other people and finding the "perfect gift" for my loved ones. I spend all year making mental notes about things my friends/family mention that they would like or need and I save them all up for Christmas and surprise them with those perfect gifts!
Third, my birthday is December 28th and I love my birthday.
(on a side note: I think that everyone should make a big deal about their birthday. After all, that's the ONE day a year that everyone celebrates you and your life! Also I think you should really take time to be appreciative of your parents on your birthday. After all, you wouldn't be here without them and the day of your birthday should be just as special to them as it is to you! I have a tradition of NOT working on my birthday. Don't care what I have going on, I take off that day no matter what. It's MY day and I'm not letting anyone tell me what to do.)
Fourth, it's the final month of the year and I look forward all month long to the new year starting!
This year I'm especially excited it's December because it's the last month I have before I start school again. I'm sure you know I've been feeling a little anxious about starting school, but now I'm just making myself be excited. The sooner that school starts, the sooner the Spring semester ends and the sooner I can start FULL TIME to summer school and quit my full time job. I feel like quitting my full time job and actually attending all my classes (rather than taking them on the internet) is going to be the time when I REALLY feel like I'm making a change in my life for the better. So instead of focusing on the stress of taking 16 hours + working 40 hours in the Spring, I'm just focusing on how fantastic next summer will be! And since December is the only thing standing in my way of starting school, and starting school (and I guess being IN school) is all that is in my way of next summer - I'm READY!
Alas, I have 14 work day (after today) left until my Christmas vacation starts and I'm READY for these days to fly by! I made a brief to-do list this morning of the work tasks I need to accomplish in order to hit a huge deadline I have looming at the end of this month. I'm feeling good about it because it's totally accomplishable and as long as I stick to my (not ambitious) schedule, I'll be finishing early! Having that planned out and not over my head makes me feel not only more productive, but it gives me a purpose to be in the office each day. I'm loving that.
December will be busy. There are several major happenings in my life going on, including (but not limited to):
*Birthday parties (ALMOST all of my friends and a lot of my family was born in November/December/January)
*Holiday parties
*Holiday events with my little sister (Big Brothers Big Sisters)
*My mom is having major surgery (this one is kind of a bummer)
*Matt and I are flying to NJ to spend Christmas with his family
*MY birthday!
There are a few other happenings like Christmas shopping, events with friends, etc... but they will all fit into my schedule with no problems. This December I am simply focusing on my 100 day challenge and to enjoy this time. I am determined to have a stress free Christmas!
Basically, as you can tell, I'm READY! I was so ready that I put up my Christmas Decorations the weekend BEFORE Thanksgiving :) Stef asked me to post pictures of my tree, which I am posting below. My tree is VERY special to me. About 95% of the ornaments on the tree have been given to me by my Grandmother over each year of my life. She has made it a tradition to give her grandkids hallmark ornaments every single year and even now, at the (almost) age of 24 I can expect 3-4 new ornaments a year. If you have kids that are young or maybe grandkids coming, this is a great thing to do with them. I will absolutely do this with my kids and my grandkids. Every year when I put up the tree and see the ornaments, I get reminded of my each Christmas when I opened each box. I have favorites, of course, and seeing those ornaments help me to relive those precious years of my childhood and it makes me even MORE excited for Christmas. (My grandmother's tip is she visits Hallmark the day after Christmas and buys the leftover ornaments that are 50% off and gives them to us the next year!). Some of the ornaments on that tree are as old as I am and it's incredible to be holding something that you were given at your first Christmas!
My beautiful tree!
Close-up of some of the ornaments
One of the oldest ones - from my very first Christmas
One of my favorites - Santa on a hammock watching, "All My Reindeer"
Another favorite - Ballerina Mousey
My fireplace set-up. Those are Matt's (we can't find his real one), mine and Lexi's stockings.
Your tree is GORGEOUS! Seriously beautiful. THank you for finally putting some pictures up. :)
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like you have a busy December ahead of you, but it also sounds like you have everything under control. Next year will be a fantastic year and I can't wait to hear about everything that you learn.
By the way, I love the ornament idea and I'm totally stealing it.