{I have a life that's good}

[If you want to read about my Christmas date, start here! Or skip down to where I talk about Christmas music if you're not the lovey, blissful, romantic type.] 

Shortly after we started dating, Mitchell told me all about this Christmas date he was going to take me on. Even then, he knew how much I love everything about this time of year. Words cannot even express how excited I was. My first Christmas date! Christmas Date Part I started on Wednesday night. He took me to Franklin,TN where we ate a nice Italian dinner. (In case you were wondering, I ordered Mac and cheese off the kids menu and it was divine). Then, we headed to Jeni's ice cream shop. Usually, I'm not all about over priced ice cream, but for this Christmas date, Mitchell was going all out. I was thrilled to see that Ms. Jeni had made an ice cream flavor just for me. White Chocolate Peppermint. Yes, I got 2 scoops. After ice cream, it was back to my place to watch Kevin McCallister in Home Alone II. All in all, Christmas Date Part I was an amazing success.

The next morning, I woke up with a huge smile on my face. Why? Well, Christmas Date Part II of course. That smile quickly turned into a face warped in panic as I quickly realized I had NO idea what I was going to wear! Thank goodness I have a roommate with a fashion blog (Sincerely, Caroline....check her out! Thanks Caro!) Then, it was all "what do I do with my hair? What jewelry? Blah blah blah" It dawned on me then that the man taking me on this date didn't care about all that. All he cares about is making me as happy as possible, which he does a fabulous job of by the way. My mini fashion/beauty meltdown was over. I turned on some Christmas tunes.....

And fired up the curling iron.....

And raided Caroline's closet to find the perfect Christmas Date outfit! Now, all I had to do was wait for my man to come pick me up! First up on the list: a run to Walmart (romantic, I know) to pick up supplies to make Christmas cookies! :) That's right, I have a boy that bakes with me. Well, technically I do the baking and he tries to steal "samples", but who cares. I sure don't! Flour fights, me dancing in the kitchen to classic Christmas is how we spent the next few hours. Mitchell was getting a little restless so he turned on The Grinch while we frosted our cookies! Classic. 

Up next, something I've ALWAYS wanted to do....go to a Christmas Tree farm! He couldn't believe that I've never been to one before. Walking through this fake forest of trees, we laughed about how much joy Christmas trees bring to me. It was like a little kid in a candy store. Times a million.

As we walked to the car, ready for our next adventure, Mitchell walked over to my side, like he always does, and opened the door for me to climb into the car. I thought all about how this man is proof that chivalry is not dead. For all you men reading, you're never too cool to open the door. Ladies, men that actually open doors for you, they still do exist! I promise. :)

He decided that he wanted to take me to Franklin next. He knows how I love that quaint, adorable town!

We found this really cool Christmas lights display, where houses had their lights synced with music playing on a radio station. It was one of the coolest things I've ever seen! We don't have things like that in Minnesota! :) We drove up and down, and once we had seen all there was to see, we headed downtown. We walked the streets of Franklin Tennessee and made a quick stop at Starbucks for our Venti caramel apple spices....

YUM!! :) 

The last stop was by far the highlight of the night. Opryland. What a magical, winter wonderland! If I could have stayed there forever, I totally would've. You think I'm joking? Well I'm not. The lights and Christmas decorations they had was more than anything I had ever seen. The hotel itself is beautiful and when you add the glitz of Christmas decor, well it was perfect! It didn't hurt that I had the most amazing guy holding my hand either. ;)

And this is by far the biggest Christmas tree I've ver seen in my entire life. I think I let out some sort of loud, girlish, squeal of sheer delight once I saw it. I'm telling you people. Me and Christmas trees....

If you know Mitchell and I at all, you know that we are two of the biggest goof balls on the entire planet. So naturally, at a nice place like the Opryland Hotel, we needed to cause a LITTLE mischief, right? See, it was part of our plan all along to go get our picture taken with Santa. Well, apparently Santa headed back to the North Pole a little early because...he wasn't in his chair. 

As if the Christmas decorations inside weren't enough, there was a garden full of sparkly Christmas lights to explore. That's what we did next. There was lots of frolicking. (All on my part. Mitchell just laughed at me like I was crazy.) 

Thanks for a magical Christmas date Mitchell! I love you. 

Christmas presents. Sheetz, candy, and the Jurassic Park movies (one of my secret obsessions) 

Today, I flew home to Minnesota. I can't even tell you how good it felt to see snow again. Oh and my family of course (love you guys!) My mom, dad, Matthew and Carmen all came to welcome me back to the frozen tundra. It truly is beginning to feel a lot like Christmas.

My room looks just the same as how I left it when I was home a few months ago. Not a lot has changed. Except mom has put up the Christmas decorations that I love. I spent a good 5 minutes staring in amazement at our Christmas tree (What is it with me and Christmas trees?!)

I'm heading to Pennsylvania on Sunday to see Mitchell and his family (I'm already packed....that's how excited I am!) but today I don't have much of anything planned. Actually, that's not true. I plan to stay in my pajamas all day and catch up on all of the wonderful Hallmark Christmas movies that my mom was kind enough to DVR for me. Ahhhh yes, I have a life that's good. Really good. I think this time of year, it's really really important to remember how blessed we are. Take the time to thank Him for all He's done, and all He has yet to do.

Let's talk for a minute about Christmas music. I personally cannot get enough of it. I'm the girl y'all hate for playing Christmas music before Thanksgiving. Sorry. We all have our guilty pleasures, mine is Christmas music. Except I don't feel guilty about it. Here's my playlist of Christmas favorites! What's on yours? 

1. All Is Well-Point of Grace 

2. What Child is This?-Peter Eide 

3. Hark The Herold Angels Sing-Carrie Underwood

4. Angels From The Realms of Glory-Steven Curtis Chapman

5. God Rest Ye Merry Gentleman-MercyMe

6. Silent Night-Taylor Swift 

7. All I Want For Christmas-Mariah Carey 

8. Christmas Must Be Something More- Taylor Swift 

9. I Heard The Bells on Christmas Day-Casting Crowns 

10. All I Really Want for Christmas-Steven Curtis Chapman

11. Merry Christmas Darling-Lea Michelle

12. I'll Be Home for Christmas- Katharine McPhee

13. You're Here-Fracesca Batistelli

14. Mistletoe-Colbie Caillat

15. O Holy Night-Celine Dion

16. Magic of Christmas Day-Celine Dion

17. Where Are You Christmas?-Faith Hill

18. A Baby Changes Everything-Faith Hill

19. Breath of Heaven-Lorie Line and Kendall Line 

20. White Christmas-Michael Bublé and Shania Twain 

21. The Perfect Tree

22. It's The Most Wonderful Time of the Year-Amy Grant

23. O Come All Ye Faithful-Peder Eide 

24.Winter Wonderland-Darius Rucker

25. Little Wood Guitar-Sugarland 

26. Do You Hear What I Hear-Whitney Houston 

27. Who Would Imagine a King-Whitney Houston 

28. Winter Snow-Chris Tomlin and Audrey Assad 

29. Christmas Dreams-Francesca Batistelli 

30. Go Tell It on the Mountain- Little Big Town


Whether its my playlist or your own, Keep Calm and Listen to Music.

-E