Early Christmas Present

The other day I came to work and this giant was on my desk

There it is all settled into the condo, taking up 4 of the 750 sq ft. Also, when I was babysitting a few weeks back for my boss I noticed he had 2 copies of Home Alone and so I casually mentioned that the extra copy could come live at my house. So also on my desk I saw this

Home Alone 1 and 2! Which was very thoughtful of my boss, but totally defeated the purpose of me recycling his extra copy.

Oh well.

This weekend was a good one except I did hardly any studying. We had out of town family visiting so I went home Friday night, and then Saturday night we went down to Detroit for Noel night, and then Sunday I went to my parent's Christmas choir concert. Which meant I was super behind and stressed all Monday. But it was a really fun weekend. One of my dad's friends was over too and we all sat at the table for hours talking and laughing. My mom told me later that she was happy to hear me laughing again.

This whole year has been super hard on my parents. I can't imagine being a parent and having your daughter call you sobbing as often as I had this year. I have both really needed, and been super blessed to have them though. One time my mom did comment that it was hard for her to have me call her so upset all the time, and I said 'well I can either call you crying, or you can find me hanging in the closet, your choice'. She did not like that comment very much and was very check-up-y for the next couple weeks. I couldn't ever do that to my family, but I understand a lot more how people can feel there is no escape. I am so lucky that I have parents who love me so much, and support me, and every time encourage me to give my hurt and pain to God and to turn to Him for healing and comfort. It has been- I was almost going to write 'amazing', which seems like such an odd word for a woman who has been abandoned by her husband- but God has been amazing. And I have been very blessed to have such wonderful parents, siblings, and friends. I really don't know how people do this without Him.

(insert segue here)

(my English teacher always did say I was bad at transitions, turns out I still am)

I did get a little studying in on saturday though.

And Friday I made dinner

Delicious seasoned salmon, and trader joe's green beanies. No carbs for me, (besides that tasty beer) because I was bad at work and ate 2 bagels!! Curse you Panera Bread for your irresistible sesame seed bagel goodness.

Jill laughed so much about how huge the poinsettia was, but then the next day I saw she had placed presents under it. Haha, our substitute Christmas tree.

And lastly I made Oreo Truffles, which I thought I would just whip up for the last women's small group, but again I was mourning the loss of my food processor because it turned into a super annoying chore. One broken spatula and a lot of time later, they were done. And super tasty.