Christmas Break Priorities

Last week, I left work for Christmas break and knew that it would be a full 12 days before I needed to set an alarm clock again. It was, as always, a glorious feeling. Of course, that 12 days goes by in the blink of an eye, so it's important to prioritize how I want to spend my time off, and clearly the most efficient way to do that is in list form.

1. Family

I cannot even look at this picture because it makes my heart explode.

This one is even worse

2. Family

Harrison and Grandpa (my dad)

3. Family

Mom and Stepdad

4. Family

Hanging out with Uncle Logan (my bro)

5. Family

Wrapping paper is delicious!

6. Family

My aunt Leslie joined us for the first time, and don't get confused,
that's not Eric, we have another (honorary) black member of the family, Marc.

7. Family

A beavery Christmas

This is probably the only time of the year I get so much uninterrupted family time and words can't describe how precious that is to me. I know I usually take a sarcastic tone on this blog but that part I actually mean so please don't read it in a sarcastic tone in your head. I make it my mission to soak in every single moment so I ignore the internet, and pretty much everything else in the world except sleep. We were up well past midnight every night laughing until my stomach hurt and tears were running down my face. 

8. Friends

Carolyn and I braving 30-40mph winds to get a run in before
we hit the road on Saturday

Hotel room self timer photo

We started off our break in the fabulous city of Syracuse, NY where my college roommate, Amanda, now lives with her husband, Alex. She wasn't my only college roommate, but she was by far my favorite, and by even farther the only normal one. Marrying Eric was a great call for many reasons and one of them is that he gets along with everyone and is now BFF with all my friends' husbands and you would never even know that they were originally friends on "my side". 

I'm really disappointed in myself for not getting a pic, because we also saw another one of my college friends, Nikki in the cuse. As if I didn't run the risk of being hospitalized for cuteness overload with Harrison, I got to hang out with her daughter (and her husband). Fiona is 19 months and quite possibly the happiest child on the planet. You'll just have to imagine it.

9. Sleep and only wearing pajamas when awake.

How amazing are Eric's Christmas pjs?

I didn't think I had a picture to illustrate sleep but then I remembered I took this as proof that I am NOT the bed hog in our relationship. Just look at the placement of those elbows. That's what woke me up.

10. Food

Christmas Eve morning - ricotta filled Italian clam pastries, coffee, and of course beer

The boys: frying turkey and drinking beer

Looks burnt, tasted delicious

Christmas morning: spinach quiche and pulled pork hash

                           

                                                           Christmas dinner candid

11. Pedicures

My sister and I took our aunt out for birthday pedicures on Thursday. It was another pic taking fail, but trust me, our feet look gorgeous.

12. Workouts

This one was waaaaaaay down on the list, more of an afterthought. If it happened, it happened, but I didn't stress over it. Leaving our midnight hysterical laugh sessions to get some sleep so I could get up early for a run is just ridiculous to consider, and I get plenty of time to be sleep deprived during the rest of the year, so I wasn't setting my alarm for the ass crack of dawn so I could run while everyone was sleeping. Plus, I had this lovely forecast.

Upstate NY winters are so fun

I did manage 7 milers on Monday and Wednesday, plus I'm always on board if I can combine family time and exercise.

My sister and I doing a Jillian Michael's DVD. Harrison was not impressed.

I've enjoyed one of the best weeks of my life, so I would say that my list of priorities did the trick. I knew this would be a picture heavy post, which can be annoying to readers (or at least to me as a reader) so I hope that including Harrison in the majority made it palatable.

I hope everyone enjoyed their holiday as much as I did! We are driving back to Baltimore today and I don't even want to talk about that. 

One last adorable picture for the road.

Uncle Eric's first diaper change.