A Different Kind of Christmas

This year for Christmas, my family decided not to do gifts.  I will admit we can go a tad overboard with the gifts sometimes, but who doesn't.  I was a little hesitant at first, but man does it take a lot of stress out of the holidays.  But I think I've realized that I'm having trouble realizing that Christmas is right around the corner because I don't have to worry about shopping and wrapping gifts.  I guess for me Christmas = stress haha. We still don't have our tree but we are hoping to take care of that next weekend. I think once we do our decorating I will start to get more in the Christmas spirit.  In honor of the approaching holiday I decided to do a Christmas Survey I found online:

What is your favorite Christmas song?
There's no Place Like Home for the Holidays by Perry Como

What is your favorite Christmas movie?
The Christmas Story obviously!!

What do you look forward to most on Christmas?
Seeing my family, especially my brother and sister who live out of town.  I also love seeing my sister's kids open their gifts!

Do you take part in secret santa?
I have 4 best friends from college and we usually do secret santa, but this year we've decided to give money to a cherity instead. 

Do you go to any Christmas parties?
Yes! This year I'll be going to my company Christmas party on the 16th and I just got invited to a cookie exchange party on the 17th. I cannot wait!

What is your favorite food at Christmas?
Peppermint bark is by far my favorite food. I can't stay away from the stuff.

My mouth is watering just looking at this picture. 

I spent my day today cooking my meals for the week. It took me about 2 hours but I'm glad to have it out of the way and not to have to worry about it during the week.  I started out my day with a trip to they gym.  I was ready for a longer workout.  I got in 40 minutes of weight training and 45 minutes of cardio split between the stationary bike (on random level 8) and the eliptical (aslo on random level 8). 
Dinner was easy tonight. I cooked a pot roast in the slow cooker all day and made some sweet potato cakes to have on the side.

All I did for the sweet potato cakes was microwave a large sweet potatoe for 5 minutes on each side.  Then I cut it in half and removed the insides. To the potato I added 1/2 tsp of brown sugar,  1/8 tsp of cinnamon, 1 tsp of whole wheat flour and 1 tbsp egg whites.  Then I formed 4 small cakes and cooked them in an oiled pan for 4 minutes per side.  Delish!