Santa brought me something very special this year.  I must have been a very good girl.  The cold I received on Christmas is the most full blown cold I have had in a couple of years.  Achy, snotty, and a horrible cough rounded out my holiday vacation.  Normally I would be at the gym right now getting my sweat on, but instead I’ve decided that I need to take it easy for the next couple of days. I need a vacation from my vacation!

I did get on the scale this morning, and then I QUICKLY jumped off.  I will say that my goal for maintenance did not happen, but I also know that a lot of the gain I see is salt, too many carbs, and just poor eating all around.  I also only got out for a walk once last week.  My week was a total fail diet and exercise wise.  But that is why today is a new day, and so I am moving on and getting into detox mode this week!

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FMM: Do you celebrate Christmas and/or Hanukkah? If so, tell us about your Holidays 2011 experience…Did you enjoy it?  Do you wish it had been different?

I had an amazing Christmas with my brother and his family in Gilbert, Arizona.  Unfortunately, I forgot my camera and so I have no pictures .

The week started out with a lot of shopping!  Dustin and I live in an area where the shopping is sub-par (to say the least) so we tried to take as much advantage as we could of the great malls they have in AZ.  We also got a present for my mom and niece.

On Tuesday we went to Zoolights with the family which was great for the 5 kids, and interesting for the adults (and by interesting I mean, we did it for the kids).  Wednesday and Thursday consisted of more shopping and we got to go out to dinner with just the adults (Dustin and I, Ryan and Jen, and my mom).  We went to Cheesecake Factory, and I ate a delicious salad, and of course had a piece of chocolate coconut cheesecake.  We had a fun night just hanging out and talking.  Dustin and I don’t get out very often without the baby so we took full advantage of spending some much-needed time out with adults!

Friday night Dustin and I went to a Bob Seger concert!  I can’t even tell you how long its been since I’ve been to a concert.  Dustin decided that he wanted tickets for his Christmas present so he enjoyed it most of all.  I was starting to get sick at that point so I tried to enjoy it as much as I could. I loved when he sang Little Drummer Boy, and I also loved the Silver Bullet Band, it was amazing to see so many amazing musicians.  It was a good time!

Saturday night we got together with one of my cousin’s that lives out by my brother, and some family friends.  A great surprise was seeing my Aunt Maryann.  She is a flight attendant and had a layover in Phoenix, so she got to spend the night with us catching up after not seeing each other for about 4 years!

The kids decorated cookies for santa, and my SIL made a turkey dinner for us all to enjoy!  I enjoyed the food a little too much!  I am in need of a major detox.  My mom has a tradition  of reading us a Christmas Children’s book on Christmas Eve, and it can be hard to get through with all the kids.  We helped my brother and SIL play santa, and didn’t get into bed until almost midnight.  I am such a light weight with staying up lately, we didn’t go to bed before 11 every night.  I am looking forward to catching up on my sleep!

We got up and watched the kids unwrap their presents from Santa, and from the family.  My niece Chloe loved the Tinkerbell barbies Hanna got her, so much she took a nap with them.  Then we spent the rest of the day getting ready to go to the airport, and lounging.  By this time I was getting progressively sick, and just plain not feeling good.  We missed church so I could nap Hanna in hopes that she wouldn’t be too ornery for the plane ride.

After saying goodbye to all of my family we took a plane ride with a fidgety baby and a longer flight than we expected.  The cherry on top was when we couldn’t get our car to start after leaving it at the airport for 7 days.  We got home at 11 and promptly went to bed.

All-in-all we had a fun holiday with family, and that is what Christmas is about to me, spending time with family and celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ!