Snowflake Swap

Paris recaps are coming, I swear! I'm just getting around to the 700+ pictures Mr. took...   At the beginning of this month one of my friends, Jane, posted about a Snowflake Swap that she and a few others were hosting. I was expecting the holidays to be rough for me(spoiler alert-- I was right), and thought that giving more would help. Plus, I ran two winter gift exchanges, so it was nice to be able to just enjoy it, instead of worrying about everything. I happened to be paired up with the lovely Brittany of Aviation of Love, who is stationed at Ft. Bliss, Texas. Both of us have been at Ft. Bragg, and both of us have immediate feelings of inadequacy when it comes to gift giving. ;) I can say though, that her gift was super thoughtful. I didn't get a chance to take a picture of it all wrapped up, so here are the pieces: I got magazines- Food and Wine (now severely dog eared for all the recipes I want to try) and Self...which I had been wanting to buy but haven't.     

  A really cool Essie nail polish...it's chrome! I can't wait to paint my nails for NYE.  

  An awesome Ft. Bliss t-shirt...which made me wish I had sent her something German. (See above comment about inadequacy)  

Really excited because my preworkout  matches!

  And then she was thoughtful enough to include treats for both girls... Which have promptly been devoured! Thanks so much to Brittany, and to the "JAM Awesomesauce" ladies for putting this together! 

Snowflake Swap

Thanks to some lovely ladies, I am participating in blogger gift swap-The Snowflake Swap this year!  

  It's going to be a rough holiday season this year. It's my first time not being with my family on Christmas, and they're pretty much everything to me. It's hard to think about, and I'm sure there will be tears (See here for my tendency to cry. A lot). But the experience of having a Christmas on our own will be a memory we cherish for years to come. Nonetheless, I'm trying to guard myself up as much as possible with plenty of gift exchanges and holiday spirit to distract myself from the emotions that I know will come.     Interested in joining in? Just click on the picture above and sign up!    

Christmas Rush

Like most people, I am of the whole-hearted belief that Thanksgiving doesn't get a fair chance. Between Candy and gifts, most people are rushing through the season of Thanks dreaming of Sugar Plums.

I'm a planner-I like to have things set and ready far in advance. But this most recent challenge? I didn't think even I was up for it!

Have (nearly all ) of the Christmas shopping and wrapping done by 12 NOV.


WHAT?! I do my gift draws in October, but spend most of November obsessing over what people may want, before purchasing in early December. Unfortunately, since we are in Germany it's recommended that we ship anything we want to arrive by Christmas back to the states by 12 NOV.

With this in mind, the Mister and I headed out to a few different souvenier shops this weekend to try and take care of our gifts. We did great (and got to see the supposed World's largest cuckoo clock!) and only have a few more to go.

What are your usual patterns as far as Christmas shopping is concerned?