Christmas Break

We had three weeks off between semesters from school for Christmas. It was SOOOO nice to have a break but it went by WAY too fast! I didn't start any Christmas shopping or prep at all until finals were over with on December 11th. So I was feeling VERY behind since normally I get so excited for Christmas I start decorating and shopping at least a month before that! It made for a few fun weeks though. I love Christmas. I love everything about it. I love the warm feeling that comes just from knowing the importance of the holiday. I love getting gifts for others. I am the person who will buy a gift, return it because I find something better, buy another one, return that, etc, etc...because I want to make sure I find the perfect gift for everyone! I usually end up with lots of ideas of things to make for people as well. This year I made a few projects, but time only allowed a couple.

Anyways, like I said. We LOVED Christmas break! We were able to finish unpacking our house, pick out a few paint colors, go to Christmas parties, have a sleepover with Dan's younger brothers, etc, etc. On Christmas Day it was fun to be able to go to Dan's family's for Christmas Breakfast and to my parents later. My mom works every other Christmas so we got there in time for her to arrive home for work. Enjoyed the evening which included talking to my brother in Philly!!! He is currently serving an LDS mission there and it was so nice to hear from him!

I didn't do too well at taking pictures...I was too busy relaxing but here is a few!

My mom and I both have started collecting nativity scenes from around the world. I have a mixture of both ones that just have special meaning as well as ones that are international. I am getting quite obsessed with wanting a huge collection already:)

For my birthday, my sweet mother-in-law got me this cute little handmade set from Guatemala, her home country. I love how small it is!

This set is from Kenya. My mother-in-law did a fundraiser at Weber State for women in Guatemala. She takes students there every summer to help teach women how to provide for their families by helping them start small businesses. Most of the women need as little as $50 to get started. They had lots of handcrafted items made by women from 3rd world countries trying to support themselves. This set was hand carved by a woman in Kenya. I couldn't help myself from buying it, not only did I LOVE it but I love the fact that not only did it help the woman who made it but it will help women in the future in Guatemala as well.

This set I got for Christmas last year from my mom. Dan's brother served his mission in Argentina and my mom had his family bring us both a set back last year. I was excited to finally get to display it after having it in a box the past year!

Dan also got me this set last year for Christmas. It is the Willow Tree collection, which I love. As you can see...I love nativities.

Our Christmas tree in our new home! I forgot to take a picture of our new ornament this year. It is a snowman, representing our first Christmas as a family living somewhere with snow!

And for the ONLY picture I took of people during Christmas Break! This is of Dan and some of his siblings at the family Christmas Party.