Christmas Week

Merry Christmas Eve! Things have been quite hectic around here with get togethers, outings, wrapping presents and enjoying all the joys of the holiday season! Above all, we in the Miranda household are finally on the upswing from being sick. Colt was sick with a terrible cough for about 2 weeks or so. Soon after that, I also fell sick. I even had to miss a day from school last week to visit the doctor. Having to miss a day from school days before Christmas Break is so stressful! There was so much to get done last week and I wasn't sure how I was going to get everything I needed finished before school let out. In the end, everything worked out, as it always does. Gotta have faith! 

Last Friday, I decorated the tables in my classroom for our holiday party rotations. I used butcher paper to make the tables look like Santa's belt! It came out super cute in my opinion! 

My students were so sweet and thoughtful to bring me Christmas presents on our party day. I don't know what I did in life to deserve such an incredible job with the most precious students and supportive parents, but I am extremely thankful and definitely blessed! One of the cute things I received was this monogrammed tote bag. Anyone who knows me, knows I love all things monogrammed. Obsessed! I can't wait to use this lovely bag to carry all my goodies this week! I love it! 

Here's what else we've been up to this Christmas Week! Saturday I slept in due to being so exhausted from the last 3 weeks of school. Things were so busy at work and it felt so nice to be done for 2 weeks and not have to set any alarms. Colt was sweet to surprise me and bring me homemade breakfast in bed. It was such a lovely surprise! I'm the luckiest to have him! 

We lounged the rest of the day and watched Christmas movies. It was definitely a great start to our Christmas Break! Later that night we got dressed and met up with some friends from TCU at the Cowtown Bowling Alley. It was such a fun time hanging out, bowling and chatting with the girls! 

Bowling fun with friends! 

After bowling, Colt and I were starving and we noticed there was a Griff's burger right next door! We used to eat Griff's many years ago as kids so it was quite nostalgic for us! We had to stop! 

We were so excited to taste those greasy fries! 

On Sunday we attended church but went home quickly after that. I wasn't feeling well again and I decided to lay down for a nap. I slept for hours!!! Colt's grandparents were hosting a Christmas get together at their house that evening and sadly I had to miss it. It's such a bummer being sick during the holidays.  :(  Two Sundays ago, before I got sick, our friend Shannon hosted a jewelry party at her house. We love sparkly, pretty things! Champ and shopping is one of our favorites! 

On Monday, we met in downtown Fort Worth to have dinner and drinks at the Cheesecake Factory with our friends Rusty and Cheryl. I have been friends with Cheryl since 7th grade! When we are together, it feels like nothing has changed. It feels like we are still those sweet, 12 year old girls in Catholic school girl uniforms. Cheryl and I have remained friends throughout the years and were in each other's weddings. They say if a friendship lasts 7 years, it will mostly likely last a lifetime! We love the Collins family! 

Oreo cheesecake. Heaven on a plate. 

Tuesday, Colt and I met my mom for an early lunch. We enjoyed chips and queso and a delicious fajita meal at Los Molcajetes. Colt and I had to run to the mall to run a few errands and we found out my mom did also. So what better way to spend the day than shopping all day with your 2 favorites?! We made a pit stop at sonic for Happy Hour Sonic Drinks then made our way to the mall. We braved the crowds and horrible traffic. We stopped at that "At Home" store that everyone seems to be talking about. We bought a few things and shopped up and down the aisles, but all in all, I wasn't too impressed. I'm undecided as to whether or not I'll go back and shop there again. After that we had to go to Neiman Marcus so we were off to head to another mall! Two malls in one day is a girls dream! Colt was such a trooper. He chauffeured us all over and shopped til he dropped. I was so proud of him. It was such a fun time. We finally made it home around 9 PM. Nine hours of shopping and we finally called it a day! Whew! 

Later that night, Colt and I stayed up late baking homemade sugar cookies, watching Hallmark Christmas movies and prepping for Christmas with Colt's immediate family the next day! 

Festive cheeseball snowmen! 

Colt and I are so addicted to these things! We tasted one and haven't been able to stop munching on these!!! 

