A Christmas Blend

A List:
1. We are drinking Starbucks Christmas blend coffee right now.  It is amazingly smooth and delicious.  After you have tried many coffees you realize that some are good and some are amazingly drinkable.  The Christmas Blend is amazingly drinkable.   You will quickly find yourself pouring a second cup.

2.  We had Christmas in Magnolia this year.   It was fantabulous.   One thing Christmas reminds me of on my side of the family is the severe shortage of girls.   My Mom's brother's kids consist of 3 boys and a girl, and my Dad's brother's kids consist of 3 boys and girl.   I also have three little brothers.  

3.  We spent Christmas Eve with my Mom's side of the family.   Our tradition is to open one gift an hour until they are all un wrapped.   In between each unwrapping we fill ourselves with all the wonderful food that continually comes out of the kitchen.   We end the day with a vigorous round of Christmas bingo.    Chris and I dominated again this year, but in true oldest child fashion gave one of our gifts to one of the younger kids.

4. Chris and I laid in bed Christmas Eve night and read the Christmas story to each other.  This made me miss the Hill side of the family's special Christmas Eve tradition of reading the Christmas story as an entire extended family.

5.  Christmas morning is spent with the just my immediate family.   This year I made Pioneer Woman's cinnamon rolls and a special batch of gluten free rolls for my brother.   I love this morning every year.   We only let one person open one gift at a time to stretch it out as long as possible and to see what everyone got.   The sibling love gets better every year.   My brother's girlfriend got the boys nerf guns.   Needless to say a huge nerf war quickly ensued.

6.  We spend Christmas afternoon with my Dad's side of the family.   I love this time because it is always super chilled.   When we gather with this side of the family the testosterone levels always rise to incredible heights as we have 7 boys ranging from 15-26 all in the same room.   My only girl cousin and I always manage to find a spot away from all the manliness.

7. We are leaving this Saturday to drive to the Diamond H ranch in Childress, TX to spend Christmas with Chris's family.   I cannot wait to drink coffee on the couch with my Mother in Law (love) :)

8.  I am babysitting my brothers great dane for a couple of days.    Jack The Great Dane is my Giada's best friend in the whole world.  She is completely in love with him and cannot be reasoned with in any way when he is here.  Jack on the other hand is in love with Luke (my brother) and mopes around and cries when separated from him.  

9. This Friday we have our last wedding of 2010.  We will have officially attended 12 weddings this year.  Chris being in at least 4 and I in one.

10.  The weekend before Christmas was my birthday.  Which was spent attending one graduation and two weddings.   Chris still managed to squeeze in a cupcake party for me :)