Our Week - The One with More Sickness, a Class Party, Christmas Fun, a Family BBQ, and Natty Rings

Last week started out rough and chaotic, but it ended on a fun, festive, happy note, and that’s all we could ask for.  

Monday, December 18

Monday. Was. Nuts.  My to-do list was insane, and to top it all off, Olivia woke up four times Sunday night into Monday with more stomach pain (despite the fact we’d taken her to acute care late Sunday night and gotten prescription-strength Pepcid), and she felt awful Monday morning, so we weren’t about to send her to school.  Thankfully, Brian was off Monday, so he was able to stay with her while I got Jacob to school and run a ton of errands. 

I wanted to finish all of my Christmas shopping completely on Monday including all grocery shopping, so I had many places to go.  I also had to drop all of the auction basket stuff at the kids’ school, so I did that first.  I cannot even tell you how good it felt to get all of that stuff out of our house once and for all.  It was taking over my dining room!

While I waited for the car line to finish so I could drop the auction basket items (I wanted to pull my car up right by the school office and couldn’t do that until dropoff was done), I called Olivia’s pediatrician’s office to see if they could get her in immediately.  Unfortunately, the operator told me they had zero appointments for Monday, and that the soonest they could see her was Tuesday.  I asked her if they could put us on a cancellation list for Monday and she told me that they don’t have a cancellation list, so I was beside myself.  I pretty much begged her to let me know if there was any way whatsoever to get her in that day, and the girl finally caved and told me she would let me know if anything opened up.  I thought for sure I’d never hear from her again, but within an hour, she called saying that they’d had a cancelation and they could see Olivia at 10:50 AM.  SO grateful for someone who cared enough to do that even though it’s not their typical protocol.

After I dropped the auction basket stuff, I hit the ground running (literally in some cases) so I could get all of my errands done in time to get back to Olivia and get her to the doctor.  First up, was Target to do a return followed by CVS to pick up a prescription and some gift cards.  After that, I hauled it to Hobby Lobby to grab a gift card, and since Barnes & Noble was right there, I took a detour and headed there even though it wasn’t on the list because I wanted to see if they had the Time Magazine Person of the Year Taylor Swift edition.  I have looked all over creation and haven’t been able to find it, so I hoped they would have it.  Everyone sold out of it SO FAST.

After a quick look around their extensive magazine section and the checkout line, I found that they didn’t have it either.  I was just turning to walk out the door when I decided to ask someone there just to be 100% sure I hadn’t missed it, and sure enough, the employee told me that they did, indeed, have a few copies left, but that they were hidden behind the registers.  I guess they didn’t want just anyone to grab one, and maybe they did that to ensure they got into the hands of the true Swifties?  Who knows.

They ended up having one of each of three of the covers and… I bought all three.  Lol.  Y’all, I just love her.  And I collect magazines about big events in history.  And I told Brian it was probably a good investment because they’re already selling for much more on eBay and Amazon.  Haha.

Anywayyyy, after I got my hands on those (EEK!), I headed to Walmart to grab all of the groceries we needed for Christmas week, and then I swung by the gas station to grab some lottery tickets. 

And I did all of those errands in less than two hours.  Whew.

By the time I got home, B was already working on laundry (so grateful) and Olivia was laying on the couch watching TV and not looking good at all.

I grabbed a quick snack and chugged a cup of hot cinnamon tea, and then Olivia and I were out the door for her appointment.  Snapchat filters to distract her from her misery...

She didn’t get to see her actual pediatrician because he was fully booked, but she was able to see another pediatrician in the same practice.  This doctor was fabulous and SO thorough.  He was able to rule out appendix and gall bladder issues as well as pretty much any other internal organ issues.  He said her whole abdomen was nice and soft, which means that there shouldn’t be anything wrong with an organ.

He also said that he thinks it’s highly unlikely that it’s a gluten or lactose intolerance because he said if one of those was the culprit, she would be having issues all the time.  Since she had several good months with no issues, it wouldn’t make sense for it to be a food allergy.

