A December to Remember

December....it truly is one of my favorite times of year.

It's even more magical with kids. 

I love everything that comes with December & Christmas time....even the craziness. 

Here are 10 things that I am love about this time of year...and why it has been a December to Remember:

{ONE}

I love San Francisco during Christmas time.

Growing up, my parents took us to San Francisco every December.

We have taken our kids every year as well. 

We have actually been 2 times in the past 2 weeks. 

Earlier this week, my older sister had her annual work Christmas Party for Family & Friends. 

They rent out the Embarcaddero Ice Skating Rink and have free food & drinks for everyone.

It is amazing. And so fun.

This year it was dumping rain, but we still went anyways. Making memories....ice skating in the rain.
Love all the lit up buildings.

 The Ferry Building lit up Orange in honor of the Giants :)

 Such a fun night!

{TWO}

Christmas Cards...I love them.

I love going to get my mail once December 1st hits. 

I anxiously wait for the mail to come each afternoon. 

I love seeing my friends & families beautiful faces hanging up in my dining room! 

Christmas cards are the best. 

{THREE}

I LOVE Christmas Parties! 

Each December our calendar gets filled up with Christmas parties....Kevin's work, my work, our court party & tacky Christmas party.

I love getting dressed up for Christmas parties.

This is what I wore to Kevin's work party:

It was a cranberry lace dress that I got {HERE} last year. 

They have 2 similar styles in black this year which are 40% off! {HERE} and {HERE}

We had our Court party last weekend. It is just for the adults on our court & everyone gets dressed up and we have a White Elephant exchange. So much fun. 

I got the fur vest that has been cycling through the court for the past 5 years. We all call it the Rat Vest.

Our neighbor made Reindeer-tinis' this year. So good!!

This week we also had a girls only annual gift exchange for the ladies on our court. We all wear our jammies & drink wine & have heavy appetizers for dinner.

 I love my court :)

Friday we had our final Christmas Party of the year....it was an 80's Holiday Theme.

You know I love a good theme party.
Check out Kevin & I:

I mean....Kevin's wig?!?! Luke didn't even recognize him!
Oh yeah.....80's Holiday Attire....Nailed it!

I got my dress on ebay for $20. And, I wore black nylons. Of course I had a side pony with a big black scrunchie. It isn't 80s unless you have blue eyeshadow, right?

It was such a fun party, there was even a live band. Loved it.

It was so fun seeing everyone's 80s attire. So Radical :)

{FOUR}

Rodan + Fields Eye Cream is one of my favorite things! It get rid of dark circles, puffiness & fine line under your eyes. 

We have a FREE Gift with bundle purchase that ends on December 31st. 

Buy a regimen with one of our tools (either the macro Exfoliator or our AMP Roller) and you get a FREE Eye Cream! Plus you save 20% on the bundle and get the $60 eye cream for FREE!

This is Kristen, a fellow consultant who used the eye cream on just 1 of her of eyes for 3 weeks. Isn't the difference amazing?

If you are interested in getting this awesome eye cream, send me an email!

melissa_larson17{at}yahoo.com

Not only could you save 20% on a bundle and get a free eye cream, you could also get $20 off your order and FREE shipping! 

You can find out what products are best for your skin by taking this quick questionnaire {HERE}

{FIVE}

Ugly Christmas Sweaters.....I love them.

We go to an Ugly Christmas Sweater Party almost every year.

Here are a look back at some of our outifts (I told you we love theme parties!)

Friday was Ugly Sweater Day at school. I rocked the 12 Days of Christmas Sweater. 

 I added a light up necklace to go with it :)

{SIX}

I love funny things like what the CEO's of Cards against Humanity did on Black Friday as a way to protest Black Friday. They shut down their website and the only thing they sold was a $6.00 box of bull poop. Yes, actual bull $hit. They had 30,000 boxes and they sold out in 1 hour!!!! What is wrong with people? Ha! They donated the proceeds to Heifer International, so that is awesome.

Read the story {HERE}

{SEVEN}

Cheesy Christmas Movies....I just love them.

Also something I love...wine (duh) and Trader Joe's Peppermint Pretzel thins...they are like crack.

I record as many cheesy ones as I can & try and watch 1 every night starting December 1st.

I also love watching other Christmas movies besides the cheesy Lifetime/Hallmark Channel/ABC Family ones.... My Top 10 list of Christmas Movies is {HERE}

{EIGHT}

UGGS. They are my favorite Winter Boot.

I have 4 pairs. Kevin got me these ones 8 years ago:

 I have 4 pairs. I wear them all the time during winter. 

I have these ones {HERE}

My next pair were these ones {HERE}:

 

Then, I got these {HERE}:

 And, I also got these {HERE}

I really like these ones {HERE} because they can be tall or short.

Aren't they cute? I like the gray and the black.

I need an UGG intervention. Ha! I have gotten 4 pairs in the last 8 years, but they are just so cozy & don't wear out....even after 8 years!

{NINE}
 I love sitting my Christmas tree listening to Christmas music. It is one of my very favorite things. Saturday I sat there & flipped through cookbooks because I needed to plan the Christmas Dinner Menu.

We are hosting Christmas Dinner this year for both Kevin's family and my Family, so we will have 16 adults and 8 kids for dinner. Here is the menu that I came up with.

I had fun putting the menu together....I think it will be delicious!


{TEN}
 One of my very favorite things in December is going to church each Sunday.
I love the Advent Season. The Summer & Fall were busy for us and we were out of town a lot, so we were only going to church twice a month during the Summer/Fall. Once things calmed down in November, we were able to go for 5 weeks straight! 
Yesterday was going to be 6 weeks in a row.
As we were driving to church, I told Kevin that I was so excited that after a crazy & busy Fall we had made it to church for 5 weeks straight and that we were able to go each Sunday of Advent without missing church. 2 minutes later, we pulled into the parking lot of church, parked the car, and before we got out Luke puked all over himself and his carseat!!!!!!!! 
Are you kidding me? 
We drove right back home and obviously missed church. 
Guess I spoke too soon...totally jinxed us. 
I am just thankful he got sick in the car and not in Sunday School...that would have been awful. 

When he puked, we decided to just drive right back home and not deal with cleaning him up in the parking lot.
We had nothing to clean him up with....no baby wipes, no change of clothes, no towel...nothing.
#ParentsoftheYear
We live less than 5 minutes from church, so we rolled down all the windows, told the girls to stick their head out the window to breathe the fresh air and not touch Luke.
When things like this happen, all we can do is laugh. 
And then take a selfie with funny faces. Ha! 
We had to document this with a selfie because these are the moments of Parenthood that I want to forget...ha! But, this is real life.....we drove our kid home covered in puke and we drove home in a stinky car. Good times I tell you, good times :)
I can assure you that my girls will never let Luke forget this!

If you have read this entire post, thanks for reading the rambling and randomness...and sorry about the puke in the last picture....at least it's not poop like when I posted about Luke eating his poop. Remember that? If you forgot, you can read it {HERE}

 I am officially on Christmas Break....this is not how I envisioned starting off our break. Ha!
I am hoping and praying that no one else gets sick!