The Hopkins Family: Christmas Craziness

I always feel like I have everything under control approaching the Christmas season. I map out Black Friday shopping and ventured out early with my friend, Ashley, the day after Thanksgiving (not psycho early, but Starbucks early :)) and had a killer day. I spend the next couple weeks getting the remaining odds and ends, but never feeling overly stressed.

We survived the crazy weekend of 5 performances of our church's Christmas concert (don't worry folks, not me or Nick, but Ali...aka, the one that can actually hold a key), the Sponsel ladies brunch and my work party.

I kept the tradition of baking wih Ali and delivering cookies to some friends. I love to bake and I'm fortunate to have friends that are kind enough to indulge my habit.

Nick and I started the holiday "rotation" after we were first married, so we knew it was an Illinois year. No huge worries about where to be and when. Nick's brother and sister-in-law, Peter and Kira were coming in from Seattle and we were looking forward to spending a few days with them and getting to meet our niece, Ivey Hope.

I must have blinked because before I knew it, we were driving home on Christmas night from Illinois so we got safely back before the blizzard hits. Yes, there were a ton of memories within the chaos, but man, does it go fast! Here is a look back at some of our fun...