christmas through the years

after a long, very long, week consisting of 5 finals in 4 days, i am done with the first half of my junior year. even though i am done with the actual tests, i am still holding my breath until all the grades come in and my official semester grade is posted. i think i finished up the semester well but those finals this week were no joke. i know its college and everyone has equally hard finals, but i don't remember a finals week like this one. maybe we just block the others from memory afterwards but i sure am glad this one is over.

now that i am officially home for break, the real christmas celebrating can begin! we have many holiday traditions in our family and i love each and every one of them... we can't decorate the tree without mom making peanut butter fudge, it's always a race downstairs in the morning to put the next day up on the advent calendar and its not christmas eve without some sushi. i spent part of today (when i should have been studying for marketing but let's face it, my brain was mush at that point) looking through old pictures from christmases past and i actually lolled... sitting on the couch... by myself. i have no idea what got into us at the time when these pictures were taken but i thought i would share with y'all a glimpse of the family holiday traditions that i love so much! some of these are pure gold that warrant a laugh or two and others are just favorites from my younger days!

its not christmas until i cry. 

one year mawsie brought us back hula girl outfits so naturally we had to try them on. 

the infamous barbie lamborghini that as a teenager i had a hard time giving away. 

the year our parents made us reenact the nativity scene. 

last year, when i made the whole family wear matching pajamas. 

there are many more pictures but i didn't want this to get too lengthy. i am looking forward to the christmas traditions that are about to take place and maybe even starting a few new ones. i love that i am able to help cook and help my mom with christmas shopping and wrapping presents. 

tomorrow i will be back at the gym and then am going to the puffy muffin in cool springs and whole foods with megan! two of my favorite places with one of my favorite people! i am planning on doing some wrapping and christmas baking as well! 

xoxo, 

clp