I mentioned to him that I wondered if it was anxiety causing it since anxiety runs in our family, but he said that her symptoms and patterns aren’t consistent with someone who is experiencing stomach pain from anxiety.  Plus, Olivia is the most chill, relaxed, spontaneous, go-with-the-flow person in the whole universe, so I can’t picture her having an ounce of anxiety in her body unless it pertains to getting up and singing a solo in front of a crowd.  That is literally the only time she has ever been anxious… but she still got up and did it anyway!  Haha.

Since she broke out in a rash on her face (in February and this time as well) when she had the stomach pain, he suggested that it could be parvovirus AKA Fifth Disease.  It’s just a virus that kids get sometimes, and you just have to wait for it to run its course.  He said once the rash shows up, the kids are no longer contagious because that means the body has started to fight off the infection, hence the rash.

He did say that most kids typically have other symptoms with parvovirus like fever or runny nose, and since she had no other symptoms, he couldn’t confidently and definitively diagnose her with Parvovirus.  But he did say that it is what it could be. 

He also said that sometimes small kids have issues with their intestines where parts of their intestines telescope up into each other, and he said that causes immense pain which is why she could have been having so much pain Sunday night.  He told us if her acute pain came back again, he wanted us to go to the emergency room immediately and ask for an ultrasound of her intestines to make sure that’s not what’s happening.  He also prescribed an antispasmodic medication that we can give her if she’s ever in acute pain again.

He told us to continue her prescription strength Pepcid medication twice a day, and he also told us to try adding Ibuprofen.  I would never have thought to give a child Ibuprofen for a stomach issue, but he said that depending on the type of pain she was having and the reason behind it, it could help.

He also referred us to a gastroenterologist, so we can dig a little deeper.  He said that while it’s not uncommon for kids to get parvovirus and other GI viruses multiple times per year, he wasn’t 100% convinced that’s what’s causing her issues, and he wants us to get a second opinion to make sure we rule out everything.

So now we wait for a call from the GI doc.

And while I don’t go into detail about all of our kids’ business for their privacy, I thought I would discuss this issue here with the hope that it may help someone else who’s child is experiencing similar issues.  I’m also grateful for all of the suggestions that we’ve been getting from all of you who follow along.  There are so many things out there in existence that we don’t even know about, so having various things brought to our attention has been helpful, too. 

After the doctor, we headed home, and Brian and I ate lunch.  Olivia wasn’t hungry and still wasn’t feeling great, so she immediately lay down on the couch.  I just hate seeing her that way because that’s not her personality AT ALL.  She never sits.  She never lays down in the middle of the day.  She is always bouncing around and dancing and singing, so it was tough seeing her so lethargic.

After lunch, I headed straight upstairs to work on blog stuff, and I was so grateful to Brian for offering to go pick up Jacob from school… that allowed me an extra hour and a half to get stuff done.

Mid-afternoon, Olivia said she was hungry, so I made her a late lunch, and she ended up eating well, but then she lay back down on the couch afterward saying she wasn’t feeling well again.

The rest of my afternoon was spent working on blog stuff, prepping for Olivia’s class Christmas party, wrapping gifts, checking on Olivia, and getting various other pressing tasks done.

When Jacob got home, Olivia perked up a little bit, and she even got up and walked around the house a bit, but shortly after, she was right back to laying down. 

We had breakfast for dinner, and Olivia couldn’t even get off the couch to eat.  She ended up falling asleep around 6 I think?  And she slept until we woke her at 8.  While she slept, we cleaned the kitchen, and then I got in a mixed cardio workout and a Bible study while Jacob finished studying and showering. 

Then at 8, we woke Olivia to get her take her medicine and try to eat something.  She ate an egg, but that was all she wanted.  We attempted to start watching the Lego Masters Christmas special, and I wrapped all of the teacher’s gifts, but we didn’t get too far in before Olivia was ready to go to bed.  We took the doctor’s advice and gave her some Ibuprofen along with the stomach medication, and she fell right to sleep.

