Baddorf Christmas

We had the Baddorf's over again this year for brunch on Christmas Eve.

I made monkey bread and cheese grits. Aunt Karen sent a ham, which didn't thaw out in time, but we were grateful for anyways.













Roux was a bit nervous about all the commotion, but settled in Bryan's lap to nap through the present opening.

Starry Nights

Last night we took Roux to Starry Nights. She was not impressed. Oh well

Christmas from my phone...

We had a very merry Christmas season this year. I am so thankful for 5 full days of time with my family. There will be other Christmas posts to come, but for now I'd thought I'd post pictures from my phone.

Merry Happy Grizzmas

For Bryan's birthday I bought us tickets to see the Grizz take on the Bulls.

We had great seats and ended up sitting next to some acquaintances which made it even more fun.

Peace on Earth

There have been a few things on my mind lately. The first being the Christmas season and how much there is to do and the guilt that I feel for not being able to relax, slow down, and enjoy this season. The second is all the madness that is going on in the world right now. On Friday I took the day off and generally stayed away from blogs, news, and social media. This morning I skipped watching the news which is part of our normal routine. I do not want the added stress and sadness of the world.

I don't view this as being insenstive. I know what is going on out there and it's awful. Horrible. But me thinking about it constantly is not going to help anything. It's only going to make me depressed and even more stressed and guilty.

I was reading in Luke 2 last night in preparation of Christmas. The following verses stuck out to me:

¹³ And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,

¹⁴ "Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!"^[c]

There were horrible things happening at that time in the world as well. But the angels praised God anyway and asked for peace on earth. I think that's what we should do as well. Glory to God and on earth peace amongst those whom he is pleased.

Entertaining

So last week I posted about my goals as a 28 year old. I'm happy to report that I'm doing really well at achieve them!

In the last week we've entertained twice. I didn't take pictures at either event, but I thought I'd do a quick recap.

First I had my Skyline girls over for Champagne (two birds, one stone!). We had a fun evening catching up and talking.

Secondly we had a bunch of friends over to celebrate Bryan turning 30. I fixed man dip, had a cheese plate, and a bowl of hummus for snacks. For the main course we did chili. I wanted to keep it simple and casual. We had a great time hanging out with friends that we don't normally get to hang out with.

On the champagne note, I've been striving to do my best in this area as well. On Wednesday after my birthday Jenna and I sampled some Andre Spumante and Brut with our queso. Don't judge.



I ordered a champagne cocktail out a few nights later.




Currently we have two bottles in the fridge. As part of this year of Champagne I'm going to try to taste a whole bunch of different types. I'm starting on the lowest shelf and working my way up. I have another Spumante and a cherry champgne waiting to be enjoyed.

Christmas Season

Well friends, we are deep into the Christmas season and the busy-ness is exhausting. Wonderful, yet exhausting.

A few weeks ago - before the busy-ness of it all settled in - I made a list of all the fun Christmasy things that I wanted to do. My plan was to one thing a day with the exception of our birthdays. It's totally unrealistic on so many levels, but I still do want to accomplish some of them. And what better way to make sure I do them all than to pronounce it publicly?! So here we go! (The one's crossed off are the ones we've already completed.)

Buy and decorate a tree
Have hot chocolate
Go Caroling
Attend a holiday party
Wear our Christmas best
Christmas Vacation dinner
Wrap presents
Make presents
Decorate Neighborhood sign
Use the Christmas china
Send Christmas cards
Drive around and look at lights
Wear our Christmas jammies
Make a hotty toddy
Read the birth story
Eat pie for a meal
Starry Nights
Movies to watch: Home Alone, Christmas Story, Christmas Vacation, Elf, Mixed Nuts

What are you doing to celebrate the Christmas season?