I Hope Heaven Smells Like Almond Extract

What a busy, wonderful, exhausting holiday week!  I hope your week was just as fantastic (but I hope you got more sleep than we did!).

*Warning:  This is not a deep post.  It's not even remotely deep.  It's very surface-level:  partly because my brain is tired, and mostly because my body is tired.  So go ahead, and wade in.  The water's warm and shallow.  Just like the kiddie pool with that very questionably warm water...*

Christmas Eve (Monday) was our first really busy day.  We had last minute shopping to do and packing to begin and two Christmas Eve services to attend and be a part of.  The Husband helped with the "props" while I sang and played bells with the choir.  We sang "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day," one of my most favorite songs to sing in church during the Christmas season.  The song is based on the Henry Wadsworth Longfellow poem of the same name.  We've sung it several years in a row, and I don't think I'll ever get tired of it.  This year, though, was different.  We sung it all lined up in one row across the front of the sanctuary holding bells in the dark.  Y'all, it was so, so neat.  I have a video (which in 272 minutes will be finished uploading to youtube *sigh*) that I'm attaching below.  My friend Lauren's brother took the video for me, and he stood really close to some of the guys singing (hence why you hear them much better than you do the gals).  Y'all, the quality is not the greatest, and we most certainly didn't do a perfect job by any means, but I just think it was such a great experience.  And, I love the lyrics.  Such beauty and sadness all at the same time.  

We stayed up pretty late that night (unfortunately!), but we did find time to open our gifts to each other. My favorite gift from The Husband?  This scarf and hat!!

It's been so very cold that I've worn them almost every day since then!

So that was Christmas Eve.

Christmas morning, we woke up pretty early, got dressed, and finished packing.  Then, we headed over to the hospital where The Husband's dad was having some testing done over a couple of days.  One of those days happened to be Christmas.  Bummer.  :(

So, we spent Christmas morning at the hospital with my in-laws.  It was a mostly quiet, calm morning (though I did get pretty carried away and excited as I sat on the hospital floor with my sister-in-law and played with her new Legos and built my Lego control panel and control guy.  They're amazing, right?! Go ahead and applaud.  I know you want to.  Seriously though, it took all of my brain power to come up with that.  I can't believe some of the amazing things kids come up with when playing with those little blocks.)  

Any guesses as to my favorite gift we received from my in-laws?? They gave the two of us a membership to the gym!!!  I CANNOT wait to get back there and do something with this lazy self of mine! Plus, I miss our instructor and all of our friends in there!!

After lunch, The Husband and I loaded up the car, told the cats goodbye, and headed to my parents' house.  It was a pretty uneventful two-hour trip.  Thankfully.  We got there mid-afternoon and just hung out with them until my sister and her family arrived.  We fixed and ate dinner, played some songs on the piano, and opened our gifts.  My favorite gift from my sister's family?  This sign.

Isn't it lovely?!  I love it, and I can't wait to get it hung in the perfect spot.

Here's my favorite gift from my parents.

It smells absolutely divine!!! Y'all, it smells exactly like almond extract.  I have had a love affair with almond extract since I was a very little girl.  My dad would use it as a "secret ingredient" in one of my favorite desserts...I can't tell you the dessert or it wouldn't be a secret!  But, to this day, I still keep almond extract in the cabinet and will add it to my own "dessert."  Yum!  A few weeks ago, I was fixing said-dessert item, and I got a little of the extract on my fingers.  That delicious smell kept wafting up as I worked, and I said, rather loudly, to The Husband, "I hope Heaven smells like almond extract."  And, I do because really, it's my most favorite smell in the world!  Anywho, I don't plan on using this bath soap often because I really want it to last and last, but I have used it already, and it's wonderful!

So, that was Christmas Day.

We stayed with my parents a few days (I got a haircut, and we got to spend some much-needed time with The Bestie) and then headed back home on Thursday.

Just to unpack and repack.

Friday morning, my parents drove here, we loaded up their car, and then the four of us headed to the Austin area for a Christmas get-together on Saturday with my dad's side of the family that's been held almost every year since before I was born.  *I think.*  Can anyone verify that??

So at this get-together, we visit, eat lots of food, play games, and play a gift-game the likes of which you've never seen.   It's brutal *ahem* filled with lots of laughter and time-clock sounds and boos.  My mom, bless her heart, gets picked on (I'm sure completely out of love!) lots of the time during the game, but I think she gets a kick out of it.  One of the gifts brought this year was a canvas bag filled with these items.

They were totally meant for my mom.
Honestly, as each item was pulled from the gift bag, I thought surely someone meant them for me since I'm the only one (that I know of) in my family that writes a blog.  But, I was informed that every time I post something on this blog, my sweet (and proud, I suppose) mom sends out an email to around 20 or so of her closest family members and friends telling them that I've posted something new on here.  Apparently, she begins each email with the phrase "BLOG'S UP!"  Isn't that funny?!  I think it's sweet that she wants people to know, and I think it's great that someone went to such lengths to come up with such a creative gift like that!  And, she got it :)  She gave me the pink shirt to relax in, but I know she'll enjoy the rest of the items as she checks her emails, chats with friends on Facebook, and yes, as she catches up on blog posts like this one.  Love her :)  I guess I should have entitled this post "BLOG'S UP!" :)  I almost fought her for the stationery because it was so dog-gone cute, but I know she'll probably use it more often than I would.

We're back home now, unpacked, well-fed from a lunch at The Cheesecake Factory, and tired after our long trip.  In 229 minutes the video should be finished uploading, which means this will probably get posted tomorrow morning instead of tonight since I plan on being in bed long before that 229 minutes is up.

I wish you all a very happy New Year!

May this new one bring more blessings to you and yours than you can possibly count!