25 Days of Christmas: Day 24

Sooooo, what's December 24th?? Why, that's the night Santa comes, of course! We have these ornaments of Santa and Mrs. Claus on our den tree, and they're always hung together. This year, Abby tried hanging them in two different places, and Mom and I just looked at her like she was nuts!! So I made sure that these two ended up together when we were done! lol. Christmas Eve is always busy for me, just like any other day leading up to Christmas! I went to Matt's house for Christmas Eve Brunch, which is the 5th time I've been now!! (I wrote this just for Matt as he thinks about how long we've been together and how much longer we'll be together! haha!). After that, I came home and had a few things to do: finish up wrapping the last few presents, help Momma cook, etc., and then we had Christmas Eve service at church! So, even though it's a busy day, it's still a great day! Almost as great as Christmas itself!
And get ready for the final post!! It's a new ornament that had to make it into the top 25 favorites ;)

25 Days of Christmas: Day 23

This ornament was sad to hang up this year :( Last year, I made this for Chesnut and gave it to him as a Christmas present (don't ask...I wanted him to like Christmas as much as me. Why I thought he'd need a ornament, I do not know!! lol). When we were decorating the tree, Abby pulled out this ornament and said, "Awww." and I said, "Don't hang that up! I want to!" Her reply?: "Whyyyyy, I made it!!" I laughed and said, "No you didn't, I did!" Then she laughed and said, "Oh yeah, you're right!" haha. It was great. But I'm sure that Chesnut had a good Christmas in doggy heaven.

P.S. If you've noticed, I spelled his name on the ornament "Chestnut" but I type his name as "Chesnut." The way it's written on the ornament is correct, but when I say his name, I never pronouce the middle "t" which is why I don't include it!

25 Days of Christmas: Day 22

You might remember me writing about an ornament I made in Sunday School years ago. If you missed it, you can read that post here. Anyway, that same year, we also made this Christmas ornament to give as gifts, too. I have one hanging on my tree in my room, this one hangs on our downstairs den tree, and my sister actually has one as well! There's no real story behind why I like this ornament, but it does make me remember of Ms. Norma's Sunday School class and how much fun we had each and every week! :)

25 Days of Christmas: Day 21

Yes, yes, I know, I know. I'm so behind on this!! And not to throw excuses out there, but the few days before and after Christmas are just sooo busy. It's not that I didn't want to blog each day (because of course I did!), it was just that we were doing 50 different things each day, and by the time I had time to blog, I was just too exhausted to do so!
I think everyone in my mom's family has one of these ornaments...or maybe I just made it up when I was little and that has stuck with me ever since! haha. But, even if everyone doesn't have this, it always makes me think of mom's family and all the times spent down at the river! We don't go as often anymore because we're all so busy, but luckily we got down there twice this past summer!!! For Matt's birthday and for Mom's! Exciting :)

25 Days of Christmas: Day 20

Sentimental and/or funny stories. Memorable times growing up. Meaningful people met in my life. Sorry, but none of those things will be on this post! I don't have any stories about why I love this ornament, I just do!! And it's a good thing, because we hang maybe 10-15 up on our living room tree every year!! I just love the way the sparkle and shine mixed in with all of the lights on the Christmas tree. It's just so pretty!!! As is every other thing about Christmas :)

25 Days of Christmas: Day 19

If you read any of my blog posts over the summer (I know I slacked some..), you might remember my internship. I worked in the Cardiac and Pulmonary Rehab in Memorial Regional Hospital and met some of the most amazing people. The staff was remarkable and helped me with SO much and the patients, well, tha patients are what make the experience so worth it!! I built so many relationships this summer and I can't wait until I see them again. I had intended on going yesterday morning but I woke up with the worst headache!! During the last week of my internship, as I had been telling all of the patients I'd be leaving soon, they started bringing me and the other interns gifts! One lady has her own pie business and made us each 2 personal pies!! I got a giftbag of hand lotions, shower gels, etc., and LOTS OF FOOD!! I know you're not supposed to pick favorites, but one of my favorite patients, her husband works at Nabisco! Now, let me tell you, she hooked me up with some food to take to school!! I was so surprised when she handed me this big bag!! Quick side note: the day she brought me this bag, as she was leaving she was talking to the nurses and said something about her birthday being in August. I whipped my head around and said, "Woah! Mine too! When's your birthday??" Her response, "August 17." Me: "NO WAY! ME TOO!!" So, on my very last day of my internship, as she arrived for her session, she handed me another bag. She said, "here, this is your early birthday present this time!" I was so surprised (again), and she even got me a card and signed it, "{her name}, your birthday buddy!" This ornament, along with 3 others, have never hung on my tree before...until this year. Why, because they were in that bag she gave me. They're all fragile and I've guarded them with my life until it came time to hang them on the tree1 Now, I just have to be careful when packing them away til next year!

