Christmas 2012

Wow, I cannot believe that Christmas has come and gone so fast. I feel like each year it just keeps going faster. This year we spent our first Christmas together as a married couple. It was a lot of fun and we made a lot of fun memories. I am looking forward to each Christmas we spend together and what fun times lay a head.

For us, Christmas starts early. We celebrate first with B's family on an earlier date other than the actual day of christmas. This year we started on the 23rd. We went over and exchanged gifts and had a great dinner and spent time with family.

The 24th we always go over to my aunt and uncle's house to celebrate Christmas Eve with my cousins, uncles, aunts, and my cousins kids. This year we went and had lunch which has been the same thing every SINGLE year. We have ham, salad, grits, and rolls. I am not a huge ham fan.... Then, we watched my cousins children open the gifts that came from the aunts and uncles, which are now great- aunts and great- uncles. We have done this as far as I can remember. When I was little and even up into college everyone would exchange gifts including aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents. Then, a few years back we decided to only get gifts for the kids. I have a cousin who is just 10, and is around the same age as her second cousins. So, I think that is why we have kept doing this. Also, it is just fun to keep it going for another generation.

After lunch, B and I went home and got ready for church. What we did not expect was the worlds longest line to get into church. We were towards the end. Made it in and ended up going into over-flow where we could not even see the screen. In fact, there were so many people they had to bring out more chairs. It was crazy. So, I think the service was good since I could kind of hear it and sorta not really hear it. But, it was cool seeing everyone's candles lit during the last Christmas Carols.

Then, we went home. Last year we decided that we would do our own thing Christmas Eve. So, we went out to dinner, just the two of us. It was a lot of fun. Then, came home and watched a really old version of Charles Dickens A Christmas Carol. It was in black and white. But fun to see.

We woke up Christmas morning and decided to make Christmas cookies. I had gotten sugar cookie mix and cookie cutters. We ran out of time the day before, so that morning we made them together. After they came out of the oven they lost their shapes somehow while cooking, and all looked like blobs. So we decorated our blobs and enjoyed a few for breakfast. After that we exchanged our own gifts. This was fun. The rest of the day we just hung out.

The afternoon of the 25th we made it over to my parents house to exchange gifts and have Christmas dinner. This was the first time in 32 years that my Mom got to sleep in because we did not have a lunch or do gifts in the morning. I think we will do it again next year? Guess we will see.

Everyone loved their gifts. Growing up we would always start with the stockings first. Which, my Mom had to explain to Chase's girlfriend who kept handing out gifts before we did that. So, then after we did that we could open gifts. It was so much fun to spend time with everyone. After this we had dinner. I had made a home made pumpkin pie for desert with a gram-cracker crust. It was good. My brother Bill left shortly after dinner with his dog Bentley. Then, we all watched a movie and B and I left about half way through it to head back home.

All and all it was a great first married christmas and I look forward to many more to come.

Shout out time

I just wanted to give a log shout out to everyone reading my blog from NYC, especially Ana Littlefield. I hope you get your boot off soon. P.S. Deals told me to say that.

I would love to go to NYC again sometime. I have only been once in the summer of 1999 on a trip with my Mom.  I would love to go back and see the amazing Christmas decorations, the Macy's Thanksgiving day parade and just go back in general.

I am looking forward to next year and all of the fun things to come to blog about. Until then Happy Holiday's to everyone out there

End of the semester/ year

Well, I finished the semester and did very well. I am glad I was able to do two classes. Next semester I will just be doing one class and go from there. I cannot believe that this year has flown by so quickly. I feel that Christmas and New Years will be here before we know it. So, that is my short update for now.

Christmas Coffee Update

Last Friday, November 30th was the Annual Christmas Coffee that I was in charge of reservations for. I went on Thursday to help set up and get everything ready for the following day. When I got home that day I felt so tired. Then, woke up early Friday to get everything printed off and ready for the reservations list.

People started coming around 10 AM and at first it was just me trying to check everyone in etc. Then, I had some help which was great. I tried to check everyone off my list. I think for next year the best thing to do would be if your money has been turned in just to go a head and go in. Have everyone else that has not paid come and pay. Who knows. I think all and all it went well. I did the best I could. I did have one older lady insist that she sent a check, however I know she did not so I told her that it was ten dollars. I told her that if there was a mix up I would let her know but I had not received her check. The hard part is that my address was printed wrong in the directory. They somehow printed my old address, where my brother is living and my new name. Have not a clue how that happened. Oh well, I tried to intercept people so that I would not have to keep going to my brother who did not understand why I was getting mail. He told me to change my address with the post office. I tried to explain that was not it. Plus, yeah another thing to CHANGE is what I want to do after I have CHANGED everything with my name already. Ugh.

Anyways, overall the coffee went great and I think that everyone had a great time. I still have work to do for my job. I just sent a thank you note to the home owner thanking her for opening her home. I have to write a report, however I do not have a sample one so this should be interesting. But, I want to finish my grad school stuff first.

So, there you have it the update on the Christmas Coffee. Did I mention I spent the WHOLE time outside. I am just glad the weather was not too cold or raining.

Holiday Update

I cannot believe that it is December already. I feel like time is just flying by! I cannot believe that B and I will be married for 6 months this month. I have been working on figuring out what to get everyone for Christmas this year. As usual, I have not a clue what to get my brothers and my dad. Guess that needs more thinking about. The good news is that I have a few more weeks to figure it all out and come up with something.

I finished my Wednesday night class last week, turned in my last paper and now am waiting to see how I did overall in the class. Also, tonight is my last Monday night class. We are meeting at the Barley House a local bar. Haha. It should be a fun last class. This week my goal is to finish my last research paper which is due by next Monday at Noon. Then, it will be time to celebrate that the semester is over.

In other holiday news, we have decorated our first Christmas Tree as a married couple. It is so much fun. We decorated it the Saturday after Thanksgiving so we can enjoy it for a while. I was so excited to use all of the ornaments that we got last year at my ornament shower. It was so much fun to go through them all and hang them up. The biggest problem was finding the little green hooks to use, which we finally found at target right in front of our faces. We got a lot to use in the future and to just have. By a lot, I mean two packages with 100 each. Hahaha.

Well, that is all for now.