Monday joy (10 things)

- It's my absolute most favorite time of the year. I LOVE CHRISTMAS!!!

- It's the kid's last week of school for the year, hurrah!

- The new Sherlock Holmes movie comes out this Friday and I have a hot date to go see it with.

- It's holiday baking season and my daughter loves making treats as much as I do. So fun to work with her in the kitchen.

- So fun to have a kitchen slave ;) 

- The fact that even though we don't have a tree yet, I'm not stressing about it. We live in the Christmas tree mecca of the universe... I can go grab one from 10 different locations within two miles of us if we don't get a chance to go pick one together this week. (And let's be honest, it's me that does the picking anyway, being  the huge tree snob that I am.)

- The huge stack of books borrowed from a friend this weekend, just waiting to be dove dived dove into over the holidays. (I'm still not sure.)

- My kitchen cabinet doors filling up with Christmas photo cards from friends and loved ones. I like to tape them on and leave them till Valentines :)

- Speaking of Christmas cards, I didn't have a good family picture for ours this year, so yesterday I enticed my sister over with the offer of a roast for lunch, borrowed my sister-in-law's DSLR camera, dressed my family to coordinate with my church outfit (I liked it and didn't want to change ;), told Kelly exactly what I wanted during a quick 10-minute photo session outdoors, edited my favorite in Photoshop, uploaded it to Costco, and am picking our cards up tomorrow at noon. Bam! Done.

- And I'm still laughing over this outtake:

(Russ lost balance trying to crouch, and pushed me and the kids over while saving himself. Very chivalrous.)