Family Christmas Recap! 2013

December 31, 2013 -
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hey all! How is your week goin!? Can you believe it’s already been a week since Christmas Eve? I swear time is flying which just means we really need to embrace every moment throughout our days before they fly by. 

This morning I got a chance to workout with my gym twin Jenna & we did some leg work! Squats, Deadlifts, split squats, hamstring curls, & walking lunges just to name a few ;] Now it’s time to REFUEL the bod while typing my post for today!

Insert Sami’s Bakery Millet & Sourdough bagel topped with roasted red peps, green onion, a side of eggs with old bay & dill (the usual seasonings), roasted veggies, & coffee – of course!

With it being one week since Christmas & The New Year starting tomorrow, I thought it would be fun to not only clean out the camera roll but also recap last week!

I’ve mentioned before, there were 14 of us total in my Aunt’s house for Christmas this year. This was Corey’s first time coming with us & whenever my mom asked him to say one word that summed up his week he said…”LOUD”. ha!

As we all laughed we realized it is totally true. Not necessarily loud in a negative way – but consistent conversations, jokes being told, laughing, & a lot of love throughout the whole week.

There was also a lot of googling – especially starting off with “how to fix a wet iPad” – that I don’t think the rice helped with anyway. Oops! 

So here’s a little recap of Christmas from myself & the view of my dry iPad –

Most of the week I got some awesome workouts in – love the gyms down there! Did you see the Day After Christmas Challenge I did? If not, check that workout here

Workouts usually were followed by a POWERbreakfast of eggs, oats, flax, & fruit! Gotta love when the yolk breaks; merp! There goes my favoriteeee part.

I honestly don’t stress over workouts when I’m traveling, I just try to work them into my schedule! They have a Gold’s gym and the Body Shop where they do classes so there is usually always something to pick from! I get up & head out to get back to eat breakfast with the fam.

My little cousin Kyra writing a note to Santa while tracking him on the GPS – talk about technology at it’s finest. Something we probably wouldn’t have thought we’d ever say when we were kids!

Something I look forward to every year is my Aunt’s tree! That seems to be taking over my uncle as he watches tv.

Every year my Aunt makes Monkey Bread for a pre-brunch snack – have you ever had it? It’s basically a yeast dough that rises over night, then topped with a cinnamon sauce then bakes. It smells so amazing!

This year is decided to multiply & take over the oven! ha I couldn’t help but take a picture when she opened up the oven door.

With there being so many of us – a lot of sharing of the furniture went on. In the above picture is the cozy couch full of Aunt Rita, Corey, Mamacakes, My grandma Nanny, & my crazy Father Papacakes.

My Aunt usually makes most meals in big batches to feed everyone and she is KNOWN for her French Toast casserole & sausage egg casserole that everyone enjoyed on Christmas Morning! Since I tend to stay away from Gluten for tummy reasons I still sampled it and it was DELISHHH.

Even little Kennedy wanted in on the brunch action.

Did I mention how much time I spent cuddling with this adorable pup? We can’t get enough of her!

I mean LOOK at that face!

I told Corey he’d be hooked once he met her and now we’ve been chatting about a future pup of our own – woo!

We all said Cheers to a Merry Christmas & everyone being able to be together with some morning mimosas. My 89 year old Aunt Rita was the first one done with hers and didn’t even realize that there was champagne in it – gotta love her.

I think Papacakes was on a french toast & Orange Juice high whenever he was opening up his gifts ;]

I was so surprised & thankful with this necklace that my Aunt got me. She was so excited to show me the charm with the saying, “To Thine Self Be True”. AKA Be true to you! LOVE it.

 She ordered it from http://initialoutfitters.com with her friend that works there named Gay Neal just incase you’re interested!

I was also loving my new scarf if you can’t tell along with our bows.

The yearly tradition of matching Pj’s! Does your family do PJ’s for christmas? It’s become a tradition with the fam to always give pajamas for a gift.

I didn’t get a matching outfit but I did match the color combo with my Carolina Under Armour jersey shirt. What was a cute pic turned into a massive tumble starting out with a fun one..

then Kolin decided to do push ups which led to…

this…

then this…obviously eveyrone else decided to do yoga while I was having trouble getting off of the floor.

After relaxing all day & recouping from the picture fail – it was time to eat! Christmas dinner was honey baked turkey, Nanny’s famous scalloped potatoes, asparagus, green beans, cranberries, & Nanny’s also famous coleslaw. YUM!

Followed by a night of playing The Ellen Degeneres App “Heads Up”! Have you ever played this? It is such a fun game to play!

I couldn’t stop laughing at my cousin Kyra using her whole body to get the word to change! And if you didn’t notice  -mamacakes got reallyyyy into it! 

All in all Christmas was full of so many memories & fun moments that we will laugh about every time we’re together again. Isn’t that truly what it’s all about? Spending time with each other is one of the best gifts we can give.

 

#redeyefordays – story of my life! BUT was happy to have the boy with us all week.

And nothing makes me happier than being with my family & watching my “little” cousins (Kelsi, Kaylie, Kyra, & an un-pictured Kolin) grow up right before my eyes. I can’t even believe how quickly this has happened which makes every time we get together even more special. 

So if you celebrate Christmas, I’m sure we can all agree that as we grow older it becomes a lot more about the memories & moments that we will always remember. Sure, getting gifts & having the Santa spirit within us will always be fun but I’ve come to find that truly giving to others is what I enjoy. 

It doesn’t always have to be an object, just giving some of your time, love, & attention to those you either see every day or only see a few times a year is what truly makes the Holiday’s special.

I hope you had a great Holiday & are ready to kick start into the New Year! After getting an awesome fill of family time & friends – I feel rejuvenated to really kick it up a notch & follow my goals this year.

I’m off  to enjoy the day with the boy & his family before we go see a local band tonight for New Years Eve! Do you have any plans? I sometimes used to feel pressure to always have a plan for New Years when I think sometimes I truly just wanted to be in sweats & slippers with a cup of tea! Nothing wrong with that ;] Be true to you!

Have a great New Years Eve & I’ll see you “next year”!

BE TRUE TO YOU, 

xo Kasey

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3 responses to “Family Christmas Recap! 2013”

  1. That monkey bread ate your oven, lmfao!

    And you and your family are just too cute for words.

    aquksn hdopaprjjk shakdnbmale.

    Ha Ha Ha! See, too cute, so I couldn’t write actual words. I only know what I wrote… Unless you were given a GiGi Dictionary for XMAS? LOL! 😉

    Happy New Year!!

  2. Your Christmas looks so amazing! Loud is certainly not a bad thing when it involves the holidays and family. I don’t stress about my workouts when I am traveling either, but I am in Southern California right now and there happens to be a Gold’s right near where I am staying so I picked up a free trial pass and have been killing it there. Happy new year! 🙂

  3. That gold sparkly skirt and top with the cut outs. OMG. To die for!

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