Even though the holidays may be done for now, that doesn’t mean my festive and celebratory attitude has been packed away alongside my ornaments just yet. I’ve still got some post-Christmas and belated-New Year’s events planned!
Each year when compiling my holiday shopping list, I break down my friends/family into two categories – people that absolutely need to have their gifts wrapped and handed or delivered to them by Christmas Eve (and this usually includes people like my mom, my boyfriend, or any of my friends that have small children since they’re one of the reasons for the season being as magical as it is!) and people who I can exchange presents with after the New Year – like some of my longtime friends and relatives I have to travel a ways to see and whom I know won’t take the delay personally.
This coming weekend I’ll be doing one of my last post-holiday-gift-exchanges with a few of my cousins, which I’m especially excited for since one of them recently returned from a Christmas trip to Germany with her husband and I want to hear all about it, look at her photos, learn about the culture and food, etc. The pictures I’ve seen so far were gorgeous – and definitely give me some inspiration for my own travel plans as we head into 2026.
But this weekend will also feature another big celebration in the form of my friend Sean’s 40th birthday party! While he spent the actual day this past week with an overnight stay at a cozy bed & breakfast in Vermont, we’re getting together as a group for food, gifts and video games to commemorate such an important milestone in his life – and it might be the first birthday he’s had in years where a major snowstorm hasn’t been predicted (yet!)
Sean and I celebrate our birthdays approximately two weeks from one another, but that’s another story I’ll get into a little later on this month.
As excited as I was to bring Troy to both events on Saturday and Sunday, he’s flying out bright and early this morning for some job opportunities out-of-state that came up unexpectedly. It’s been such a treat having him back home these past couple of weeks, and I wish he could stay longer. We’ve had a beautiful holiday together, and he even took care of me when I started showing early signs of a cold/flu earlier this week – so well, in fact, that I’m already doing so much better!
I’ve been feeling so grateful these past few days – grateful for so many opportunities to spend time with my loved ones, grateful for having such a loving, caring, funny partner by my side and in my life, grateful this week hasn’t been too crazy at work so that I’ve been able to catch up and stay ahead for when things inevitably pick back up again, and grateful for all the things I have planned in the weeks ahead.
Next week, I’m going to be talking about the new additions to my Winter makeup collection, sharing my 2026 “Pantone Color of The Year” inspiration, and recapping this upcoming weekend with plenty of photos!
Have a great weekend, everyone!
xo
Coffee & Chiffon 