My Very Merry Happy Birthday Winter Festivities

Ok, I just need to open this up with something that has absolutely nothing to do with what I intended to write, but......Consider this a public service announcement! Clean your ovens, people! I've had a dirty oven for a while, complete with burnt over and over again stuff at the bottom. It finally caught up with me today as I was attempting to bake some butter cookies for tonight's Christmas Eve festivities. My oven warned me once, but I ignored it. I put the cookies in, and a few minutes later my smoke alarms are going off. I had to scrap the cookies and quiet the alarms. I guess I'll be cleaning that oven once it cools down.

Now for my real blog post....
I firmly believe that in 1985 I was the best Christmas present my parents ever received. I will say this all the time with no shame. I'm one of those people that have their birthday a few days before Christmas...the 21st to be exact. Us December birthdays often get lumped in with Christmas festivities. As a child, I guess I resented that. Now as an adult, I just embrace it while insisting that it still be a completely separate entity. I have no idea why, but every year I get so excited about my birthday...no matter how old I am. You would think I was a child. I turned 28 this year, nothing too special. Yet, I was still giddy with excitement when the day arrived. I am a really difficult person to surprise once I know that a surprise is coming. I'm like a dog with a bone until I figure out what is going on. If you want to surprise me, you must keep me completely in the dark. Otherwise, I will never relent in my pursuit to figure out what is going on. I think I have problems with suspense and the unknown.....Alas, my poor husband suffers every year for my faults. He tries so very hard to plan great surprises only to be subject to my nagging until he gives in. He did come up with a great surprise this year, but I found out sooner than he wanted me to. My real surprise was my parents coming to town just for my birthday. I know that I just saw them a few weeks ago, but it was still nice to have them here with me to celebrate. I haven't had a birthday with them since I've been married.

My day started with my dad and husband making me sausage gravy with biscuits and coffee. I spent half my day getting pampered. It started with an hour massage, followed by an hour facial and a mani/pedi. I came home and got ready for dinner. We went to P.F. Changs down in Sundance Square. My husband's parents also joined us for dinner. Following dinner, we ate some yummy cupcakes. Here you can see that I clearly enjoyed my red velvet cupcakes with the tower of icing...

Chinese restaurants are fun because you always get the anticipated fortune cookie. It's always interesting to see what a random cookie has in store for you. Not that I hold much faith in a random cookie, but it's still fun to see what other people's say. I enjoyed mine, but most of all, I enjoyed my dad's cookie fortune.

This was my fortune. Since there are a couple of things I'm wanting to accomplish this upcoming year, I thought this very befitting for me. Now, take a look at what my dad got:



Hahahahahaha! Some like it hot! You got that, dad? Random, but hilarious.

Sundance square is where my husband proposed to me the Saturday after Thanksgiving in 2009. He did it right in front of the Christmas display. My parents have never seen it, so we took this opportunity to show them the decorations since the restaurant was right up the street. Side note: P.F. Changs is also where Mr. B took me to eat before the proposal:)
We took this opportunity to take some pics in front of the decorations, much to my dad's dismay (as you will soon notice in the upcoming pics).

The red and green lighting on the street gave some interesting back light to the photos. And yes, I totally rocked my fedora!

 

Mr. B also got me a Texas Tech charm for my charm bracelet. My mom made me a necklace and this awesome monogrammed tile to put in my living room. I love monogrammed décor!!! She made this using floor tile.

 

Now, another reason I enjoy holidays is because our nephew comes to visit. This past year or so he seems to enjoy my company more and more, and I LOVE it! He is 4 1/2, and this is the age where I really start to enjoy children and the things they say and do. We went out looking at Christmas lights on Sunday. He and I decided to take some selfies in the back seat of the car. Once we got started, he just wanted to take more and more. I'm not sure if it's because I let him push the button on the camera, or if he just loved the silly faces we were making. Either way, we took a few. I put them in a collage.

I just love when he comes to visit. Since his arrival, I've been getting phone calls from him inviting me to come over to Nana and Grandaddy's to play monsters and ninja turtles. He likes the "pick on" game. I wonder what games (and trouble) we can get into today.....

 

 

Happy Holidays, friends:)