life lately

can you all believe christmas is this weekend? sweet jesus, where did the year go? i wish there was more time in the season to fit in everything i want to do... like spend a whole day baking cookies and another whole day watching christmas movies and wrapping presents and another whole day sipping tea and munching on those cookies i baked with my mom. but so is life, right? just never enough time... but we're making the most of it. 

my mom has an album for pictures of my brothers and i with santa since we were babies... and even at 28 years old, we're adding to it. this past weekend, we headed to the mall to wait in a line of impatient children for a picture with santa. after about a half hour in line, santa decided to leave for an hour break! an hour long break!!! so... we improvised and took pictures in santa's chair, without him. sorry mom... we tried. 

between holiday gatherings and shopping and craziness we were able to squeeze in a quiet night at home complete with takeout, wine, games and christmas movies. these nights are my favorite... and the puppies favorite. remember that time riley wasn't allowed on the couch... she doesn't either. when did i become such a softy?! 

we recently had a mini snow storm that turned the world beautiful and i was so excited for a white christmas... then it got warm and almost all the snow melted! ugh. i've been checking the forecast daily in hopes for a storm to head in this weekend... fingers crossed. but everyone enjoyed the snow while it lasted. 

and of course christmas time would not be complete without hot cocoa and cookies. eating evolved hot chocolate is gluten free/paleo friendly and rich and delicious.

 i've tried so many different paleo/gluten free baking recipes and they usually come out awful, ending up in the trash... until i found the blog bakerita.com. every cookie recipe i've tried tastes like regular cookies, not cardboard. i'll definitely be making these peanut butter oatmeal raisin cookies again!

i hope you all have a magical christmas with your families. xo