25 Days of Christmas: Day 18

Ever since I was born, I've been to Sunday School and Church. I could tell you a story about every single Sunday School class I was in, but there's on class from my childhood that I'll remember the most--Mrs. Norma's class. She is one of the nicest ladies at church and sure doesn't act her age ;) She always had stories about her grandchildren and always knew what we liked to do during class! She always had some sort of activity or craft for us to do and was careful to be sure we got every last detail done perfectly! One year for Christmas we made these ornaments. Now, when she first showed us the final product and said that's what we were going to be making, we all freaked out! There was no way; it looked way too hard!! Well, two Sundays later when we were holding up our finished products, we couldn't believe we had actually made them! We gave the ornaments as gifts, and I gave mine to Mom. It hangs on our living room tree, and I hang it up on the exact same branch every year. (I can only tell you that because there's a hole in between the brances of our artificial tree that looks just like it was made for this ornament to hang!).

25 Days of Christmas: Day 17

I LOVE the beach!! Then again, I can't think of anyone who doesn't love the beach. Oh, wait, my sister doesn't like sand! haha. I think the last time we took a vacation to the beach was about three years ago; our lives are just all so busy and we're all running in 50 different directions, so there really isn't time. I was very excited that my cousin had her wedding at the beach this past summer, because I was able to enjoy all things related to the beach in one quick weekend!! When Abby, Mom, Dad, Matt, my cousins Gabby and Alison, Uncle Xel and Aunt Kandi all arrived on Friday night, we wasted no time getting our stuff to our rooms and walking straight to the beach. (And as Uncle Xel instructed: NO CELL PHONES!) :) So, in the dark, we all walked down to the beach, felt the sand between our toes, climbed onto the lifeguard stand and avoided sand crabs, haha. It was great! We also got a little bit of time on the beach after we set up for the reception and before we had to get ready to go, but get this. Guess who forgot to bring a BATHING SUIT to the beach? Yes, this girl. haha. However, it's fine, because the water was too cold for me, and I enjoyed taking pictures of everyone else in the water! Anyway, I picked this ornament up at The Christmas Mouse, probably on one of our beach trips, and I love it--a palm tree decorated for Christmas!! I always think it'd be fun to spend Christmas the beach, in Florida or something, but then again, I always hope for a White Christmas, and I don't think I'd have much luck there!

25 Days of Christmas: Day 16

My to-do list for today is quite lengthy, but several of the bullets have me getting ready for Pendleton Christmas tomorrow!! (P.S. has anyone else in the family realized that we will have celebrated Christmas TWICE in 2011?!) I love our family get togethers--there are SO many of us, and it seems like every year we just keep growing! But I will not complain one bit; I love big families! Tomorrow we're doing something a bit different. We usually get together in the early afternoon or evening to celebrate holidays, but this year we're having brunch! I'm really excited to change it up a bit. Plus, I just really love breakfast food!! So, I'm baking some goodies today to take over to Aunt Vickie's in the morning, so I thought this ornament fit nicely for today! Enjoy!

25 Days of Christmas: Day 15

The other day, I posted about an ornament I love that didn't really have a funny story behind it or anything, it's just an ornament I love. I mentioned that it came in a set of ornaments, with other brightly colored ornaments in the box. Well, instead of just telling you about those other brightly colored ornaments, I thought it would only be appropraite to share those with you too! So, today you actually get to see 4 pictures of some ornaments I love!

These pictures really don't do justice to show you the actual bright colors of the ornaments. I guess that's what you get when you use your external flash to get better quality pictures, but you only have yellow walls to bounce the light off of! haha.
In this box set, there were 4 of the polka dot ones (from the linked post above), and 2 of each of these colors. Unfortunately, one of the yellow ones did not survive Christmas 2010. Last year was the first year I've ever had my tree fall--and no, before you ask, it wasn't because there were too many ornaments hanging on one side! My tree was sticking out in front of my doorway just a little too much, so I was moving it back. I thought I had a good hold on it, but, looking back I didn't! Only one other ornament broke during the fall, but luckily, we were able to superglue Minnie Mouse's shoes back on and you can't even tell they broke off!!

