Picture heavy, Christmas laden post!

On the 23rd I went over to Amber's to stuff stockings for the Fernandez family. Before I went I put on my awesome new plaid shirt from my friend Gabe (that I would have never picked out myself but that I LOVE), made some gift tags and put them in cute little packaging and also made some toppers for the pretzel kisses that I made the previous day. :)

I also crafted some bunting tags and finished up my coasters. :) I absolutely love crafting.
We stuffed and stuffed the stockings till they could fit no more with candy, coffee, ornaments, toys and more.

That evening Paul and I opened our Christmas presents to each other. I absolutely love how he wrapped my present and wrote my name in permanent marker. So glad I got a picture of it before opening it. :)

Before we opened presents Paul said we needed hot chocolate, and boy was he right. We added these Jet puffed mallow bits and it was amazing. We drank out of our matching "together forever" mugs we got from a friend before we were even engaged and had a grand ol time watching military movies, sitting by the tree and drinking our hot cocoa.
Then came present opening time. Paul got it all on the phone, so here it is. Funny thing is I have known what this present was for over a month. It had been sitting out in the spare room waiting to be wrapped. I was still super excited to open it though because it meant I would have a hair dryer that did sound and smell like it might blow up every time I use it. And also my hair would look way better because my old hairdryer was frying my hair every time I used it.

The kittens enjoyed helping us unwrap, they thought it was pretty nifty. Paul got new gloves, I will probably be stealing them! The bottom left picture is the staff room on Christmas at work. It does not accurately portray the amount of food that was there on Christmas day. There was four plates of 70 cookies from costco and then a whole bunch of homemade goodies as well. Crazytown.

The tree came down on the 26th ( I almost took it down on the 24th) because the kittens were making a disaster out of it!

As much as it sucked to have to work the 24-26th, it was actually kinda nice. I had the same patients all three days (which never happens because I get floated everywhere) and they were all nice! I love working with nice patients, I am in a WAY better mood and have WAY more energy when I leave work.

I got off work at 11:30 on the 26th, drove home, Paul and I hopped in the car at 12 and started driving to Oregon. We stopped at 2:22am looking for french fries but the 24 hr McDonalds was closed (lame), so we went to Taco Bell. My eating schedule is already off and I am always hungry when I get home from work, but can usually just fall asleep and forget about it. Hunger does not go away as you sit in a car for almost 4 hours! So Taco Bell at 2:22 am it was. And it was good.

It was an absolute blast seeing my family. I know I always miss them, but then seeing everybody, aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, brother, and parents always makes me want to live closer. We had a lot of technology going on in the house, but a lot of talking too. A few naps, a LOT of eating (I don't think I had a hunger pain for 2 days). We had some boot stealing because my boots are so so so warm. We had a lot of fun.

The 27th was Grandma Gerts 87th birthday so we made her favorite lemon cupcakes (which I need the recipe for). Grandma opened all her presents and after every one said "we had done too much". After the festivities, including ordering Chinese take out for dinner, Grandpa and Grandma went to bed while the rest of us spent 2 hours picking up all the Christmas decorations. I got the boys to help me with the tree, so the four of us got 100's (not exaggerating) of ornaments down in 10 minutes, lights now, and and then wrapped each one individually in tissue paper. Then we began picking up decorations from around the house. Every time we thought we were done we found more. It was crazy! And the even crazier part was my grandma put everything up by herself besides the tree! I want to be like her when I am 87.

Paul and I went to my other Grandparents from12-4 on the 28th before heading back to washington. We got to open presents, eat an awesome lunch of baked potatoes, ham, salad, and rolls, and play a game of Flight Captian (like sorry with no cards). We started driving home at 4 only to realize we were going to hit awful traffic in Portland. Paul asked if I wanted to go to the woodburn outlet mall (we were a mile away) and I said yes. We went and I finally got the Northface jacket I have been wanting (on sale of course) and a few shirts at banana republic (70% off!). I was in heaven.

Then Paul told me to look on Yelp and find a good place to eat. I wanted a semi-sit down place and not fast food. I couldn't have hit the Jackpot more. We went to Luis's Taqueria. It had 4.5 stars with 38 reviews (you never see ratings that high) and only one $ symbol which meant it was reasonably priced. The prices were amazing. Fresh made burritos for 3.95. The BEST mexican food I have ever had. It was more authentic, no cheese. I would eat there ALL THE TIME if I lived in Woodburn. Oh man, we are definitely stopping again. Our whole meal with a tip was 11 dollars. Fast food prices for restaurant quality.

Me in my north face shopping at Banana Republic (most of the store is gorgeous, this was the clearance section that I actually didn't buy anything out of).

My kitties have been helping me with everything since I got home, I think they missed us. I have all of our thank you cards stamped and addressed but we haven't written in them yet. The books in tissue paper were all wrapped up for my cousin but somehow got left under the tree, I have to take them to the post office today (if I ever get out of pj's).

The present is one for my mom's birthday (in February). The funny thing is I already had a birthday present bought and wrapped for her...but now that one has to wait for mothers day because I want her to have this on first! I LOVE buying things for my mom because she is the easiest person to shop for ever. I know her so well, her style, her favorite things. I love it.

Now how was that for a post? I still have more pictures since these were all iphone pics and I actually took pictures with my real camera, but those will be for another time.

Candice, Amber, and Janae I can't wait to hear about your Christmas's!!