All day I had felt like I could possibly be coming down with something because I just felt “off,” so Brian and I both made hot toddies and started season one of Key and Peele before heading to bed ourselves.

Tuesday, December 19

I woke up feeling totally fine Tuesday morning (thank goodness!) and Olivia had miraculously slept through the entire night!  She looked fairly perky despite the fact that she said her tummy was hurting “3 out of 10,” so we decided to try to send her to school.  The doctor had assured us that she wasn’t contagious, so it was really just up to her if she felt good enough to go.

I dropped her and Jacob at school and I dropped off some paperwork while I was there, then I headed home to get. stuff. done.  I had nowhere to be – no meetings, no appointments, no errands – so I buckled down and got a TON done.  I got three loads of laundry done, I finished a blog post and prepped several more, I unboxed several packages that had arrived and I got my Christmas gifts spreadsheet updated.  I wrapped gifts, I finally got to the bottom of both email inboxes that had been neglected for nearly two weeks, I updated my notes for the Reindeer Run (I keep good notes each year so we’ll know what to change next year), I paid a bill, and I finally got my office tidied and organized.  It was looking like hot garbage for days because of all of the crap I had piled up everywhere.

At 3, I grabbed the kids and then we headed home.  Olivia had had a wonderful day at school, and she said she only had one time where her tummy hurt, so that was great news, and I was SO relieved that she made it through the whole day.

When we got home, Jacob worked on some origami stuff he’s been doing in STEM while Olivia read, and then Jacob and I got Olivia to dance.  She was still feeling well and wanting to go, so that was also great news.

While she was at dance, I put away some of the laundry, got in a strength workout + a short cardio workout, and I made beef and parm pasta with zucchini for dinner. 

When Brian and Olivia got home, we all sat down and ate dinner, and by the time that was done, it was time for her to get showered and then get both kids in the bed.  I got a Bible study done while they got ready for bed, and then it was lights out for both of them.

After they went to bed, B and I watched several trailers for shows since we’re trying to decide what to watch next, but we never settled on anything, and we ended up going to bed early.

Thank goodness we did, because Olivia came in our room sometime during the 1 AM hour, and she was in TREMENDOUS pain, so bad, that Brian took her to the emergency room. 

I stayed home since Jacob was still home and (obviously) sleeping, and I typed out a long message to Brian with all of her symptoms/patterns/medications/other notes that he could show to the doctor at the emergency room.

I told him to make sure they did an ultrasound of her intestines and stomach since that’s what her pediatrician had told us to do, and I also told him to tell them to do a strep test since a blog reader reached out to me to tell me that her child used to have the same exact symptoms and it was strep every time.

They did the strep test first and it was negative, UGGGGHHHH… I was hoping it would be positive so we could finally have our answer.  And although strep is no picnic, it’s truly one of the best things for kids to get IMO because once you start that antibiotic, they’re better within 24 hours.  (Or at least that’s always been the case for us.)

Since strep was negative, they did a very thorough ultrasound of her entire abdomen from her intestines all the way up to the bottom of her rib cage, including her sides, and they found absolutely nothing. 

They chalked it up to “gastritis” and that pissed me off because it makes no sense for her to be having stomach pain that severe while she’s currently taking prescription medication for stomach issues around the clock.  THAT. JUST. MAKES. NO. SENSE.

While they were there, I took the time to respond to some DMs that had been piling up, I went ahead and emailed her teacher to tell her she wouldn’t be there Wednesday, and I did a ton of research about severe stomach pain and a rash on the face, and I came up with nothing we haven’t already explored.

They got home at 4:15 AM, and by that time, Olivia’s antispasmodic meds that we had given her before they left must have kicked in, because she wasn’t in nearly as much pain and she was able to go straight to sleep. 