Yesterday, we drove out to Denton to attend Miranda Family Christmas with Colt's parents, siblings, their spouses and nieces and nephews. Unfortunately, once again I was feeling sick. Tuesday I started to feel ill but yesterday it was worse. I was so terribly congested and had so much sinus pressure in my face. I tried to make the best of it but wasn't feeling 100% at all. I hate being so sick that I cannot smell nor taste all the yummy foods. My sister in law, Ria, suggested I try this nasal spray called, Nostrilla. She said she swore by it. I was so desperate to breathe again that I thought what the heck! On the way home, we stopped at Walgreens and picked up the nose spray. Let me tell you, I am so glad we did!!!! Not too long after I used it, I was able to breathe again! It was so nice to finally get a good night's rest and breathe through my nose instead of my mouth! Thanks for the recommendation, Ria! If you've never used this stuff, definitely give it a whirl! 

Today, Colt and I slept in again. We finished up the rest of our wrapping and ate a light lunch. I updated our kitchen chalkboard as well. 

We are relaxing and enjoying the quiet moments before the hustle and bustle of this evening and tomorrow. Later this evening we will be attending Christmas Mass with my family and then go out to dinner afterwards. Tomorrow morning we will head out to my parents house to open gifts and eat mom's homemade breakfast! Saturday we will be going out to Haslet to celebrate Christmas with my extended family. I am excited! I cannot believe how quickly this month is passing by. Advent and the wait is over... it's time to celebrate Jesus' birth! What better way to celebrate the arrival of Christ than spending it with our dear loved ones and participating in all the festivities! 

Colt and I are watching Michael Buble's Christmas special on our dvr and I am enjoying this delicious cup of hot cocoa until it's time to get dressed in a few! 

"For to us, a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace!" Isaiah 9:6

Wishing you all a very merry and blessed Christmas, from our family to yours! 

We love you all! 

May Your Days Be Merry & Bright

I'm dreaming of a white Christmas, with every Christmas card I write... 

It seems that in this digital age with people keeping up with each other on social media and emails and text messages, snail mail is sadly becoming a thing of the past. One of my favorite parts of the Christmas season is mailing and receiving Christmas cards! 

We have a community mailbox on our cul de sac, so I usually consider it a chore to check the mailbox. I'm too lazy to walk all the way down the street to check it, and when I do remember to check it on the way home from work, I almost never have the mailbox key with me. It's unofficially become Colt's job to check the mail daily. ;)

December arrived and I have checked the mail almost every single day. I love reaching in to the mailbox and pulling out lots of envelopes addressed to: "The Mirandas" or "Mr. and Mrs. Colt Miranda" or "Liz & Colt"! It makes me giddy to drive the rest of the way down the street, pull into the garage and run in to the kitchen, quickly turning the kitchen light on. I love ripping open the envelopes and seeing the faces of all our beautiful, smiling friends and family. We love getting to see how much all the little kids have grown in such a short year since last December. We also receive the good ol' fashion Christmas cards that aren't pictures. We love reading the notes that our loved ones write in those! 

Of course, I also love taking Christmas pictures and choosing the perfect card to send to our family and friends. When I was a little kid, my parents had us take Christmas pictures every year. This is a tradition I plan on continuing throughout the years. 

Photo credit goes to Taylor Mackay. He is an amazingly talented and gifted photographer that is in business school with Colt. Taylor took time out of his hectic schedule, during finals week, to snap a few shots of us in Downtown Fort Worth on a late Sunday night. Thank you, Taylor, for your time, your generosity and your talent! We are so grateful!!!

Below is the Christmas picture and card we chose to send out this year, along with a few pictures that didn't make the cut! 

Although it's been said, many times, many ways, Merry Christmas to you! 

Thanksgiving Week 2015

Hello, Friends! Colt and I were blessed to have 9 days off from work, school, studying and alarm clocks! At the beginning of our Thanksgiving Week, I thought 9 days seemed long... now at 10PM on Sunday night, 9 days seemed too short! Seriously! Where did the week go? Here's what we've been up to this past week: 

• This week has been dreary, cold and rainy, but we tried our best to be productive! We started the break off with grocery shopping for a turkey since we were hosting my family and a friend at our house this week on Thanksgiving Day. Then ended the night with our first red cups of the season! 

Starbucks and Tom Turkey in tow!

Tom Turkey in defrost in our fridge.

• We hosted a dinner party for a couple of our friends, Arturo and Jose, who also happen to be brothers. We all met back in high school. They are the kind of friends who have been around so long, that we consider them family. They have been there for us during our difficult times of loss and sadness, as well as, our joyous and celebration times like our wedding! We cherish these guys so much and the friendship we share. Arturo, or Art, as I call him, is the friend of mine who built and customized our kitchen farmhouse table. If you are ever looking for someone to do wood work or iron work or anything like that, please let me know! Art is crazy talented and he will customize and meet go above & beyond your expectations! You can check out his work on Instagram @ArteRealStudio or on Facebook www.facebook.com/Arterealstudio (This is not a paid advertisement. The thoughts and opinions about Art's work are completely my own.)

