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Last night, Paul and I took our traditional photo by the tree. I am just so thankful for our many blessings. Our family will soon grow by two feet!
Today we woke up and had our traditional Christmas breakfast, opened presents, and spent time together. Tonight, we are having our traditional crab leg dinner! I hope that you are all spending time with your friends and family and celebrating the birth of our Lord.
Our Savior is born. Many blessings to you and yours.
Everyone has their special Christmas traditions. I love having my own traditions from my family, I’ve enjoyed learning about Paul’s family traditions, and we have loved starting a few of our own traditions as well. I cannot wait to see how our traditions grow as our family grows.
My family has a tradition of taking photos by the tree. I’m sure most people share that same tradition, but it’s wonderful to look back on years of photos to see how our family has grown.
Christmas 2012
My mother always writes a Christmas letter. She manages to write about an entire year on one page, I don’t know how she does it. I plan to start writing one of my own next year.
Paul’s family gets doughnuts and pizza on Christmas Eve. They bust out the board games and it’s an amazing night.
We always go to Christmas Eve mass. It’s one of my favorite services of the year. The church is filled with the beautiful spirit of Christmas.
We open presents on Christmas morning. We all get up, go downstairs in our PJs and enjoy a breakfast of coffee cake, bacon, and eggs. We open our stockings first then my sister and I give our gifts to our parents.
On Christmas night, we have a feast of crab legs for dinner.
A few days before or after Christmas, we get together with my extended family and do a big gift exchange game with dice. It gets pretty competitive! There are usually a couple gifts that get fought over the most. It’s great fun!
Paul’s family makes pancakes and bacon Christmas morning, yum!
We love to buy Starbucks and go look at Christmas lights. There are some fantastic neighborhoods near my parent’s house.
Paul and I are beginning to form our own traditions and next year, we will have our precious little baby with us.
Thursdays are usually my busy day. I have clinic all day and I usually schedule my most difficult procedures on Thursdays because I’m with my clinic coach. I’m up bright and early and it’s go, go, go until dinner.
It got me to thinking about my beauty routine. I have to keep my routine simple - for time purposes and for my sanity. I like to get up about an hour earlier than I need to actually be out the door because I like to spend most of my morning making and enjoying my breakfast and allowing my body time to wake up but it’s only about 15 minutes of that is actual getting ready. Therefore, my beauty routine is really simple. I can do my whole face in about 5 minutes, then I usually throw my hair up in a sleek pony tail, get dressed then head out the door.
First, I wash my face and put on moisturizer with SPF. Then I do my eyes, face, and finish with my lips. For my eyes, I do a subtle cat eye with eye liner in either navy or brown. I then curl my lashes and add about two coats of my favorite mascara in very black. A curler is necessary because I have pretty short lashes. Then, I use BB cream for my face {the best face product in my opinion} and then use a little bronzer for my cheeks. And lastly, I put on some tinted lip balm for a hint of shine and color.
My goal is always neutral simplicity. For me, it’s not about covering up my face, but enhancing it. I like to look polished and put together for everyday without even looking like I’m wearing much make up at all. I usually enhance the eye liner for a dinner date or add a bold lip color for special occasions.
What’s your daily beauty routine? How do you mix it up for special occasions?
So I’m getting my hair cut on December 28th right before I leave for Hawaii. I’ve been needing a trim for a while but I think I want to do something a little more drastic. I’ve read that you shouldn’t get a style that requires daily maintenance when you’re pregnant and about to have a baby, so I think I’ll go with a cut that can be styled when I want to take the time and drawn back into a pony tail when I don’t.
My hair is very long right now and completely unmanageable. Between the pregnancy hormones, the thickness, and the length, all I can do is throw it up and out of my face. I want a style that can be worn down comfortably but works with my natural texture {wavy/curly}.
These beautiful ladies are my hair inspiration.
I want to go with a below-the-shoulder length with long layers that can be styled with either subtle waves or soft curls. I also want swooping bangs that can be hidden in the rest of the cut or blown out in front to look more like traditional side-swept bangs. While this won’t be the most drastic cut of my life, I definitely want a shorter style with more bounce. I will definitely need my hair thinned out as well. I cannot wait for my appointment! What do you think about these looks?
Stay tuned on Instagram and Facebook for pictures of my new style!