Brian and I fell into bed knowing that our alarms would be going off soon.

Wednesday, December 20

We had decided that Brian would get up and take Jacob to school since he had to go to work anyway, and I would stay home with Olivia… I just couldn’t bring myself to wake her up early to take Jacob to school after she was up half the night.

I heard Brian’s alarm go off at 6 like it usually does, but apparently, he accidentally shut it off instead of snoozing, and then at 6:58 AM he got up frantically, and we realized that we’d both overslept and we were 30 minutes late getting Jacob up for school.  Thankfully, Brian was able to get him up, get him breakfast, and get him to school on time. 

When B got up, Olivia got up and came in our room again saying that her tummy was hurting, so I got her to crawl into bed with me, and then she fell back to sleep until 8.  Since B hadn’t been able to shower before dropping Jacob at school, he just decided to work from home so he wouldn’t have to come home and shower and then go back to work.

When Olivia woke up at 8, I tried to get her to eat, but she barely touched anything.  She requested apple slices, which I figured was a good choice since it’s part of the BRAT diet (bananas, rice, apples, and toast that you’re supposed to eat for stomach upset), but she couldn’t get many of them down because her stomach was hurting again.  I also made her some chicken noodle soup, which she doesn’t like anyway, but I thought it might be good to try to get some chicken broth in her system anyway.  She ate a couple of bites and then lay down on the couch to watch TV.  She was super lethargic all morning yet again.  Ugh.

Since I’d not gotten up at 6 and gotten ready like normal, I started the day knowing there was no way I’d be able to get everything done that I needed to do, but I decided to keep my original to-do list and try anyway.

After Olivia was settled on the couch, I went upstairs to work on blog stuff for a bit and then work my way through everything else.  Around lunchtime, Olivia perked up quite a bit, and her stomach tolerated all of the small snacks we gave her throughout the day.

By the time it was time for me to pick up Jacob from school, she was telling me that she wanted to try to go to dance.  They were having their Christmas party, and she didn’t want to miss it.  I told her that as long as she was still feeling well by the time I got home with Jacob we’d let her go.

Sure enough, she was still feeling good when we got home, so I turned around and took her straight to dance.  She ended up eating a slice of pizza, a cookie, and a rice crispy treat *forehead slap* so we prayed all evening that she wouldn’t wake up in the middle of the night again with that severe pain.

While she was at dance, I wrapped up my to-do list for the day (a Christmas miracle), and then I made turkey and cheese sliders for dinner.  After we all ate together, I did an hour of mixed cardio and finished putting the laundry away.  Then, we watched some more of Christmas Lego Masters before getting the kids in bed early.  (We let Jacob stay up in his room for a while since he’s older now, but we made Olivia go to bed at 8:45 since she’d had no sleep the night before.) 

After they went to bed, B and I watched a little bit of Shark Tank, and then we went up super early and were lights out by 10 since we’d been living off of 4-5 hours of sleep.  I went to check on Olivia and she was finally sleeping peacefully, even though it looked like the rash was back.  Sigh.

Thursday, December 21

Thursday morning, when I went to wake Olivia, she said, “Mommy, I slept through the whole night!!  I didn’t wake up a single time!”  PRAISE!

Thursday was the kids’ fun day at school – an ugly sweater contest and fun stuff all day for Jacob, and Olivia’s class Christmas party – so we were so happy that she was feeling better in time to participate. 

I got both of them to school – Jacob in his ugly sweater (shirt) and Olivia in her Christmas PJs – and then I headed straight to Starbucks for a little Peppermint Mocha treat.  I had to pick up Chick-Fil-A chicken minis at 8, and then I headed back to the school to get ready for Olivia’s party.

