The 5 senses of Christmas!

Just a little FYI, as I write this I want you all to be aware of the pants I am wearing.  They are some comfy Christmas pajama bottoms that I'm not sure I have words for.  Just imagine patches of different colored snowflakes, we've got some polk-a-dots, a little red ribbon and a whole lot of greens and reds.  They are rather embarrassing, but at some point I thought they were a solid gift so I'll sport them on this eve of Christmas eve.  

So my family is HUGE on traditions and I guess I can take about 80% of the blame for making us that way (if we do something once, I insist we do it again the next year, the EXACT same way).  

The eve of Christmas Eve is the night my family piles in a car, Trevor in the trunk, and we drive around listening to our favorite Christmas CD (Hilary Duff, of course) and look at Christmas lights.  We then come home and watch A Charlie Brown Christmas, that's what we're doing right now.  We're all sprawled out on the couch in the media room, enjoying homemade creme brulee!  All is right in the world. 

I wanted to share the 5 senses of Christmas, according to me!  

When I think of Christmas, this is what I expect to see:

Lots of wrapping paper, ribbon and tissue paper.  Wrapping is an art form here at the Huante's house.  

Along with al those wrapping goodies the way my house is decorated is what Chritmas looks like to me.  This view gives me the warm in fuzzies in a way that nothing else can. 

This is what Christmas tastes like:

Mom's cheddar potato soup.  One of our many traditions is eating this delicious soup & finger sandwiches for dinner on Christmas Eve.  Mom made a huge pot today so we'll get to eat it tomorrow night, then the next and the next, until all that cheesy goodness is gone. 

This is what Christmas smells like:  Mom's toffee.  This is my most favorite thing about Christmas time.  Mom probably makes somewhere between 8 and 10 batches a year.  This stuff is indescribable.  Just imagine a pound of butter, 2 cups of sugar, pecans and a whole crap load of chocolate all put into one.  Making this stuff requires a special touch and my mom has it!  I cannot remember a Christmas that she wasn't making this stuff.  The smell is wonderful, it lingers throughout our whole house for hours after she makes it (she made a batch about an hour ago and the smell is stuck in my nose).

(This was taken before all the chocolate was spread.  HOLY YUMM!) 

This is what Christmas sounds like:  Hilary Duff, Disney Christmas, Aly & Aj.  Go ahead, laugh.  We laugh too, but these albums are TRADITION.  We jam to these for a month straight, put them in a drawer when Christmas is over then pull them out 11 months later.  

This is what Christmas feels like (substituting for touch, because what is a "touch" of Christmas supposed to mean anyway):  Peace, joy, love.  This picture was taking a few days ago when my family went to downtown Fort Worth to walk around.  Being surrounded by these crazy fools is exactly what Christmas feels like.  We all turn into 5 year olds during this time of the year, hints the Hilary Duff Christmas CD.  I love these people!!

Well friends I'm going to go enjoy the rest of A Charlie Brown Christmas with those crazy kids pictured above.  I hope you all have the most Merry of Christmas' :) 

HAHAHA before we made our way upstairs to start this movie my dad snagged this photo of me blogging!  Check out the pants.  Festive, huh?  

Grandma's & shopping.

On a day to day basis my favorite kind of people are parents.  The way they love, the way they cook, the way they want to be apart of every aspect of my life.  It's cute, really.  But on a day I get to spend time with either of my Grandma's, grandma's are my favorite kind of people.  

This woman's name is Nana and she is British.  This lovely lady was raised in Manchester, England then moved to the States when she met my Grandaddy.  It's a great love story, but maybe it's only great to me because they're part of my story too.  Rather than boring you with the sweet details of how he had to ask her to marry him 3 times & move across the world so they could build a life together or the beautiful story I've heard 736 times (approximately) about how she waited under the clock tower in Germany for him I'll go ahead and move onto why she is the most precious lady on planet Earth.  She probably beats out all the Nana's on Mars and Jupiter too, but really I can only speak for this planet.  She drinks tea almost every afternoon.  TEA.  Because she's BRITISH.  She appreciates every single second of the day and all of the little adventures that come along with being 88 years old.  We went and visited Nana in her adorable retirement home last weekend & we brought Christmas with us.  We brought her a few presents, but before she unwrapped them she hugged them!! She then peeled off all the wrapping paper with such technique leaving the paper completely intact.  The way this woman appreciates life is BEAUTIFUL.  The way she loves is BEAUTIFUL.  The way she gives so generously is BEAUTIFUL.  In this picture Nana was sharing old photos with me.  We went through about 4 albums.  My dad and her told stories about my Grandaddy that I never got to meet.  In one of those albums was a picture taken by him of JFK the day before he was shot (HOOOOOWWWWW COOOOOOOL!!!!!!).  He was a professional photographer for the the government!!  I can only dream to be as cool as him, or my Nana.  You can learn a lot from your grandparents.  Lots of old wisdom that can only be given by such sweet souls.  

Now this is Grandma and she is as cute as a button.  She told me she loves reading my blogs so here's you're little shout-out Grandma!  I am blessed by this woman's love.  We ventured to Grandbury yesterday for a little shopping day.  We spent a good two hours at BABES (!!!!!!!!!!!!!) talking about love languages (my favorite topic for any conversation) and such.  We then walked and talked and walked and talked and she stressed out about buying the perfect Christmas presents for everyone.  Shannon & I played dress up then took a fat nap in the car on the drive home.  

Grandma's, they're the sweetest, cutest, most lovely people and although I'm a little bias, these are two of the greatest this worlds got! 

Just a few pictures from our shopping day: 

I realize this is only half of Shannon's face, but I LOVE this picture.

Remember those RIDICULOUS popcorn shirts from forever ago?  Confession:  I always wanted one.  Thank you Mom & Dad for never following through with my requests of owning one of these… shirts that fit anyone.  

This is our attempt at a sorority girl pose.  Nailed it?