All I Want for Christmas Is You

When you're surrounded by this, it doesn't feel like Christmas time.
But luckily, there's a display and decorations that went up downtown BEFORE Thanksgiving, so it helps the atmosphere a little.

I can't get this to turn, I'm sorry :( just turn your head...

 Can you believe that Christmas is 2 weeks from today?!?! Ah so crazy!! The year has totally flown by! I graduated college this year. I went to Ireland this summer. I planned a trip to Mexico this summer. I hung out at home with my cousin Bridgit and helped my mom with details for their 25th Anniversary party. Then I spent the month of September in Clemson (Go Tigers, ACC Champs :)) and now I'm here. Sitting on my roommate's bed blogging about Christmas time.

Anywho... On Thursday night we had a roommate Christmas party. The eight of us made Gingerbread Houses! We decorated with gummy bears, Twislers, M&Ms, Reese's peanut butter cups, icing, Hershey's Kisses, and Nestle chocolates, and pretzels. Somehow, a jar of Nutella got on the table, so we ate that with everything possible. (Fact: Nutella makes everything 100x better. Don't believe me? Try it.) We had so much fun making them! Rachael is going to be that mom that out-does her kids, so start praying for them now. Below is a picture of her amazing house. She's pretty creative. I think most of the food for decorating was actually eaten, I know I ate more than I decorated with (as seen below, my house is pretty plain). We enjoyed ourselves though! Then we exchanged Secret Santa gifts! So fun :)

My Gingerbread House

Rachael's Gingerbread House. Amazing, right?

Our street of houses :)

 I'm gonna miss these girls! Rachael leaves tomorrow to go on outreach, Madisen leaves Tuesday morning at 4 am, Melissa leaves on Wednesday, and Gabby leaves next Sunday. Then the CommTrans girls start to leave. I'm actually the first one to leave on Wednesday (the 21st) so I won't have to suffer being alone in my room. It was nice to celebrate Christmas with them, it's a little weird being away from family, but they were great substitutes! I hope you all are doing well and are getting your Christmas shopping done! Remember, don't stress out because spending time together is more important than gifts! Relationships are the real gift. And a relationship with Jesus is what it's all about anyways! So celebrate that too! Everyday, not just on Christmas.

Sidenote, if you like supporting homemade things and businesses, go to this site and explore some gift options. I really like this scarf and am debating on buying myself a Christmas present ;)

LOVE LOVE LOVE