Where are you Christmas? Why can't I find you? Why have you gone away?

So, this is the post that I promised to do in my last post about the rest of my Christmas Break!
First off, my family and I had the opportunity to go down to DC for a wedding and we were able to be at the temple and the visitors center there. It was a great day spent with some wonderful people.

{I sure love my family :)}

It was at the wedding when I realized that I really do love being  home in my home ward and with people that I grew up with. They are so good to me and they make me feel so great when I'm around them.
I also love temple weddings because they just make me so excited for that day when I get to be sealed to my best friend for all time and eternity. There is nothing I want more. I can only imagine the kind of happiness that comes with it.

Christmas Eve eve found me making some yummy sandwiches and playing guitar hero with my dad:

{we beat the game on easy :P go us!}

On Christmas Eve my mother and I did the classic in-and-out-of-the-grocery-store-a-bazzillion-times deal until we were sure that we did in fact have everything that we needed before we finally went home. We had stir-fry for dinner, one of my favorite dishes :) I also made some yummy spritz cookies in fun Christmas shapes:

{they have a lovely vanilla-almond flavor and are just plain cute}

We went to a Christmas Eve party then came home and watched "White Christmas" which is most definitely my absolute favorite Christmas movie of all time. Whilst watching this delightful movie I made some more cookies. Typical. But these cookies were of the most delicious variety. I made them because my mom wanted something with pumpkin in it. They were sooooooooo good and I will most assuredly be making them again. Pumpkin Gingersnap Cookies. Yes, that is right. They were lovely and cinnamony and stayed nice and soft for days.

They look pretty yummy...don't they?

And they taste sort of like these:

(But a million times better. Obviously.)

Then...CHRISTMAS!!!

{me lookin' groggy with my stockin'}

Christmas breakfast is always the best. Breakfast is already the best meal and then combined with Christmas...yeah. We always do something scrumptious. This year we had a breakfast strata and cinnamon rolls...yum :)
I got some good stuff for Christmas including a new cookie sheet and this awesome oven mitt:

My mom bought a plain one and then added the awesome argyle detail at the top herself. She's got some crazy crafting skillz.

The Christmas program in church was great. I love when it's very music heavy :) Nothing beats Christmas hymns. As usual, we had the missionaries over for Christmas dinner. It certainly was a good Christmas

On Monday I dragged Daniel out of the house to go on a run with me. It was a great run, we went about five miles (which was more than the 3 miles that I told him we were going to do...oops...). Tuesday night I went to Green Door ( a swing dance club) for the first time in forever to celebrate the birthday of my dear friend Danika.

{me and Danika <3}

Saturday was New Years Eve!!!
I spent a good chunk of my day making this bad boy:

Three layers of deliciously moist chocolate cake with mint white chocolate mousse filling, topped with dark chocolate mousse, and covered with chocolate ganache. That's right.

If you're not drooling yet, you should be. It didn't turn out as aesthetically pleasing as I would have liked but it sure did taste good. That night Matthew and I went to a YSA dance to have a good time and bring in the new year. Luckily, Amber was there, so I had someone to hangout with.

{Amber and I}
[happy that it's finally midnight and we can go home :P}

It's a funny thing. Every time I go to a dance I just remember why I don't really like going to them, yet I continue to go. Silly me. I mean, I really like the dancing part but, it's not so good for my self-esteem. No one asks me to dance which leads me to wonder what it is that's wrong with me that causes boys to not ask me. It's one question that I so far have not been able to answer...sigh. So, in short, dances just kinda make me feel crummy.

Sunday was New Years Day! Nothing too eventful. We had the missionaries over again for dinner. That night my mother and I made some yummy coconut nut toffee. Monday was my last day at home so for breakfast I made fluffy pancakes and buttermilk syrup for my family! I also made lunch (edamame lo mein...yum :). In case you couldn't tell from the rest of this post, my family gets spoiled when I'm home :)
I packed and watched Pirates of the Caribbean 4 (which I quite enjoyed and was surprisingly good) and then, all too soon, it was time to go to the airport. And now here I am in Provo with a new semester of classes staring me in the face. Bring it on.

Oh, and something else...I kind of chopped my hair off today:

So, it's kind of really short. Shorter than I've had it since I was like 5. Yeah. 

We'll see if I still like it tomorrow :P

I think that concludes this installment. Classes start tomorrow...wooo. Wish me luck!