25 Days of Christmas: Day 14

Four years ago, at the start of Christmas break, I got my acceptance letter to Longwood. Craziest day ever. I remember getting the mail when I got home, seeing the huge envelope with my name on it, only hoping to open it and find good news. I waited until I parked my car to open it, but I didn't wait to get in the house first..I was just too excited. Wanna know about something even crazier? Here I am, four years later, on my last Christmas break ever, and what came to me in the mail yesterday addressed to me (my full name) from the President's Office? Oh, you know, just all the information about my graduation announcements. Excuse me, but, didn't I just get to Longwood like, last week? It really doesn't feel real to me that I'll be graduating in May (2 days ago, it was exactly 5 months til graduation!). I just wrote about this on my Student Blog last week -- how I only have one semester left at Longwood!! When Matt and I were coming home Saturday afternoon after closing, I said, "Next time I leave Longwood at the end of the semester, I'm not going back." (Of course I will be going back though, because I'll still have friends there, Abby will still be there, I won't wanna miss Oktoberfest and Spring Weekend, and plus, Matt will be graduating next year!) So unreal though. So, naturally, you can probably figure why this ornament is appropriate to post for today!

25 Days of Christmas: Day 13

My baseball career started and ended early. I played t-ball for one season, then stopped because I hated to sweat! haha! Kind of ironic since I'm about go graduate with an Exercise Science degree....funny how things work out! Even though I didn't like playing any form of baseball, I love going to baseball games. We've been to a lot of Richmond Braves games when they were still here. I've had a baseball glove signed by Diamond Duck, and had my picture taken with him on my 17 Birthday! I think I've actually been to a game for my birthday twice, or maybe I'm just making that up. I was sad when we no longer at the Braves here, but I was so excited when we finally got a new team: The Richmond Flying Squirrels. Yes, the Flying Squirrels. I'd really like to know who came up with that idea...but anyway. Since we have another team, I've been to more games, and I think I love it even more!!Nutsy (the team mascot) is also pretty cool....but ignores me every time I try to take with him...fail. Last summer I went to a Flying Squirrels game with the rest of the Chick-fil-a employees. It was so much fun! I had gone with a few of my friends to The Nuthouse, aka the gift shop, and I found this Christmas ornament. I picked it up, knowing I was going to buy it, and one of my friends said, "That is SO you, Mallory!" (See, everyone knows about my love for Christmas!). It just hit me why I might love the Flying Squirrels more. When they came, a few changes were made on the menu at the concession stand, to make the food more appropriate, I guess. Therefore, the combo meal I always have to get is a hotdog, a drink, and SQUIRRELY fries!! But, regardless of what team I've been to see at The Diamond, there's one thing that hasn't changed: I love to get Dippin' Dots when I'm there!!

25 Days of Christmas: Day 12

Not only do I love Christmas, but I also love crafts!! My Aunt Vickie happens to be very crafty too!! I went a few years where I was fascinated with beading (now, I just get frustrated and impatient with it!), and Aunt Vickie taught me how to bead, bought be my first bead box, pliers, wire, etc., and I thought it was the coolest thing ever!! I made a few things, but then I guess I started getting impatient, or just not having enough time, so all of my beads and everything got boxed up and are sitting in my closet. Maybe I'll eventually get back to it.. Anyway! Vickie has also made several gifts that she's given to all the cousins every Christmas. One year, we got these awesome box of drawers and she painted them each in colors unique to each of us. She's also made us several ornaments! This one is probably my favorite gift she made. I don't know what it is about this angel, but I just love when I pull it out of my ornament box to hang up on my tree each year! It's kind funny (and hard to believe) that I got this ornament when I was 1/3 of the age I am now! haha!!

25 Days of Christmas: Day 11

When I was younger, I was involved with G.A.s at church. G.A.s stands for Girls in Action. Basically, it was a time for all of the middle school girls to get together, have some fun and also learn different Bible stories and/or verses. I also went to G.A. camp 2 summers and had lots of fun! Also in G.A.s, we would have craft or bake sales to raise money for different offerings or organizations. One year, a lady at church --who was known for her work sewing, making clothes, crafting, and everything else you can think of-- taught us how to make these star ornaments. After making TONS of them, we had a sale at church. I got 2 from that sale, and the one I have with the all pink beads, I also made one identical to that just for Ganny.

