ENGLAND, Definition of Christmas, and Best Christmas Present EVER!

In England to prepare for the Holiday they get together and make cards for their family!  So that is exactly what we did... Although we got burned out after two... So we apologize if you don't get one!  We probably could have made more... But I forgot glue... ha ha nothing a little scotch tape couldn't handle!

This house is a symbol of the love I have for Christmas... 

Over 200 Figurines! It was like a symbol of how I feel on the inside... ha ha.  Rumor has it that sometimes he gets the neighborhood children to dress up as elves and hand out candy canes! Too amazing!

Best Christmas present ever came from Mrs. Simmons... She knows my fascination for why Texans LOVE their state so much!  To prove how versatile their flag is she sent me an amazing beaded picture frame! haha i LOVE it! Goes perfectly with the picture she took of us at Virginia's surprise party! Thanks Mrs. Simmons!

December 13th God Jul! (Sweden)

Feasting and celebrating begin on December 13th with Lucia Day, which legend says is the longest night of the year and a time when man and beast need extra nourishment.  A Lucia (Queen of Light) is chosen from each home, club, school, etc.  She is dressed in a white gown with a crown of candles in her hair.  She brings coffee, rolls and ginger biscuits.  

So to celebrate I donned my wreath with candles, we had some cinnamon rolls and hot chocolate! God Jul everyone!!!

December 10th Buon Natale (Italy)

To celebrate Buon Natale we headed downtown!

We saw all of the beautiful lights at temple square!

The luminaries were amazing! 

My favorite part was all of the nativities from around the world!  So fun to think so many people are thinking about the same thing EVERYWHERE!

Then to truly make it special for Italy we went to a darling little Italian Restaurant called Cinnegrill.  With a live piano player! It was a perfect evening!

December 8th Joyuex Noel (France)

JOYUEX NOEL!!!

Well we were very good this year and Pere Noel flew all the way from France to reward us!!  We put our shoes out so that He would fill them with goodies but some gifts were a little too big for our shoes so he put them in our Gingerbread Village!

Drew was way excited for his wooden airplane!

The real excitement came with a Good Old Fashioned Zelda for Nintendo 64! Pere Noel knows just what little boys love! ha ha

Pere Noel was just not okay with leaving new gifts in Drew's shoes so he left him some new slippers!

  Pere Noel brought me a Moleskine Watercolor notebook!!!! AHHHH!!! I have looked for it everywhere and he found it and some new watercolor paint brushes!! Too Fun!

Favorite T.V. Shows

*Oprah

*Dr. Phil

*360 Anderson Cooper

*The Office

*John and Kate plus 8

*Rob and Big

*Flip That(or is it This) House

*Whatever is on when the kids I nanny go to sleep

8 Things I'm Looking Forward To

*Traveling

*Christmas Activities

*Going to Venice With Drew

*Owning a Home

*Pere Noel Coming To Our House

*1 year Anniversary

*Getting my degree

*Waking up next to Drew

8 Things I Did Yesterday

*Worked

*Bought yet another GIANT bag of dog food

*Took Caesar to the Dog Park

*Bought Apricot Jam for CrockPot recipe

*Put Chicken Dinner in Crockpot

*Bought Christmas Tree

*Went to the Festival of Trees

*Decorated Gingerbread Houses

8 Things On My Wish List

*Airfare to anywhere and everywhere

*Vacation

*The Rosetta Stone Language things for Spanish, Italian and French

*Hotel Room in Zermatt, Switzerland

*Gondola Ride in Venice, Italy

*An Airstream

*Jeep Grande Wagoneer

*Travel the World for an entire year with Drewpy!

December 5th!! Sinterklaas is Coming! Zalig Kerstfeast! (Holland!)

In Holland Sinterklaas is coming tonight!!
At our house we are hoping we were good enough for him to visit us too!

Sinterklaas arrives in Holland on a big ship! He comes with his companion Black Pete... Black Pete comes to listen down chimneys for the children who are being nice.. If you are good Sinterklaas leaves a little treat and a chocolate initial. If you were bad Black Pete leaves coal!

So leave out some carrots for Sinterklaas' white horse and maybe you'll wake up to a little surprise!!!

December 3rd! Froehliche Weihnachten

Every year my family had the tradition of celebrating Christmas like they would in other countries... So December 3rd Drew and I celebrated Froehliche Weinachten... Germany was the country that started the tradition of the Christmas Tree and Gingerbread Houses...
Cummings Christmas Tree was where my family went every year when I was little to get our Christmas Tree! They are still in business and the best part is Jim the owner remembered me... Gave us the 'Family' discount! Our very first Christmas TREE!!!!!!Then we went home and decorated our Gingerbread Houses!!
Merry Christmas Germany!!!