The Laid-Back Laus: January 2013

So the holidays have come and gone and the decorations have been put away until next year! I always love when the holidays are upon us…you have the decorations, the Christmas music blasting on the radio and in stores, and the peppermint and gingerbread flavored everything at the coffee shops and restaurants! But – as much as I love the holidays – when they are over, they’re over. I am, sad to say, one of those people who takes down their decorations and Christmas tree the day after Christmas! I know, I know, some people savor it all until after the New Year has begun, but I prefer to soak up the holidays and then let them go when it’s time.

Anyways, of course I never captured pictures of all of my holiday going-on’s but I did get a few. Here’s a quick re-cap of what my Christmas looked like this year!

Saturday (December 22) : Woke up bright (it’s technically not bright at 4:25 AM) and early to get on the road to Tallahassee. Since Josh was working, it was me and the Bailster making the 5 hour drive North to see my family! I wanted to start early to not only get in as much time as possible with my loved ones, but to also beat any traffic that was going to build up on the highways the weekend before Christmas! Luckily, the traffic wasn’t bad and I made it in good time! As soon as I got to Tallahassee and unloaded Bailey, and the car, I laced my tennis shoes up for a 7 mile jog in my parents neighborhood. Of course, the South Florida weather was a bit warmer when I left, so it took me (and my body) a few minutes to get used to the frigid air. But when I did – I was golden!

After my run, I hit the shower, got dressed, and headed across town to see my brother and sister-in-laws home! They are currently building their first home and it is absolutely gorgeous! We hung around to wait for the appliances be delivered (which were just as pretty as the house) then we went and ate lunch at Genghis Grill, which was absolutely delicious and hate that there isn’t one near us. After lunch we headed back to David and Tamara’s place to freshen up and get ready for Renee and T.J.’s Christmas party! They were so kind to let me tag along with David and Tamara…thank you Renee! They had Chili and other treats for munching and boy was the Chili yummy Smile

After we left Renee’s house, David and Tamara dropped me off at my parents where I was snoozing away 30 minutes later.

Sunday (December 23) : I woke up, feeling very rested, the next morning and hit the pavement again! It was so stinkin cold but I got used to it pretty quickly. I got 7.25 miles under my belt before calling it quits! Sunday was much lazier than Saturday. Tamara brought my fur niece (Moose) and fur nephew (Remi) over to play with Bailey and hang out! We had so much fun just having girl talk, gossiping, and catching up!
Monday (December 24) : Again, to beat the traffic, I was up early and ready to get on the road to get back to Josh. I was also responsible for two side dishes for Christmas Eve dinner at my in-laws so I wanted to make it home in time to get those cooked and be on time at my in-laws. Thankfully – traffic wasn’t bad again so I made it home in 5 hours…whew! I was able to relax for an hour or so before Josh had to go into work. Once he left, I cooked corn casserole (thank you Paula Deen) and a roasted broccoli dish for dinner then headed to my in-laws. We had a lovely meal with ham, peas, mashed potatoes, etc. and good company too! After we ate and cleaned up, I hung out with Josh’s mom and dad for about an hour before we headed to Christmas Eve Service at church! This is something we have been doing since I moved down here 4 years ago, and it’s something I will continue to do when I have children. I think it’s so nice to celebrate this time of year with lit candles and singing Silent Night!

After church – we headed back to my in-laws and opened gifts. Unfortunately, Josh was at work this whole time so I was flying solo. I headed home and hit the sack!

Tuesday (December 25) : I woke up the next morning, with Josh still sleeping, and got some mileage in ( I needed it considering the meal I ate the night before) – 8 miles to be exact! Once I got home, I showered, and we enjoyed a lovely Christmas together! I think out of the three of us – Bailey had the best Christmas. After she’d open one gift, she’d play with it, and come for more. This kept happening until she ran out of gifts in which she started to sniff around our gifts!

The rest of the day (Josh had to work 12-6) I cleaned up and relaxed until he got back home – he had a shorter day since it was Christmas! We then decided to go see Les Miserables. We both wanted to see it and we thought…why not?! We were very fortunate when we arrived because as we were walking up to the ticket booth at AMC, a woman stopped us and asked if we were going to see Les Mis at 7, we replied, Yes, and she handed us two tickets…FOR FREE! At first I thought she was trying to scalp them or she was going to rip us off, but no, she handed us two tickets and said Merry Christmas! We kept thanking her profusely for her generosity! Once we got into the theater, I saw her with a large group of people so I think she probably had some no-shows and decided to be a kind-hearted individual and give them away!
So – that was my holiday! It was fun, and so enjoyable! We really wanted to enjoy this Christmas as much as possible – with just the two of us – because who knows, we may have another member of our family (human and fur) next year and celebrating with us!

I hope everyone had a great holiday!

**Since I didn’t take a lot of pictures (something I am trying to get better at) I will end the post with a few things we made this year for decorations and such!