Getting our table ready for dinner! 

• This week, Colt and I had a lunch date at our favorite Mexican Restaurant called, Los Molcajetes or "Los Molc" as we call it. I was so grateful for not only getting a week day lunch date, but, for having a leisurely one! If you are a teacher or know a teacher, then you know we don't get a very long lunch break! It was nice to be able to sit down and have a meaningful conversation with my favorite guy and not be in a hurry to scarf down my food! 

• The day before Thanksgiving, my mom and I went out to do a little Christmas shopping and food shopping for Thanksgiving dinner. It was a very pleasant day out spending time talking, laughing and shopping together. We went back to my house where my sisters, Angel and Alexa, met us to help with prepping the turkey and doing some baking of Thanksgiving treats! My great aunt also came by the house to drop off a set of turkey salt and pepper shakers she bought for me to match the Turkey platter she passed down to me a few months ago. 

          

My sister Al and Tom Turkey

 Baking homemade pies and cookies!

Salt and Pepper shakers gifted to me by my great aunt. I will cherish and keep these forever. Love.

Table ready for our thanksgiving dinner.

• Thanksgiving Day we kept it low key. We dressed in comfy clothes and ate dinner at my house. We had our signature mimosas, tons of appetizers and hors d'oeuvres, delicious homemade food as well as an array of homemade pies, cookies, bundt cakes, and baklava! Despite the cold and pouring rain, we kept our Black Friday shopping tradition alive and went out. Umbrella and rain boots were a necessity!

#blackfriday2015

• Friday we spent the day cuddled up and enjoyed a relaxing and quiet day at our house. We caught up on our DVR and Netflix. It poured all day and there was no way I was going out in the cold and rain again. Colt went out to watch the TCU vs.Baylor game at the Petroleum Club in Fort Worth. It sounded like a fun and lovely time but nothing was going to get me out of my pjs! There was quite a bit of flooding in our area and I was so relieved when he was home safe and sound. Colt returned home a little while later and we had a wine and cheese night together and watched TCU lead our team to victory! 

• Saturday Colt and I were up early cooking and baking and getting ready to meet up with his side of the family for Thanksgiving #2! It was nice to have everyone together at his grandparents house since we all live spread apart and don't get the chance to see each other as often. We enjoyed catching up, laughing and chatting. We can't wait to see everyone again in a few weeks for Christmas celebrations! 

 Baked some homemade mini cherry pies

Fresh green bean casserole topped with bread crumbs and almonds. Pinterest for the win. 

Colt and his grandmother, Lola

• Our last day of Thanksgiving Break was spent going to church, Colt went up to TCU to study for a few hours, napping, eating turkey day leftovers, cleaning up the house and taking down all the Thanksgiving decorations. Colt surprised me and cleaned out our entire garage earlier this week and this evening he went to Home Depot to pick up wood to build shelves for our garage. The garage has needed to be cleaned out and organized for quite awhile and I have had it on to do list for months, but just haven't had the chance to do it. I don't know what I did to deserve this wonderful husband of mine but I count my blessings twice when I thank God for him! 

Colt's selfie on his way home from HD

• PSA: Attention!  Plate chargers, are not microwaveable. Most of you probably already know this but I thought I could do it anyway. I noticed one of our chargers had dried candle wax on it and I was having trouble scraping it off. So a light bulb came on and I knew I needed to heat the wax to make it easier to remove. Oh here's a great idea, put it in the microwave! So I did. Immediately it began to spark and make cracking and popping noises. I was lucky our microwave  house didn't explode! Whew! 

These past 9 days have been glorious. Colt said it best when he told me that even though the weather has been cold, dreary, rainy and wet, and we have felt so lazy... this has truly been the perfect time to reconnect and spend quality time together. 

9 days seemed to zoom by, and I don't look forward to setting early alarm clocks, however, I am ready to get back to work and see my 22 babies! I've missed them so! 

These next 3 weeks before Christmas break are about to be fast and furious with hectic schedules for both me and Colt. Advent is one of my favorite times of year, as we prepare for the birth and arrival of Christ. During these next few weeks, with all the hustle and bustle, Colt and I do our best to keep the true meaning of the season and direct our hearts and minds as we anticipate Christ's second coming at the end of time. Jesus is the reason for the season! 

Love you all!