Birthday Surprises, Surprise Engagement, Christmas // DECEMBER LIFE UPDATE

January 06, 2019

Birthday Surprises, Surprise Engagement, Christmas // DECEMBER LIFE UPDATE

Last month of the year! And boy, it was a full one!! Thinking back of all the memories, and I can't believe that so much happened in a month. It was a good lil month and I wanna tell you all about it! So! Keep reading!

   The first day of December was spent Christmas shopping with the fam. Not everything was purchased, but we got a good chuck taken care of and it was a relief off of some of our chests! I also had finals during the first week of December. I was partially stressed over it cuz, finals, but they were probably the easiest tests and essays I've ever worked on. I'm 99.9% sure that I passed. I've never been that confident on a test. Ever.
   The first week of December also brought a special birthday! Elijah turned 21, and we got to celebrate in multiple ways. He actually went out of town the day before his birthday (also the day of my final) to go to a metalcore concert (his absolute fav). While he was gone, I took the liberty of breaking into his house (his mom gave me a key) and trash his room (cover it in balloons). I put my gifts to him in there, and covered his door with sticky notes. It was a surprise that I had been keeping to myself for over a month, and finally being able to do it might've been more exciting to me than to him. Also, he doesn't like getting surprises, so it was even more motivation on my part to do something. To say he was shocked was an understatement. The next day was his birthday, so we got to celebrate all day with pizza and reliving memories and watching a movie together with all his family. I loved celebrating his birthday, and I hope he did too.
   Immediately following the birthday celebrations and tests, my family packed up the van and drove to Houston for a weekend to celebrate Christmas. It was very early in the month to be celebrating Christmas, but it's the only time that my mom's brothers and sisters could all rally together before the holidays became chaotic. Lots of singing, food consumption, story telling, laughter, and gift unwrapping was done in those 2.5 days. We do Secret Santa gift exchange every year for all the extended family, and I had my aunt this year. Her family was effected majorly by the flooding in Houston many years back, and they finally got their home rebuilt. So I put my photography skills to work over the course of 2018 and got pictures of barn doors and haybales and anything country looking that you could think of, to recreate their last name in those pictures. She was uber surprised and I was uber excited to give it to her.
   Elijah and I went to many Christmas parties...all in the course of a weekend. We went to the KBNJ radio Christmas party one evening, and then we went to my Sunday School class party the following evening, and then we went to his work party the evening after that. It was a lot of partying all in one weekend, but it was a memory maker haha!
   One super exciting part of December was only a week before Christmas day. I got a text a month or so back from a church buddy, asking if I would take Christmas photos for him and his girlfriend. I was thrilled cuz I like taking photos, so I agreed. Nothing much happened about it, until about a week or so before we were going to take pictures, when he asked about specifics on prices and everything. It turns out that his girlfriend didn't know about the pictures. No big deal, I thought it was a Christmas gift surprise! Turns out, they were actually going to be surprise engagement photos! I got to shoot a surprise engagement and I was beyond thrilled. Also super nervous cuz I've never done anything like it before, but it was a success and she said yes. So much fun! Congratulations Angel and Nehemiah!
   The Christmas break was jam packed with a bunch. My family went up to San Antonio for Six Flags two days in a row (it was cold, lemme tell ya). We then went up to central Texas (Temple/Waco area) to spend Christmas Day with the German side of my family (mom's dad) and we sang Christmas carols and Jonathan and I dressed up as Mr & Mrs Claus. We spent days after Christmas at my grandparents in Missouri (dad's parents), where the boys helped with the yard work and I helped in the kitchen. It was a good little vacation.
The Christmas vacationing continued into the new year, but not really cuz we were all hard at work. My mom catered a wedding for a homeschool friend on the 31st, and we all pitched in. It was outside and gorgeous, but also super cold. There was chocolate fondue and mac & cheese and street tacos. It looked and smelled delicious.
The fun lil vacation that my grandparents and my cousin Addy and I are working on is a CRUISE!! My grandparents (mom's parents) discussed it with Addy and myself on Halloween and we were on board immediately! The cruise will be January 7-12 in Cozumel and Progresso Mexico. We are all so excited for this vacation and time spent together. Lots of stories and pictures to come!!
Overall, it was a full and lovely December. I'm glad for the memories made in 2018 and especially December of 2018, and I'm so excited for the memories and trips to come in 2019!

Always,
Becca