my world + christmas + portraits

i feel like i need to play a serious game of "catch up" here. last week, i began writing a *christmas plan* post. i never finished it. by this week, it seemed irrelevant. and now, almost two weeks earlier, i'm laughing at the idea that i might have actually had a plan.

so, i'm just going to go with a bullet list (my favorite!) of what's going on in our world - mostly christmas, but not all. i know these long-winded posts of mine can be a bit much so to break things up, i'm going to feature our family portraits, which i received yesterday.

umm...is this not the sweetest thing ever?

• by thanksgiving, i was tired of reading all of the blog posts and articles about how to have an organized, stress-free holiday season. now, i don't even even bother trying to read them. it's all ridiculous.
• for what it's worth, i am trying to re-focus our holiday season. i'm not sure it's working.
• our house got decorated in a frenzy last friday. we had folks over to watch the (horrible) SEC championship game on saturday. i got hit with a head cold mid-week, sucking the energy right out of me. that left me with one day to do it all.

• i didn't do it all. i did what was necessary to make the house look "festive".
• we have too many christmas decorations. it's obscene.
• thanksgiving day we went to a new light show at the charlotte motor speedway.
• last monday, we got our christmas tree at a local tree farm.
• and i had a lightbulb, finally figuring out the perfect place for our family photo shoot

• saturday, the four of us (and lindsay, the photographer) braved some ridiculously cold weather for our family portraits.
• coleman didn't smile. at all.
• i still love the photos and couldn't be happier with the location we used.
• penland tree farm rocks.
• believe it or not, i am participating in ali edwards' daily december album. i think i'll do another post on that rather than go into it now.
• i've done a ton of online shopping this year. every day i'm greeted with more packages at my doorstep. i much perfer this to actual shopping. especially shopping with crazy people.
• today alone, i've already placed three orders online.



if you look closely, you can see his teeth chattering.

• last night, i ordered our christmas cards. i'm getting 60 for $5. can't beat that with a stick. you can still take advantage of that fantastic deal. it's available at seehere and details can be found at southern savers.
• never shop online without visiting retail me not and be sure to sign up for some type of cash back program like ebates.
• did you know that football fanatics offers 104 different boston celtics hats. i mean seriously????

• despite all the shopping i've done, i'm still feeling totally overwhelmed by what's left to do.
• speaking of overwhelmed, the amount of laundry i have to tackle this weekend is ridiculous.
• and i can't even walk in my scrapbook room right now because of all the (unwrapped) gifts stacked up.
• one of my favorite things about the holiday season is getting *real* mail everyday. i love christmas cards. particularly those with a photo.


hilarious!

• i got a great deal on an iphone 4 this week. that sentence doesn't adequately relay the level of excitement that brings to me. maybe i'll do a separate post on that too.
• i have a million things i'd like to blog about. too bad i don't have a million hours in which to do it.
• i'm going to have almost a full week and a half off from work for christmas. that is cool. really cool.
• speaking of work...that's pretty overwhelming too.
• regardless of how late i might be, i still plan to do all of the reverb10 writing prompts.
• i just placed a fourth online order. took advantage of this great deal.

this is my favorite.

• i started an advent calendar this year. i was really excited about this new tradition. spent a lot of time putting together daily activities. ten days into the month...wanna guess how many we've done? don't. it's depressing.
• speaking of new traditions, next year i want to introduce the "elf on the shelf" to our home.
• we have some christmas related things on the agenda for this weekend. yay.
• a letter from santa clause arrived at our yesterday. so cool. i highly recommend them.



i think i'm going to frame this for spencer's room

i know this post might seem a little attitude-filled, but no worries. it's a combination of being busy, frustrated, and overwhelmed. but ultimately, i am enjoying the holiday season. the reason crap is stacked up and backlogged is because i'm focusing on the good stuff.

all photos were taken by lindsay alexander photography.

she's the best photographer ever.