Now that the holiday season has come to a close, I wanted to share a brief recap on how I spent mine! It was a lovely time with family and friends and I hope you were able to be with your loved ones as well.
School went through Friday, December 22nd for me. The final week was full of excitement, craziness, and Christmas magic for my first graders. We spent the final afternoon before break having a holiday party with the rest of first grade.
After school came to an end for 2023, Nala and I were scheduled to fly to Chicago on Saturday, December 23rd. Dan finished school the week before so he already flew home to New York a few days prior. Our friends were kind enough to drop Nala and I off at the airport on Saturday night. We ended up landing in Chicago around noon on Christmas Eve because there was a delay with our second flight leaving Dallas. It had mechanical issues so they put us on a new flight. Nala did amazing during the entire journey! I had the row to myself on the final flight so she got to sit right next to me instead of under the seat in front of me.
Landing at O'Hare is always lovely because it means I am so close to seeing my family but it was especially great this time because of all the beautiful Christmas decorations! My mom picked us up from the airport and the rest of Christmas Eve was spent catching up with her, my dad, Wes, and Lucy. Wes set up some jeopardy games for us to play which was really fun! My parents even picked up Lou Malnati's (my very favorite Chicago pizza) for dinner! Overall, it was an amazing day! Christmas day was another day full of family time, good food, and of course opening gifts! It was such a blessing to be with my family. I've included some pictures below.
On Wednesday, December 27th, Kendall flew in and for the first time in a year the six of us were all together under one roof! For the next few days, we spent time with each other and family friends visiting and playing games.
On Friday, December 29th, I met up with several girls that I used to swim with at Prospect! It was so nice to catch up and see how everyone is doing.
Later that day, my family and I drove up to Wisconsin to celebrate Christmas with my mom's side of the family! We have a lot of Christmas traditions that we look forward to every year and this year was no exception! We even recreated some old pictures of the cousins. It's crazy to think that in a short amount of time, Shelby and Connor's twins will be joining our family.
We spent one night together and then the following day drove home and celebrated Christmas with my dad's side of the family! We had a lovely time with them as well and can't wait for Haley and Erika's new babes to join us!
On New Year's Eve, my parents and I drove up to Michigan to stay with my mom's best friend, Wendy, and her husband, Jeremy. We went to a couple wineries and had a lot of fun visiting and playing games.
We drove home on New Year's Day but I had plans to go back to Southwest Michigan not long after. My best friend, Jenny, and I try to take a yearly trip up to Michigan to visit some of the wineries so that's what we did on Wednesday, January 3rd. We visited some of our favorite wineries and enjoyed time together catching up!
On one of my final nights at home, my mom, dad, Wes, his friend, and I went out for drinks and then dinner! Now that Wes is 21, it's so fun being able to go out with him!
Nala and I flew back on Saturday, January 6th. Although it didn't go completely according to plan due to snow in both Chicago and Reno, we got back safely, thankfully. I spent Sunday getting ready to go back to school! Overall, it was an amazing winter break spent with my loved ones. I miss them so much already!
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