There's no place like home for the holidays

I'm finally home for the holidays and it seemed like an excellent time to update my blog! (Kala and Emma have been pestering me anyways!) Christmas time is my favorite time of the year and this is a very special christmas for many reasons:

1) For the first time ever my family put up an artificial christmas tree instead of cutting down a real one
2) This is our baby Bentley's first christmas and she has her very own stocking hanging by the fireplace (speaking of Bentley she took over the ENTIRE bed last night)
3) We've had snow fall 3 times so far this winter and it isn't even christmas yet!
4) Finals are over and with 5 A's and 2 B's that puts me on the Dean's List for the first time in PT school.

I wish I had some exciting stories for you to include in here but truth be told, I've been incredibly lame the past few weeks. The last 2 weeks of school were nuts and I spent every spare moment I had cramming for finals!  The week before finals I had to do a presentation on Shingles. We did a special segment on the tennis player James Blake because he had a shingles outbreak in 2004 while he was playing. We put up a slide with his picture on it titled "Tennis Player by Day, Hottie by Night." We knew that we got a 100 on that presentation when my teacher commented after the presentation saying "I think he's a hottie by DAY AND NIGHT!"

Tuesday during finals week I had some of my classmates over for a little holiday gathering. I made mulled wine and cookies and we just sat around, watched a movie, and tried to catch our breath from all the studying we'd been doing!

I made everyone ornaments and some reindeer candy canes as well!

7 finals later on  Friday morning, let's just say we were all ready to celebrate. About half of our class was at the Mexican Restaurant by 11 am! And by 12PM we were 2 margarita's deep. I was supposed to be at work at 1PM which would have been an interesting work day had my boss not called me and told me I didn't need to come in because there was snow on the courts, phewww! After Mexican, I went home to take a nap and then go to the liquor store to prepare for the night to come haha. I started the night off at SOBO, a pizza restaurant nearby with 4 of my friends. Just as fate might have it, their special for the night was 2 dollar vodka's. So after a few slices of pizza, a few drinks, and a round of shots courtesy of our hot waiter, it was 8:30 PM and it was time for a christmas power hour at the PT pimp pad. I would describe to your more of the night that followed after but I don't really remember. I know that it included red and green jello shots, a few beers, peppermint patty shots, and a few rounds of slap the bag... I was in bed by midnight and woke up on Saturday with the worst hang over I've had since New Years!

The rest of the weekend was spent cleaning, packing, and babysitting for 3 adorable little girls. I'm so happy to be home for the holidays and enjoy this much needed 3 week break! However, it's kind of hard getting used to waking up with no tests to prepare for; I don't really know what do with all this time I have.

They're calling for snow here on Friday so cross your fingers for a white Christmas. I hope that you all have a fabulous holiday and enjoy your time together with friends and family! I'll see most of you in the New Year and I can't wait!

Peace, love, & candy canes,

- Kristi

P.S. Here's my mulled wine recipe in case anyone wants to try it:

2 bottles dry red wine

4 ounces brand

12 whole cloves

4 cinammon sticks

1 large orange, zested

1/2 cup brown sugar

Combine ingredients in a large pot and bring to a simmer. Do not allow mixture to boil. Heat for 20 minutes and serve in a large, heat resistant punch bowl.

It turned out pretty good and was a nice warm treat for the holidays. Enjoy :)