It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas...

This weekend I planned to do very little except rest (the start of the new job and the end of the semester coinciding took a lot out of me), play in the kitchen, and watch movies and tv. Friday and Saturday I got my wish, but Sunday was my dad's family's annual Christmas party. Luckily, Dad and Mamaw both know me well enough to know my memory sucks so they called on Saturday to remind me!

While the party made it feel more holiday-ish, the fact that the family and I received two truly awesome early Christmas presents made it really feel Christmasy.

My Christmas cupcakes for the party (sorry for the bad pic)

First of all, Not-So-Ex decided I really NEEDED my gift early since he got me a Kitchenaid Stand Mixer. Now I've been dreaming of owning one of these suckers since the first time we got married! Now that the little white beauty sits in my kitchen, I'm overwhelmed! Gone are the days of yet another cheap mixer burning up or just plain breaking leaving me with half mixed frosting in the bowl. And let me tell you, I put it to use straightaway. Saturday night I mixed up somewhere around 4-5 dozen cupcakes and Sunday brought 2 more dozen, plus the accompanying frostings! And it handled them all easy-peasy.

My first batch of cupcakes with the new toy!

Secondly, my Mother-In-Law decided that she would never be able to pick our gift out for us since she decided we needed a new, large (or at least larger than our current set), HD TV!!!!! So she told Not-So-Ex to pick it out and it's ours. I am so incredibly excited! The TV we currently have in our living room was purchased on our honeymoon (yep, 11 years ago) and the set we had in our bedroom recently quit, so this couldn't come at a better time! I was hoping he would rush right out, pick one quickly, and be done with it, but that's not his style. He spent some quality time at Wal-Mart over the weekend scoping them out so I'm hopeful this next weekend will bring a decision. Or at least that's what I'm crossing my fingers for!

At this point, if the kids have anywhere near as good of a Christmas as I already am having, it'll be awesome all the way around. And that makes me happier than I can even explain. To be honest, we're due a good Christmas since the last few have been tough. But, no matter what, I am determined to enjoy every single second!