dear holidays,

i am so sad to see you go. really, i am. when i realized christmas music was no longer playing on the radio i died a little inside. a lot more took place than i could fit into my 12 days of christmas, so here it is... a holiday brain dump, if you will. [thanks, shauna, for the idea]

first of all, i realized that the 12 days of christmas are supposed to lead up to christmas, coming to an end on christmas eve. oops.

i spent lots of time with some of my favorite cousins [plus my aunt and uncle]








i've always wanted to ice-skate in an outdoor rink and i finally got to! we went to san francisco on christmas eve and didn't let a little, or a lot, of rain stop us from skating our little hearts out. now i can look forward to the christmas i spend ice-skating in rockerfeller center in new york.


by the way, christmas eve is a fabulous day to go check out the city - most everything closes early, so the streets are nice and empty. but it is kind of a pain when the restaurant you want to eat at tells you the wrong closing time on the phone. good thing in n' out burger never lets you down.


i've been on a steady diet of sugar for about 3 weeks now. really, i made 3 different batches of sugar cookies this holiday season, staying up past 2 in the morning each time. i'll have to learn to be more efficient in baking next year. and, the 50 boxes of see's candy we received at work didn't help with my sugar diet either.

sometimes i love my grown up job. for example, the week of christmas i worked exactly 6 hours, but got paid for a full week of work. [i used 2 of my paid vacation days, our office was closed 2 days for the holiday, and the one day of the week i showed up for work, the office closed early]. hooray for being on salary! this week, our office is only open 2.75 days. hopefully i don't have a hard time adjusting when i have to start working a 40-hour week again.

i am also in love with the temple at christmastime. i went twice this year.

i'm kind of in love with taking picture in mirrors. maybe it's because those are the only kind of pictures i can take myself and still be in them.



and i am in love with the new taylor swift cd. if it had her song "i'd lie" on it, it would be perfect.

i found the cutest pair of flat boots for $50 and bought them for myself as a christmas present. my dad said they remind him of the cat's boots on shrek. my cousin said they look like pocahontas boots. at least no one has said that they're ugly.

i did miss this family on christmas, though, and can't wait for them to come back. and i'm a little jealous that their christmas was white. the only white christmases i've had, i can't remember. but i'm sure i'll have one before i know it.

well, holidays, as much as i'll miss you, there is still a lot to look forward to.

like the new year, for example :)

until next december...

jana

on the twelfth day of christmas...

may we all remember the true meaning of christmas...

on the eleventh day of christmas...

we pranced around the city in these.

quite literally, we pranced...

fairbanks.

remember this girl?

well, the whole family is in town for the holidays and i had the pleasure of taking some pictures for them this afternoon.

they all turned out so darling, i seriously had the hardest time choosing a few to edit first to give them a little sneak peek. hope you guys love them as much as i do!

on the ninth and tenth day of christmas...

i didn't have to work...


so i could set up for this party, and then recover from it.

since our freshman year in high school, i've put on the girls' annual christmas dinner - 7 years and counting.

me and liz might have stolen these branches from a neighbor's tree.

after dinner, we took the pictures hanging from the trees and wrote our predictions for our friends this coming year. the plan is to read them all at the party next year and see if any come true. i haven't even peeked - i want them to be a surprise

i made these felt trees a few days ago to be additional table toppers, but there was no room on the table to put them! at least i have some sweet christmas decorations for next year.

and here are my lovely guests...

.. and of course, the traditional goofy picture.

the wheels in my head are already turning with ideas for next year - i can't wait!

on the eighth day of christmas..

my big mess needed to be cleaned.

project coming later :)

on the seventh day of christmas...

on the sixth day of christmas...

i may or may not have had one of these for breakfast.

and a few more for lunch.

on the fifth day of christmas..

i had the privilege of using a credit card to scrape ice off of my car windows. it felt like utah.

on the fourth day of christmas...

i mailed out my last one of these.

{addresses blurred out}

on the third day of christmas...

we marveled at our creations.

kristin, the genius behind our delicious project.

and jack, the architect, delegating his design to doug, the construction worker.

we made some gingerbread men too.

on the second day of christmas...

i was very blog happy.

{and the grinch, with his grinch-feet ice cold in the snow, stood puzzling and puzzling, how could it be so? it came without ribbons. it came without tags. it came without packages, boxes or bags. and he puzzled and puzzled 'till his puzzler was sore. then the grinch thought of something he hadn't before. what if christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store. what if christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more.}
 - dr. seuss, the grinch

photos of this family

on the first day of christmas..

we experienced the aftermath of staying up past 2 in the morning.

first, because we got this lovely lady ready for the ball.

then,  because we went to see this movie.

if you have a few hours and dollars to spare, i highly recommend it. i laughed, cried, and decided that if i ever pull an angelina jolie i will adopt a half aboriginal child first.