Boxing Day.

Did you guys have a great Christmas? I hope so. :)

I know I did. My family had a nice, relaxed Christmas weekend. Visiting with family, drinking hot chocolate {and discovering that white chocolate chips in mint hot chocolate is amazing}, listening to the last of my Christmas music until next season, watching Christmas in Connecticut again {"Cook your own kidneys!" Thank you, Felix, for such wonderful quotes.}.

I was blessed with a lot of lovely gifts, too. Here are some of my favorites:

-Several pictures books, including a Loch Ness Monster one and an Audrey Hepburn one. :)

-Several vintage brooches for my collection. I picked the umbrella one out at the antique store a few weeks ago, because it immediately reminded me of Mary Poppins.

-Mickey and Minnie salt/pepper shakers! And a Big Ben metal tin that came with "English breakfast tea" inside. I don't drink tea very often, and when I do it's iced sweet tea in true Southern fashion. But I am going to give warm English tea a go, I think...:) Any advice or tips?

-These DVDs. Yes, I'm twenty years old and I asked for The Emperor's New Groove for Christmas. Kronk is my hero.

-This Audrey Hepburn reusable shopping bag type tote. Will definitely come in handy while visiting the library. :)

-This gorgeous Jane Austen treasury that I drooled over at Barnes and Noble a while back.

-A stack of books. Honestly, a tall pile of books. Over the past couple of months we had some very good book finds at thrift stores and I requested quite a few of them for Christmas. :) These are a few that I'm very excited about: Jane Austen's unfinished novels, Crossed, Wildwood, and Julie Andrews' memoir.

I also got this book called "The Hollywood Book of Death." I have to mention it here because my dad cracked up when he saw the title {Mom bought it}. It's a book full of how old movie stars died. There are sections labeled "Accidental" and "Strange Situations" and "Natural Causes" and such. I think it's morbid and funny (the whole concept of it, not the deaths, of course) and I can't wait to read it.

-I have been on a tote bag kick lately, always using one as a bag. This is quite possibly my favorite tote bag ever, and I almost want to buy a couple more to have on hand for when this one gets stained or falls apart.

It's an Out of Print Pride and Prejudice bag, though this one came from Barnes and Noble.

And here are some very bad, blurry pictures I tried to take as we drove through town on Friday night:

{This is a huge Mary and Jesus lighted portrait that used to hang at the old mill. Now it hangs at the Catholic school. Both Mary and Jesus used to have blood red lips. This year their lips were noticeably white. Not skin tone, but white. Mary looks like she just had her teeth bleached. I didn't realize how noticeable it was until I saw this picture on my computer, and I just thought it was funny. :) }

Until next time,