{Christmas Bucketlist 2019 //Update}

Grace upon grace upon grace upon grace! That's what I gently told myself throughout the Christmas season! There were so many circumstances beyond our control that kept us from many family traditions. If you know me, then you know traditions are my thing. So, when we have to skip one a little piece of my heart would break off. And that's when I'd have to remember to offer myself some grace! We still did a ton and even did some new things. And? We made so many beautiful memories throughout the season. Here's a look at all that we accomplished from our list.

{Christmas Day // 2019}

I was on a roll getting out all of the Christmas posts, but then the flu hit our household. Mason was diagnosed with Flu Type A. It's been both a physically and mentally and emotionally exhausting week! I hate to see my boy sick. Anyhow, backing up to Christmas Day. It was such a beautiful day!

{Christmas Eve // 2019}

Mason and I had our Christmas tree campout the night before, so we woke up next to the glow of the Christmas tree. That was such a wonderful way to wake-up on Christmas Eve. I checked my work emails and didn't have much to do, so we continued watching Home Alone 2 Lost in New York from our air mattress. We lazed around the house in our Christmas pajamas for the rest of the day watching Christmas movies. Work was extremely quiet, which was nice. I got to spend some quality time with my boy. Nate worked overtime and got off around 2:00.

{Christmas Eve Eve // Reindeer food // cookies for Santa // Christmas Tree campout}

Mason's last day of school was 12/20 which meant that I got to have my boy home with me on the days leading up to Christmas. I still worked, but I am so blessed to work from home full time. Work was extremely slow, as you can imagine, so we hung out in Christmas pajamas and did all things festive.

{Other festive stuff // lights at Deerfield, Campo Verde, family baking party, board and brush}

There is something about the Christmas season that just makes you want to pack in all things festive! And we did just that. While we didn't do near as much as we normally do this year, we still did so much. Our season kicked off with a camping trip to the Polar Express and the Grinch's Lair, then we joined our local Jeep club for the third year in the Christmas lighted parade, next we broke tradition a bit and bought a fake tree & decked our halls, we took Mason to breakfast with Santa, and yesterday I shared about our trip to the Gaylord Texan and Ice Exhibit. And I still have so much to share! After our Gaylord Texan and Ice adventure we were in the mood to keep the Christmas festiveness going on, so we drove to Plano to see the lights at Deerfield.

{Gaylord Texan / Ice Exhibit 2019}

Happy New Year! I know that Christmas feels like forever ago at this point, but I have so much to share about the season. I took an unintentional blog break to be intentional with the ones I love so dearly. 2019 was definitely a year of change {more on this later} for us, but through that, I learned to give myself some grace. While traditions are nice and good for my soul, it's okay to skip a year if needed. It's okay to break traditions for the sake of family first, and it's okay to make new traditions. Speaking of new, we did something new this season...we visited the Gaylord Texan and did the Ice exhibit. The last time we have done this was when I was about 4 months pregnant with Mason. Nathan and I wanted to have a special family night with Mason and thankfully he thought of the ICE exhibit! I'm so glad he did because we had the most incredible time.

{Currently // December 2019 edition}

I totally spaced on getting this post ready the day it went live, but better late than never. Right? I'm going with that. Joining in with Anne In Residence for a monthly "currently" series. This month we are sharing what we are currently wrapping, baking, lighting, sending and enjoying.

{Thanksgiving 2019}

I know, I know...things are a little backward on my blog! Christmas festivities before Thanksgiving...that's just how we roll! We have to fit it all in somehow. But, that doesn't mean we don't enjoy our Thanksgiving. We really do.

{Christmas bucketlist // 2019}

It's the most wonderful time of the year!! Making this list made my heart so giddy and oh so happy. I'm sharing today because this weekend kicks off our Christmas season with our annual Polar Express weekend! I love this weekend more than I could ever begin to express. It's so magical and just pulls at my mama Christmas lovin' heartstrings so fiercely! Anyhow, I know it's before Thanksgiving, but we have to schedule this weekend months in advance and this is what seems to work for everyone. So from here on out it's all things Christmas! You've been warned. Here is our 2019 Christmas bucketlist.

{CURRENTLY // NOVEMBER EDITION}

Happy November!! I'm not quite sure where October went, but here we are. Joining Anne in Residence for another round of "Currently". This month we are sharing what we are currently picking, preparing, trying, feeling, following. I love this link-up and enjoy joining in each month. I hope you'll join us as well. 

{HALLOWEEN 2019 // TRICK OR TREATING}

Are we over Halloween, trick or treating, and pumpkins? I know the minute we got home from trick or treating I was ready to ditch the pumpkins and bring out the Christmas stuff! Maybe because it was in the 30's here and that's more like winter for Texas and not very fall like! We skipped right from summer to winter! Anyhow, we decided to go Trick or Treating in our town this year and we had a good time! We started early around 5:45ish, but it worked out pretty great for us.

{Happy HOWL-oween // 2019}

Taking pictures of my pups gives me such joy! They are just too cute and mostly go along with my crazy antics. I say mostly because Diesel hates the camera and will totally look the opposite direction with his nose in the air! I have to bribe that one with treats. Anyhow, here are our 2019 HOWL-oween pictures of the pups!!

{Jeepers Creepers}

Decorating the Jeep for holidays is so much fun! My favorite is Christmas with the lights, the wreath, and the reindeer antlers and nose, but Halloween is so much fun too! We mostly only do the Halloween thing for camping or Jeep events. Anyhow, I wanted to share some fun pictures here.

{Halloween Crafts on the porch}

One of my favorite things to do with Mason in the fall is to craft on the porch after school! The weather isn't too terribly hot and we just have the best time together. Anytime I am at Target and scrolling the dollar spot area I stock up on seasonal crafts for just this reason! It's a simple little task that gets us off our phones or video games for a bit and allows us to spend some quality time together outside. Sure, we could do this inside...but there is just something about being outside in the fall.

{Halloween Happenings at Mitchell Resort // 2019}

This past weekend was our 3rd annual Halloween Happenings at Mitchell Resort and we had a complete and total blast. You can see year one here and year two here {side note - oh my gah, my itty bitty 2017 Mason}!! This year my parents and my sister and her family were able to join us as well as our good friends again! I can't even tell you how much fun we had.

{Mason's 2019 Halloween Costume}

Picking out a costume for Mason each year is so fun! I mean, it was a lot more fun when I had full reigns and could dress him in something cute. But, it's also neat to see what he chooses each year. For weeks was determined to get one of those blow-up T-Rex costumes, but that quickly changed when he saw this one...

{Texas State Fair // 2019}

As Hall family tradition holds, we went to the Texas State Fair this past Sunday! We like going on Sunday mornings because they are far less crowded than on a Saturday! And we like to get there as soon as they open so that it's not as hot. But who am I kidding? This is Texas and we were sweating just walking from the truck to the gates. Anyhow, here is our 2019 Texas State Fair trip...

{Currently // October edition}

Happy October! One of my favorite months of the whole year!!! Joining Anne in Residence for another round of "Currently". This month we are sharing what we are currently arranging, loving, embracing, purchasing, and sharing. I love this link-up and enjoy joining in each month. I hope you'll join as well. 

{We tried a new church...}

The past two Sundays Nathan, Mason and I visited a new {to us} church. I have really felt the Lord pressing on my heart to give this church a try and, well, we did just that...

{FIVE ON FRIDAY // HOCO STYLE}

This week was homecoming week for us! It's always nice to break free from the school uniforms for a week and have fun themed dress-up days. This year's themes were a little different than they have been in the past and we were here for it!