We had a whole spread of chicken minis, donuts, cupcakes, cookies, fruit (the one healthy thing – LOL), Gogurt, and juice boxes, and the kids loaded up on all of the goodies.  (Olivia did take it easy, and she only had a donut… I was so relieved that she didn’t get a cupcake and cookies, and all of the other junk, too.  We were trying to be soooo careful with what she was eating, but I hated for her to miss out on all of the treats.) 

Once they were done eating, I got them started on the reindeer ring toss that I’d brought, and after a lot of chaos from that, we wrapped up the party.  I got everything cleaned up, made sure all of the teachers had received their gifts, and then I was free to go.  I had hoped that the kids would let me check them out early so we could just go ahead and start our break, but naturally, they didn’t want to leave.  Haha.

I had about an hour to kill, so I went to TJ Maxx to browse, and I ended up seeing my friend, Heather, and chatting with her for a bit before it was time to get in the car line.

Once we left the school, we headed straight to the mall to see Santa.  The kids saw the same Santa every single year since Jacob was born, and then Covid hit, and he never came back.  We were so sad to have to discontinue that tradition.  Well, this year, our mall posted that our beloved Santa was back this year, and we weren’t going to miss that.

Well, we arrived at the mall right at lunchtime expecting the Santa line to be bonkers, and there was literally not a single person in it.  We were so excited until we realized… it was a totally different Santa.  Boooo.

I asked Santa’s elf where the other Santa was, and she said that this was his one day off (terrible timing, Santa!  Haha) so we decided to leave and try again Friday.

On the way out, we stopped by Macy’s so the kids could see the Toys R Us inside (they all have them now!), and then it was time to find some lunch. 

We all decided on Chick-Fil-A, and it hit the spot.  Then it was home to finally, FINALLY relax.  We were supposed to have poker night with friends Thursday night, but someone in the group was recovering from a viral infection (and probably no longer contagious), but we didn’t want to risk picking up any germs, because we didn’t want anyone to get sick right in time for Christmas.  We were scheduled to spend lots of time with my Mama Cass and my cousin who has been doing chemo for her cancer (who we rarely get to see), and we didn’t want to run the risk of carrying any germs to either of them.

Instead, the kids played video games all afternoon – Christmas break, BABY! – and I finished up some blog work and the rest of the gift wrapping.  PRAISE!

Brian picked up takeout from Carrabba’s.  I usually prefer to support local business for that kind of food, but their lasagna is second to none, y’all.  Sometimes you just have to have Carrabba’s.

After dinner, the kids got showered and ready for bed, and then we all sat down to (FINALLY) enjoy the Christmas season.  We kicked off the evening with Home Alone 2, and then after the kids went to bed, B and I started Love Actually.  We’ve had an annual viewing together every single year since the year it was released (2003) and that also happens to be the year that we started dating.  :o)

It’s a long-ish movie – 2 hours and 15 minutes – so we ended up stopping halfway through and saving the rest for Friday night.  We’ve never had to do that before, but now that the kids are older, they’re staying up too late for us to have time to watch a whole movie before we’re too tired and want to go to bed.  Haha.

Friday, December 22

Friday morning, Olivia woke up feeling great yet again, and she had another great day!  Brian was off Friday, so we all slept in, and then we had breakfast.  After breakfast, the kids watched some TV while I caught up on some blog reading, and then I got in a mixed cardio workout. 

 

After my workout, we all got ready, and then we decided to head to the mall yet again to see if our precious Santa was back.  HE WAS, so we got in line to see him.  They had two lines – one for people who had made reservations online, and one for walk-ups, and the reservation line was SUPER long while the walk-up line (us) only had two families waiting.  They alternated between the reservation line and the walk-up line, so we waited less than 30 minutes to see him.  Considering it was only three days until Christmas, at the mall, on a day where all kids were out of school, I call that a MAJOR win.  I was so worried it was going to be so busy that we wouldn’t want to wait.