25 Days of Christmas: Day 10

Clearly, I'm behind on the 25 Days of Christmas! For Saturday (the 10th), I blame waking up early, getting ready, cooking breakfast with Kelsey and Liz, closing the building, finishing packing, coming home, UNpacking, washing some clothes and going to bed semi-early! Is that an okay excuse? But the time all of the RA stuff had been done, and I was finally home for break, quite frankly, I was just exhausted (I'm still exhausted!). But, I'll try to be better over break with staying on track for the 25 Days of Christmas! As you can see, here's my Hermey ornament, from Rudolph the Rednosed Reindeer of course! Who doesn't love watching the traditional Rudolph movie when it comes on? I know I do :)

25 Days of Christmas: Day 9

There are no funny or sentimental stories that go along with today's favorite ornament. No elves magically popping out of my ornaments, no trips to New York, Disneyworld, etc. Instead, today's ornament came in a box set, and the cardboard box is completely falling apart! One year after Christmas, I was with Mom and Abby and we were shopping at Garden Ridge for the after Christmas sales. Mom let us each choose one box of ornaments that we could get. I chose probably the most brightly colored ornaments (and if you know me, you know that's an accurate choice!). There were 2 hot pink ornaments, 2 lime green, 2 yellow, and 2 bright blue, as well as 4 of these ornaments. I just like them because of all the bright colors put together. And, to put it in a nutshell, that's pretty much me!

25 Days of Christmas: Day 8

So, I definitely meant on posting yesterday...I had every intention of doing so. I just had a very productive day. Then, at 11:45 when Matt was bringing me back to my building, I said, "Oh no!! I have 15 minutes left to write a blog!!!" Well, of course, when I got back, my computer and internet freaked out on me. I watched as the time was getting closer and closer to midnight. Then, when it finall read 12:00am, I said to myself, "Well, it's officially tomorrow; I guess I'll just write them both in the morning when I wake up." Which is what I'm doing now! So, here's the story about the ornament: I specifically remember waking up one morning when I was younger--my Christmas tree was up in my room, and I was just looking at in the morning. Well, when I looked at this one, it freaked me out. Why? Because there didn't used to be a person in the doorway. That morning, right as I looked at it, an elf (not a person) popped out of the doorway and just stood there! (Well, at least that's what I swore had happened!). I got out of bed, took the ornament off my tree, and took it downstairs to show Mom. It freaked me out a little, and I didn't put it back on my tree right away, haha. But, many years later, the ornament is still on my tree. And every year when Matt comes over to help me decorate my tree, he hears that same story over and over again! ha!

25 Days of Christmas: Day 7

When I was growing up, I was in the Christmas plays at church. I think I was in every one they had. (I started my love of Christmas at a young age.) I was anything from a baby sheep (lamb?), an angel, a music teacher for the Christmas Soccer Team, a girl in a gang, a girl who wanted every toy in the world but became friends with Chucko the Clown, Jack (in the box), and Ms. Glamour Doll, and the list goes on. Each play takes hours of rehearsals to get ready, and I would look forward to every single one.

After finishing the play, all of the kids participating would get gifts from the directors, and most of the time, we got ornaments!! This one has always been a favorite, because, I mean, it's a snowman inside of a glass ball. But, as the tag says, some assembly required. You may remember about a year ago, I blogged about one of my friends, Casey. Well, the year of this play, his mom was one of the directors, and she made these adorable ornaments. I hope you enjoy another of my favorite ornaments, and come back tomorrow to see another!!

25 Days of Christmas: Day 6

These two ornaments are some of my all time favorites, and they always hang side by side. I think I love them so much because I remember a home video from when I was about 2 years old when I was decorating my Christmas tree. You can hear Mom laughing at me while she helps me, because I hung these two gingerbread people on the same limb...because I wanted them to be beside each other, I guess. Even now, I always hang these two near each other, now that I know I can't hang them on the same limb!! haha

Oh well, I'll just always love these gingerbread men in their cute yellow outfits.

25 Days of Christmas: Day 5

Every year Mom always buys my sister and me a Hallmark Christmas ornament. We usually wait to get them after Christmas when they're on sale (because they're so expensive before Christmas!). Usually, the ornament I choose has something to do with a TV show or movie...who knows, you might see some show up on this years' 25 Days of Christmas!! Anyway, when I was little, well, for the first 5 years of my life, these were the ornaments I got each year. Then apparently when I was five, but getting ready for my sixth Christmas, Hallmark decided to stop making these bear number ornaments. Sad face :( Actually, that probably worked out for the best. Every year I hang these ornaments up all in a row. If I had any more (or even 21), they'd probably wrap all the way around my tree! haha! Then, I'd be in even more trouble than I am now when the outrageous number of ornaments I currently have on my tree!