dripping with passion

    one. the rest of this month is going to be so wild. this weekend we are headed to germany. the day after we get back gabriel and i are taking off for arizona, and we get back on christmas eve! then, on the 28th, we all go to rome for a few days, where we will welcome in 2019! phew! i'm bracing myself for craziness - i've found that if my expectations are held really low, i'm really happy with the way things actually pan out. so i'm telling myself the jet lag will be absolutely terrible, i'll be exhausted to the bone, and christmas will be totally chaotic. ha! it will all be an adventure and i'm so grateful for a life that is so full. two. the other day, we bought a video monitor to put in the boys' bedroom. we've long wanted one, but have just been too cheap to buy one, thinking they were all at least a couple hundred bucks. then we found one on amazon with perfect reviews that was thirty pounds! and it is life changing...should have done that...

    i am grateful that christmas comes every single year. each december i get some stress bubbling up in my gut as i think about alllll the fun and festive and special things i want to experience and share during the holiday season. and then i remember there really always is next year. there's such an abundance of worthwhile and wonderful things to do this time of year, and my intense love for christmas along with my stalwart loyalty to traditions makes the holiday season full to overflowing. this year (mostly because of my travel to the states right before the big day) i've forced myself to pare down and simplify and cut out. and just look forward to many more christmases to come! i have a feeling that with our kids growing up, it's only going to get better in the future. today i wanted to share some photos i've snapped of spectacular london christmastime and a list of christmas traditions that we usually observe and totally love. some i've made sure to mak...