Again, this is the Santa that the kids saw every year of their lives for eight years, and then he disappeared after Covid hit, so we thought we’d never be able to see him again.  Seeing the kids with him again brought me to tears because he is truly the best.  I’m pretty sure he’s the actual real Santa.  ;o)

Santa ended up talking the kids’ ears off, and they told us that he was telling them about his history and all of the names that people call him in different languages – seriously, he is just fabulous – and he even had Jacob cracking up a couple of times. 

 

By the time we were done at the mall, it was lunchtime, so we stopped by a new-ish favorite local place for brunch.  We were miraculously able to get right in, and it was delicious as usual.  Brian got a chicken sandwich on French toast with bacon and pimiento cheese and jam, and OH MY WORD, was it delicious.  I would love to be able to order it for myself, but it’s huge, and I wouldn’t even be able to eat half of it.  And Brian doesn’t split meals.  Haha.

Instead, I had the BLT – also delicious – and the kids lived their best brunch lives with scrambled eggs, sausage, homemade biscuits, and fruit.  We have some picky, picky kids when it comes to food, but if you put any kind of breakfast/brunch food down in front of them, they will eat it right up and then ask for seconds.

We’ve been taking the kids out to eat on a regular basis since they were born, so they have always behaved in restaurants (aside from the occasional time here and there when they were tiny), and they have been ordering their own food for years.  Our server could not believe how well they ordered on their own and how polite they were, and she kept gushing over and over about how awesome they were and how she hoped to have kids like that one day.  It made me so happy.  They really are great kids.

After lunch, we headed home, and the kids played video games for a bit while I worked on some blog stuff.  I stepped outside for a bit at dusk to watch the sun set because it was absolutely stunning.

When it was dark, we all piled in the car to go look at Christmas lights in our PJs!  I had printed lights scavenger hunts for the kids, and then we made some hot chocolate and grabbed candy canes for the road.  Maui even came along for the ride.

This year, we hit up a couple of different neighborhoods in town that we’d never been through for Christmas lights, and we also went to one of the houses that we see every year.  By the time we were done, we were all starving as it was approaching 8 o’clock, so we placed an online order at Panera, and then we took the food home and ate it while we started watching The Santa Clause.

After the movie was over, we got the kids in the bed, and then Brian and I finished watching Love Actually that we’d started the night before, and then we called it a night.

Saturday, December 23

Saturday morning, Brian headed to one of our favorite local donut places to pick up breakfast, and I had a delicious apple fritter.  After breakfast, the kids watched a movie, and I sat down with my hot tea to catch up on loads of blog reading.  Blog reading is one of my favorite hobbies, but this time of year, I get terribly behind, so it was nice to get (somewhat) caught up.

After that, I got some laundry started, I did some tidying around the house, I wrapped one last gift, and then I got dressed and ready to go for a run.  It was mild Saturday – 61 and sunny at 11 AM when I left for my run – so the kids played outside all morning and early afternoon.  I got in 2.55 miles, and I was BOILING by the time I got home.  Note to self, don’t wear leggings and long-sleeves when it’s that warm.  Haha.

When I got back home, we had a light lunch, and then the kids did their laundry and got showered for the day.  They played some video games for a bit while I did some blog work, and then late in the afternoon, I got showered and ready for the day.  Olivia wanted festive Christmas braids for the evening... CHECK!

Two of my cousins were able to come to town on 12/23, but they had to leave before Christmas night when we gather with the rest of the family, so we decided to do a pre-Christmas barbecue night with my mom’s entire side of the family so everyone could see them before they had to leave.

We headed to my Aunt Joy and Uncle Greg’s house around 5, and we spent the rest of the evening over there eating, drinking, and being merry (hehe) and it was so nice to be able to see so many family members we haven’t seen in a while.  My aunt had some games and gingerbread houses for the kids to play/build, and they had the best time together. 

Later in the night, my cousin pulled out the Natty rings, and I was the happiest girl EVER trying them on!  My cousin is the Assistant Director of Equipment for the UGA football team, and has been working with them for nearly the last decade, so when the team wins a bowl game or a National Championship game, he gets one of the rings, too, just like the players.  

