Magnolias'n Blues: December 2011

We had a wonderful Christmas. I absolutely enjoy this festive season but I'm embracing my structured life with my daily routines once again. The past six weeks or so have been hectic and exhausting. We've had traveling, hosting a Christmas party, attending parties, dinners, events, baking, shopping, and final exams. I believe we need this week in order to catch our breath. My hubby is actually fast asleep at the moment in his big leather recliner. Poor Dear, he has earned a day off after this past semester and holiday season.

This Christmas we decided to visit family earlier this month and spend the actual holiday at home. We didn't want to spend it fighting the traffic getting home (nothing restful about that). I'm happy we did because the weather hasn't been all that great. It's been cold and raining. However, it does give that winter feeling that goes along with Christmas. The past few years we've been in Texas and it doesn't feel much like Christmas when it's sunny and in the high 70s. This year seemed a bit more festive.

We had Christmas morning at our house and then met a friend (who's an international law student) for a Chinese Christmas dinner. She was planning on spending Christmas alone this year (her 2nd Christmas in the United States). Well, we couldn't have that so we treated her to a Chinese feast. We had Peking duck, seafood noodle soup, Sweet & Sour Chicken, fried rice, etc. We had so much food that I'm still stuffed thinking about it, Ha!

Afterwards we shopped in the Chinese market and she bought us some Chinese bubble tea. It's my newest favorite drink. Love the little black rice balls. They look like black pearls. I had mine hot but hubby had his cold. It was fun to try Chinese candy and hear of her culture. I felt like I was back in school on a field trip. We treated her to a movie, The Adventures of TinTin. She loved it. It was such a fun Christmas. One for the books.

My husband also surprised me with a new iPad 2. I'm typing from it at the moment. Trying to learn how to use it. Very similar as my iPhone but there's still new things to learn. It's got a pink cover and all. Love him! Also, he gave me more Barbies. I collect retro Barbies. I'll share pictures with y'all. Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas as well.

I've been an absolute horrible blogger these past few weeks. I haven't had much down time to even catch my breath, let alone blog about it. I've been busy hosting parties, attending parties, cooking/baking, decorating, cleaning, shopping, and standing in lines. This time around has been busier than ever before. I'm going to need a vacation just to recuperate after the holidays this year.

My husband just completed his first semester of law school. We couldn't be more thrilled about him having the next couple of weeks off. He needs it. Unfortunately, we still run a business so we'll be doing some travel over winter break. However, he feels very confident that he did well on his final exams. He took the last one yesterday. I truly feel for him. Each exam is about 4 hours long. He had 4 exams total. He told me some of the students broke down and began crying and walked out. That means they dropped out of law school. Ok, perhaps I won't be complaining about how stressful the holiday season has been on me to him, HA! I'm really proud of him for doing such a great job this semester.

For the past week I've had neighbors dropping off goodies on our front porch. I awoke to find five packages this morning by the front door. I love this neighborhood. It's like living in a small town inside another. Everyone is so thoughtful and sweet. However, considering this was my first year to this neighborhood I wasn't fully prepared to give all 30 households baked gifts this year. I ran into the kitchen and began baking cookies. I thought to myself, a few hours and I'll be finished. HA! 10.5 HOURS LATER!!! I was still in my pajamas, my hair looked like the 1980s band Flock of Seagulls, my kitchen looked like a flour bomb exploded, and I had frosting up to my elbows. I managed to bake and frost 144 cookies total that afternoon and then cheerfully deliver them to my neighbors. Martha Stewart has nothing on me, HA! I hate to be caught off guard like that but I managed to get through it. Next year I'll be more prepared.

Speaking of cookies, I hosted a Cookie Decorating Party for my husband's study group. They were really anxious about the final exams so I had them over last week to help them unwind. It was so much. I put out a few snacks and we all sat around our dining room table visiting while decorating cookies. Afterwards they took their cookies home with them. I found a new recipe for sugar cookies and they are fabulous. They aren't too sweet so with the frosting they are perfect. I'll share if you're interested. Just leave me a comment.

This past week I attended the Geneva Gardens Luncheon. We all met at the Farview Inn in Jackson. It was so much fun. The inn was decorated for Christmas and looked beautiful. I managed to get a few snapshots but there was a lot of guests so I didn't want to take too many pictures. I didn't want to disturb their lunches and relaxation time. However, the pictures I did manage to take turned out great. Hope you liked them. I also added some pictures of my own holiday decorations. I didn't go all out this year but just enough to make it festive. Again, hope you enjoy them.

My front door wreath