the most wonderful time of the year.

It's the most wonderful time of the year. It's MilSpouse Secret Santa time, hosted by Wife of a Sailor!

I mailed out my gift this past Saturday to Shana at Tiara's and ACU's, and knew that my own gift could arrive any time. Imagine my delight when my husband texted me, "Secret Santa came! Get excited!" while I was at work this week.

As soon as I walked in the door, I grabbed not one, but TWO boxes! One had specific instructions not to open unless the other box was present. Thank goodness it was! How would I have convinced myself to wait!?!

My Secret Santa was the very wonderful Lacey, from this life of mine! I had actually never read her blog before, but am so happy to be a follower now. Her story is inspiring, she's totally gorgeous and her taste in Christmas gifts is impeccable! What more could you want in a woman!?

 

Lacey sent me a  new Scentsy Plug-In Warmer (which at first threw me off, because she ordered it for me from another MilSpouse- Julie from Soldier's Wife, Crazy Life) and a Cinnamon Vanilla bar. This has been plugged in my living room (where it matches the decor!) since I opened it. It has totally filled our home with this delicious Christmas-wreathy-homey smell. Just what we needed, since we have NO tree and hardly any decorations (#ChristmasFail)...

She also sent the most adorable bracelet, called "Lucky." It has a little elephant and a little pearl charm. And it is the perfect bracelet for me, since elephants are my absolute favorite, as are a good strand of pearls (so classy and fabulous). The description of what lucky was was really meaningful to me, because right now Andrew and I are feeling pretty lucky. Thank you, Lacey, for reminding me.

And FINALLY, Lacey sent some to-die-for Godiva! Girl's best friend! Peppermint and gingerbread flavors! These will be coming on the plane to NY with us tomorrow, for a little bit of festive snacking!!

I can't thank Lacey enough for such a thoughtful and generous Christmas gift! I hope you have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, too!

appalled.

Today I was running late for a work meeting at McDonald's, so I rushed out right after lunch and even drove the 50 feet across the street to the establishment. As it turns out, I arrived before my co-workers,  so I decided to use the restroom. Desperate times call for desperate measures....

The bathroom smelled awful, looked like a penitentiary and the stall doors didn't lock. While I was hovering over the toilet (too much? just you wait...), a mother and her young daughter came in. The mom was yelling at little girl to get over to her right now. When I emerged from my stall, the mother had thrown her daughter up on the changing table and was at that moment whipping the dirty diaper up into the air, leaving her daughter bare-assed on the filthy, plastic McDonald's changing table. As I continued to watch the fiasco occurring two feet behind me in the mirror during my own lame attempt at cleaning my hands, I stopped breathing in and decided not to wait for my hands to dry under the air-drier before getting the hell out of there.

When I emerged, wiping my wet palms on my pants and cringing, the young father of said naked girl on filthy, plastic McDonald's changing table offered a cheerful, "Hello, how are you?" "Uhhhhhhhhh.....okeedoke," I said, as I tried to un-screw up my face.

"APPALLED!!!!!" is what I should have said. Think of all the bacteria are now crawling up that little girl's backside! And heaven help the next McDonald's-bound mother to change her kid in that prison, while her 3-year-old sits on the floor licking ketchup and salt off of his pudgy fingers. The lot of them are all going home with Teeny Beanie Babies and a bonus prize of PINK EYE!

I shouldn't leave the office anymore. Lesson learned.

mff.

1. If I could be on any reality TV show, I’d want to be on The Amazing Race. Traveling the world with Andy.

2. This past Thanksgiving was tasty. My favorite dish was the green bean casserole (that I made).

3. I’m looking forward to December because we're going to New York for 10 days to spend time with my family!

4. One thing I’d like to accomplish this month is baking some delicious treats- cookies, breads, anything really. It's been too long.

5. To me, winter is a time to hunker down.