Christmas whirlwind!

Whew. That happened fast. You gear up for weeks, sometimes months, for Christmas. And just like that, it's over. We had a wonderful Christmas in the Schu house this year, though...even though it came and went in the blink of an eye. Once again, year after year, my eyes are opened WIDE at how blessed we are, not only to have our needs met, but to be able to shower one another with gift and things we merely want. God is so good!

And on that note, I wanted to share some of my fave Christmas/birthday presents! :) (And also because I'm like an eight year old and am still just so excited about them.)

Kennedy books! From Dan/Jason. They accidentally doubled up on Mrs. Kennedy and Me, but hey, that's what gift receipts are for :) As always, I'm making it a goal to read more adult books this year...steering clear of re-reading any Twilight, Harry Potter or Hunger Games. *Sigh* I guess you have to grow up sometime. 28 seems like as good a year as any to give it a try. (Side note: I'm reading The Bourne Identity right now! Really different than the movie so far, but good!)

Mrs. Kennedy and Me was written by Jackie's personal bodyguard during the JFK administration. SO jazzed to read this one!

This is the bedding we have on our bed now, but the spring/summer version. I asked, TOTALLY not expecting to get it, for the "winter bird" version of the duvet and sham covers. Lo and behold! Ask and you shall receive! :) I have this on our bed now and it's beautiful! Just enough touches of red to make it wintery :)

I'll be the first to admit that I have a seriously problem with an addiction to Pottery Barn bedding...

I've been trying to collect enough "natural cleaners" to be able to do a full house cleaning with non-harsh and chemical-filled cleaners. My sister, Amanda, is a huge fan or Norwex products, and I'm now a believer, after seeing the butter-on-the-window-trick. The only thing is, while natural product are GREAT, they also tend to be a bit expensive. I know Dan isn't as gung ho as I am about it (read: Dan is ZERO gung ho about it), so I'm trying to just slowly acquire my collection, as opposed to going out and buying everything at once, and spending a ton of money on it. So...to start my collection: my Norwex dusting mitt, Norwex bathroom mitt, Norwex Envirocloth and Norwex window polisher! For my birthday I got some Mrs. Meyers' all-purpose cleaner, dish soap and laundry detergent, but I need to exchange it because I wasn't a huge fan of the scent. I need to get a few more items on my own to get going with it, but I'm SO excited!!

Love Norwex! :)

My big Christmas gift from Dan with year was a Keurig! Because I'm kind of nosy/super intuitive, I figured out he was getting it for me a while ago. But that just made it more exciting...the anticipation! :) I was on the fence for a LONG time about whether I wanted one. But boy...lemme tell ya...I LOVE IT! SO dandy! I can brew the smallest cup with SUPER strong coffee, add frothed milk (with the milk frother I got for Christmas) and I've got a latte! It's superb and I'm so glad Dan took the plunge and got it for me! :)

Behold! The Keurig!

My birthday is six days after Christmas, so the end of Christmas always leads into birthday excitement for me :) This year Dan TOTALLY blew my socks off with his gift! I was not expecting it at ALL! I've been quietly asking for Fiestware dishes, because, well, they're just beautiful. We registered for cheap Target dishes for our wedding, but never for "nice" dishes or china or anything. So I figured, maybe it was time to look into some a little more high quality. Fiestaware is definitely nice, but not too extravagant. The perfect fit, right?!

So I had the idea of acquiring it over time, like the cleaning products, to save some money by spreading it out. So when I opened the box from Dan and it was one set of Fiestaware, I was super excited and said, "This is a great start to my collection! Thanks!" And he said, "Well, the basement I have seven other great starts to your collection." He got me EIGHT full sets of Fiestaware! I was totally shocked...and kind of like, "Dan! That was a little financially reckless!" But it turns out, he combined lots of amazing deals on them and spent well under $200 for all eight sets! Knowing that...he'd have been a fool to NOT get them all :) I felt completely spoiled, thought of and loved :)

All my Fiestware, loaded in the dishwasher :)

And to close out the Christmas wrap-up, here's my Christmas Danish from this year...a long-standing Immel tradition that me and my sisters continue, each and every year :) I hope that someday my kids love the Danish as much as us girls do!