Saturday, December 1st: Being at a social gathering and feeling no rush to leave, which honestly isn’t usually the case.
Sunday, December 2nd: Standing in front of the open but still running dryer (obviously, it’s broken…) with Joey and reaching our hands in to catch pairs of pants as they spun around in there.
Monday, December 3rd: Seeing Andi’s empty bed and the empty couch (his two usual resting spots) then seeing a dog-shaped lump under the comforter on our already-made bed 😛
Tuesday, December 4th: Walking back to the car after dinner at Dio Mio and saying “I finally got to eat those beer-battered squash rings and I’m so happy!!!”
Wednesday, December 5th: Getting a message from my cousin that she poured eggnog in her coffee that morning too! ♥
Thursday, December 6th: Having lunch with my dad and admitting (to myself mostly) that I had a cold.
Friday, December 7th: Listening to Binge Mode: Harry Potter on our way to work and deciding what our “identity verification questions” would be 😛
Saturday, December 8th: Really burning my mouth on a piece of fresh-out-of-the-oven pizza, that I couldn’t wait to cool down.
Sunday, December 9th: Petting the softest little puppy at Betsy and Jory’s “Pregger Kegger” (HA!).
Monday, December 10th: Running on the treadmill and maybe watching the Christmas episode of Arthur instead of the news.
Tuesday, December 11th: Remembering to put my hair up in a ponytail before going out in the wind for a walk.
Wednesday, December 12th: Giving my sister a big hug goodbye after she, Wayne, Joey and I had dinner and went Christmas light looking together ♥
Thursday, December 13th: Listening to a really good Barry Jenkins interview.
Friday, December 14th: Laughing really hard at the “I think, if we’re going to destroy our son’s delusions, I should be a part of it!” line in The Santa Clause.
Saturday, December 15th: Getting texts from both parents about how much they loved the restaurant and movie I recommended for their anniversary date ♥
Sunday, December 16th: Wheeling my chair (as I sat in it) through the house, back to our “office” and only once rolling in the wrong direction because our 100+ year old house, is NOT level.
Monday, December 17th: Letting out the tiniest of laughs, while running on the treadmill, listening to a podcast about Mary Poppins Returns when someone referred to Mary Poppins fans as “Poppiners.”
Tuesday, December 18th: Leaving book club, new read in hand and a chorus of “Merry Christmas!” in my ears.
Wednesday, December 19th: Typing “dumplings” into the Yelp search bar.
Thursday, December 20th: Making cranberry sauce for Christmas and maybe portioning out a little bit to keep for myself.
Friday, December 21st: Joey describing the wings we had ordered as smelling like our dog…
Saturday, December 22nd: Dipping a piece of a giant pretzel into some horseradish cheese sauce.
Sunday, December 23rd: Sitting on the couch, watching Love Actually, when Joey randomly handed me a puzzle piece that was just a guy’s face, ha!
Monday, December 24th: Watching the trailer for the live action Dumbo and trying to prevent that thing where I burst into spontaneous tears when I hear “Baby of Mine.”
Tuesday, December 25th: Standing in my father-in-law’s kitchen, coffee cup in hand, husband by my side, Christmas movie playing in the background and feeling just so so happy.
Wednesday, December 26th: Texting Joey to say “I’m running a teense late…” before leaving for work on the day after Christmas, bleh.
Thursday, December 27th: Eating a cookie my mom made and packed me a little container of ♥
Friday, December 28th: Reading Barack Obama’s list of favorite songs, movies and books from 2018 and really wishing we still had this intelligent, thoughtful and kind man as our president.
Saturday, December 29th: Eating the last half of a donut that was still on the table before leaving brunch. Someone had to!
Sunday, December 30th: Walking down a very dark, very long set of stairs, on my way out of yoga.
Monday, December 31st: Buying a bag of black-eyed peas for good luck in the new year!
Life as Lauren 