As any of you college football fans know, UGA won back-to-back National Championship games these last two years... our first in 41 years!!!!  So we pulled out the ol' Natty rings at the family gathering so everyone could ooh and aah over them.  (Along with the Peach Bowl, Orange Bowl, SEC Championship, etc. rings.  He has so many!  Haha.)

If you have followed me for any amount of time, you know we are DIE-HARD Georgia fans (my grandfather graduated from UGA along with several of my other family members + my husband and both of his sisters) so I grew up bleeding red and black and then marrying into another family who bleeds red and black, too.

Wearing those rings and hanging out with all of our family who we haven't seen in ages just made my week!  We were even able to snap a few pictures of most of the cousins together... we were only missing two – my oldest brother (who is actually in the picture on the phone via FaceTime that I'm holding up – LOL) and the oldest cousin who had to work.

Mama Cass got to have almost all of her grandbabies together!

We ended up staying there until after 9, and then we got home and got the kids in the bed, and then B and I watched most of Christmas Vacation before calling it a night.

And now for a few current things…

Currently Reading

I finished The Idea of You by Robbine Lee, and I loved it.  I also finally picked back up Winning the War in Your Mind: Change Your Thinking, Change Your Life by Craig Groeschel, and I should finish it up by the end of this month.  I have read many books about anxiety/self improvement/changing your way of thinking, and this one is by far the best one I’ve ever read.  It is so detailed about how to work through your toxic thoughts to carve new neural pathways of positivity to get out of your old ways of thinking.  “Find the truth and replace the lies.” 

It is rooted in scripture, so there are tons of Biblical quotes that help with finding the truth, and it contains various activities throughout the book that you can complete to discover your negative thought patterns, figure out why they’re there, and learn how to rewire your brain to improve your thought processes to break the cycle for negative thinking.  I loved this book so much that I’m going to reread it, and I’m hoping to implement these things that I’ve learned going forward.

I’m also still working my way through The Bible and The Bible Recap… making my way through Leviticus right now.

 

Currently Watching

With B:  This month, we finished The Golden Bachelor, and we’ve been making our way through the current season of Shark Tank.  We finished Tell Me Your Secrets and we also started and finished The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart.  Both were excellent.  We also had our annual viewing of Love Actually.  My favorite.

With the Kids:  We finished the most recent seasons of Lego Masters and The Amazing Race, and we finished the new season of The Santa Clauses.  We also started the Lego Masters Christmas special, and we started watching Christmas movies – Elf, Home Alone 2, and The Santa Clause.  We still haven’t gotten back to The Big Nailed It Baking Challenge, but hopefully we’ll have time during our break!

Alone:  Serendipity and The Holiday on repeat. 

 

Currently Listening To

Lots of Christmas music, especially with the kids.  We are all loving that new Christmas song by Cher (LOL), and we love Jimmy Fallon and Megan Trainor’s Christmas song Wrap Me Up.  I have also still been listening to Taylor Swift 1989 (Taylor’s Version), and the new album by Teddy Swims.  Oh, my word, I just love him so much.  I’ve also downloaded a few random other songs recently, and eclectic doesn’t even begin to describe it – Lovin’ on Me by Jack Harlow, Last Time I Saw You by Nicki Minaj (I’m not a fan of hers at ALL, but I love that song), Strangers by Kenya Grace, Lil Boo Thang by Paul Russel (the happiest song, y’all!), Water by Tyla, Next Thing You Know by Jordan Davis, Phoebe Bridgers cover of Nothing Else Matters (originally by Metallica), and I Lived by One Republic.  I’ve also been listening to the instrumental soundtrack from The Holiday because it’s so fantastic.

Since Christmas Eve fell on Sunday this year, I decided to end this post on Saturday, and I’ll recap Christmas Eve next week with the rest of our Christmas.  Happy Tuesday, y’all!