*Christmas Eve* Eve

Hope you're having a good weekend and feeling ready for Christmas!  I'm a little under the weather with a sore throat and cough, and my voice is pretty weak and shaky.  But emotionally and mentally, I'm doing much better, so I'll take that trade-off!  It could be all the extra sleep I've gotten thanks to being sickly, including my 2.5 hour nap today.

Anyway, here's a quick weekend update before all the Christmas festivities begin tomorrow:

Sarah Elizabeth invited us over to her Mom's for a game night -- her brother got the flu, so his family was unable to come down and they had already bought lots of food and snacks and games, so we were happy to come "help" eat and hang out! =)  There was chicken soup, sausage balls, pigs-in-a-blanket, sugar cookies, a veggie tray, cheese dip and crackers, muddy buddies, haystacks, etc. Tater-tot loved Nancy's chicken soup.  I loved that and Sarah's "muddy buddies," aka puppy chow!  We played Pit, Bananagrams, Secret Hitler (about as awkward as it sounds), and 5 Second Rule (super fun!).  We got there at 6:30, and I was there till around 1:00 am playing games and laughing and chatting, so that was fun!!

The Liberal/Fascist boards made us laugh!  I realized it was all my 2018 Tinfinity friends + Tate in the middle right picture.  All the facial expressions crack me up in the middle left pic!

Last night, I sat outside for a bit chatting with Mom and watching Dad play with the kids on the fort!

After church today, we had lunch at The Wedge, a new pizza place in MWC. Would've been better if I could taste things properly and enjoy my fav dairy foods, but I'm trying to keep that to a minimum while I'm sick and congested, which is rough since it's 90% of my usual diet. lol  Also, Dad's face in this pic makes me laugh!

Ashley Campbell's Christmas sign makes me happy! =)

When I woke up from my lovely nap, I made some chocolate buttercream icing for Mom's cake... soooo tasty I could just eat the icing with a spoon!  (And I did! lol)

Then Mom wrapped my present for Kristin - I gotta learn to make bows like she does!  It really sets it off and makes it special!

So I'm excited to sleep in, then have lunch with Kristin tomorrow, then dinner and opening gifts with Mom's side of the fam tomorrow night.  Then a casual Christmas breakfast with the Parrishes, movie with Dad, then spaghetti dinner at Mom and Dad's house - yay!  Should be low-key family fun that doesn't require much work on my part, which is super nice when I feel like this!

In other news, I'm praying and brainstorming about how to spend my extra time in 2019.  While the rest of the working world seems to be lamenting about how much they have to do and trying to figure out how to simplify their lives, I have the opposite problem.  As a 30+ single with mostly married friends and a non-demanding job that offers me lots of downtime and time off, I've seen a plethora of movies just to stave off the ever-present threat of boredom and loneliness.  I need something to DO that makes me feel purposeful, and I've become more and more aware of that lately.  I want to do something more productive and God-honoring with my extra time.  I'm hesitant because when I've gone down that road in the past, I've made regrettable roommate decisions or I've overextended and over-committed myself to several different groups, projects, and activities... then I quickly burn out and go back to introvert movie mode.  So I need one or two activities and/or causes that I can focus deeply on and really put my energy and passion into... things that will energize me more than they deplete my energy.  Gym time and getting in shape can certainly be one, but I also need something relational... I'm trusting that God will show me where to start and give me the grace for it.
(If you have any ideas, I'm definitely open to that.)

Mmkay, now I'm off to bed.  Merry Christmas Eve Eve!
Hope you have a lovely Christmas Eve and Christmas!! ❤