Christmas break?

Oh no, wait, I'm a grown up now. Being a "grown-up" is hard sometimes. I say that because this is the first year I'm not a student and therefore do not have a winter break. Every year I feel like I work up to winter break, which always guarantees 2+ weeks of R&R. The whole few weeks surrounding Christmas I usually spend at home with family, taking trips, shopping, watching movies, etc. Below is a picture at Disneyland from years ago when being a grown up was still far in the distance. And as you can see, Jake and I had just started dating, because he would never take this kind of picture with me now... Ha!

Anyways, this year I have a "real" job. Don't get me wrong, most of the time, I really like it. Not being a student means that I go to work for the day and then come home and do whatever I want {aka NO homework}. However, now all the students that I know are at home enjoying their R&R and I am at work. The week of Christmas. I know I really can't complain because 1) I have a job, a really great job, and 2) my company is very gracious around the holidays and I have two five day weekends in a row {for Christmas & New Years} I know this amount of time off is not usual for most businesses, especially in the world of advertising, and I am so thankful to only have four days of work in the next two weeks. Working at Christmas time is still an adjustment though. I know it's going to be even harder when summer rolls around and work just keeps on going.

Okay, enough of the Monday morning grumpy talk. Let's talk about this week... Christmas week!!

Family arrives today!  Actually, as I write this, Jake is on his way to Birmingham to pick up his parents. I am SO excited that they are able to come spend Christmas with us! Usually we have Christmas with them at their beautiful, snowy house in Oregon {shown below} so it means a lot that they are coming all the way out to the much-less-beautiful state of Mississippi just to keep us from spending the holidays alone. The house is all decorated and ready for their arrival and I am bursting with excitement! It's always fun when someone comes to visit us and we can show them our new life here in the south.

Jake and I have never hosted Christmas before and I'm excited to see how it turns out. Christmas dinner is sure to be great with Jake's mom here to help me cook it! Oh that's another thing that I am really thankful for - that I have in-laws that are like my own family to me. I know so many couples that don't get along with their spouse's family and I feel so blessed to have such a great relationship with them. Having them here really makes Christmas feel like Christmas!

Now it's the 21st of December and I am so full of holiday spirit that I just might explode! I hope everyone has a wonderful week that is full of laughter and new memories. Hopefully, I will be good about taking pictures over the holidays so I can always remember our first real Christmas!