It’s the Friday before Christmas! Does it feel like Christmas is only a week away to everyone? I keep thinking that I have at least a couple more weeks.

There are few things that can stress me out at the pure thought of them than baking. The thought of baking with Harrison, and I can already feel myself start to sweat. (That doesn’t mean that I don’t do it every once in awhile! I want both of my boys to grow up with memories of baking cookies and breads together. Not to mention, who can deny that there’s anything better than having fresh chocolate chip cookies around?). However, I’m always grateful when my MIL brings over a plate of Christmas cookies because she is an AMAZING baker, and we are very willing and happy consumers. 😜

Do you have a baking day for Christmas cookies?

We always had homemade Chex Mix around the holidays when I grew up. I looked forward to that smell of butter and Worcestershire sauce filling the house every year. Harrison loves helping me make it this year. Sampling the ingredients, dumping them in, stirring them up. This is the kind of baking/cooking I can do well with Harrison.

Two things that we’ve watched recently and loved.

I had never seen The Family Stone before. All of my girlfriends were saying that it was their favorite Christmas movie, so I had to give it a shot. And you know what? I LOVE it. It makes me boo-hoo and want a massive, crazy, imperfect but full of love family. It’s streaming now on HBO, if you’re looking to watch it this season.

The other show we just finished was The Undoing on HBO. Not exactly light-hearted Christmas themes, but it was captivating and so well done, if you’re like us and enjoy a good murder mystery.

I posted this on my stories last week on a day that I just wasn’t feeling it. I wasn’t feeling cheery. I just felt down about everything. The number of you all that sent me messages saying that you felt the same way more days than usual this holiday season, or told me to hang in there, made me feel so loved and not alone. Just envision this as a big hug from me to you this holiday season. Especially if it’s just not as happy and cheery as it usually is around this time of year for you. This has been a hard year for pretty much all of us in some shape or form. Just remember, you’re not alone. And there’s joy coming on the other side of this.

This picture is back from one of the first weeks home with baby Jonathan, and this last favorite is kind of broad. But the end of my maternity leave has me so very thankful for all of the time I’ve had with this newest little Lane boy. So thankful for the time. So thankful for my boys’ health. So thankful for getting to just focus on loving them well. It’s gone so fast, and I will definitely miss kissing and rubbing this fuzzy little head of hair during the day.

Have a wonderful weekend, friends!