And now, let’s continue from yesterday.

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13.  When I began grad school in 2006, I decided that, although I didn’t have enough money to suddenly buy all the Christmas decorations I might need to decorate my house, I could start finding a thing or two a year and slowly “build up.”  I didn’t mean for it to happen, but somehow each of the items ended up having very strong symbolism to whatever stage of life I was in at the particular Christmas when I purchased it.  This year’s item — a darling quilt that looks like it’s full of candy! — is no different.  I have no doubt that, every year when I pull it out for the holidays, I’ll remember watching MacKenzie and Avi pretend to “eat” candy off it.

14.  My grandmother Josie gave me a jewelry box for Christmas this year, something I would have liked at age five but love at age 25.  The reason why?  On the very top she tucked in a picture of my grandfather and herself with the words “I love you” written beside it.

15.  Speaking of Josie, she told me about an embroidered pillow she saw that said “Don’t get your tinsel in a tangle.”  Obviously, I was a wee bit too late for those wise words.

16.  When we were eating ice cream after the wedding, Aviean looked across the table at me in my bridesmaid dress and said, very quietly and very seriously, “Amy Beff, you are gorgeous.”

17.  Of course, it was only a few mornings later that she saw me walking out of the bathroom with curly hair and promptly said “Amy Beff, your hair is ugly.”  You win some, you lose some.

18.  Near the end of my break, Cara and I headed to Nashville (my second trip there in one holiday!) to meet up with a couple of friends from college, Brandy and Christan.  It’s been hard for the four of us to see each other together in awhile, what with me finishing up Starlite, Christan giving birth to her second child, Brandy returning from teaching in South Korea (where she gave birth to her second child, too!) and Cara returning from loving on babies in Ecuador.  It was time for a reunion and we did just that, staying at the Opryland Hotel where we had the time of our lives thanks to an incredible “insiders” deal that we had access to!

19.  Whilst we were at the beach, Cara and I went to Savannah for the afternoon where we saw the most darling shops (you just WAIT until I tell you about one of them!) and just had fun being ourselves.  We were both laying on benches at one point when we decided to take a picture to commemorate the fact that it was December and yet warm enough to be outside wearing sunglasses.  Check out those stunner shades I’m rocking.

20.  A big part of my break was the wedding of one of my college girls (see how this list isn’t in chronological order?).   I gave her a lingerie / bachelorette party the night before her wedding and, in preparation for it, MacKenzie and Avi went with me to the grocery store, thus fulfilling my desire to go grocery shopping with wee children.  I loved it!

The party was a blast and it’s all due to the fact that my other college girls stepped in and took over everything whilst I ran to the church for the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner and then just kept on helping even after the party was over.  It couldn’t have been done without you, girls.

21.  The one gift MacKenzie wanted this year was a bottle cap necklace with either her school initials or her own initials painted onto it (this is a very popular type of necklace that you can find at different kiosks in the mall or at specialty stores).  I looked for the necklaces in her colors for a very, very long time and finally came to the conclusion that, if wee MacKenzie was going to have them for Christmas, I would need to make them myself.

And so, I did.

When I finished them I was so afraid that she wouldn’t like them that I almost didn’t give them to her.  You cannot imagine how relieved I was when she opened the package on Christmas and began jumping up and down with excitement.  It was, by far, the best gift I gave this Christmas.

22.  Trey came home with me for Christmas Eve and Day this year because, due to his work schedule, he couldn’t go home to see his own family.  Having him with me for that adventure was… well, a first.  I tried to prepare him on the drive up, but he kept telling me he was sure it wouldn’t be as wild as I had described.  Three hours later, my 22 year old brother was chasing me down the driveway whilst wearing a ski mask and carrying an axe simply because he loves to make me scream like a little girl (it worked) whilst Trey just watched with his jaw dropped open.  Gee, Trey, want to come home for Easter, too?

23. The best moment of Christmas, maybe just maybe, was the night I surprised the girls by telling them we were going to sleep underneath the Christmas tree (don’t worry, I unplugged it as soon as they were asleep).  I made a little spot for myself between them and we counted every lollipop, cupcake and candy cane that we could find from our spot beneath the tree.

It was, by all accounts, a very Merry Christmas.