Monday, December 27, 2010

Dashing Through the Snow

Alright, so there really was no dashing involved...and the snow came before Christmas so it was already plowed, however, most of my Christmas was spent traveling, just to give the meaningless headline merit.
Merry Christmas to all by the way!
I love Christmas time. Seriously. Purely and truly LOVE this time of year. I love Christmas music--I'm one of those people who is completely fine playing it before Halloween. I hang onto the idea of Santa Claus and still put out plates of cookies--even though everyone in my house is old enough to know better. (For the record--Santa DOES exist.) I usually decorate to the nines and actually plan ahead for gifts and Secret Santa and what not.
Sadly though, I've been rather unenthusiastic with things this year. Mostly due to moving. But it's still been rather sad and discouraging. However, the first thing set up in my house was my nativity scene--even before the necessaries like tables and beds and what not. And I did get a tree up (albeit barely--it will now retain a 2-3 week residence because I was so late getting it in.) And I have brilliant plans for next year--when, you know, I'm not going to be painting, moving in, and back and forth.
However, despite the craziness of moving I still found so much joy in Christmas.
First off, I have to tell about the best part of this Holiday that happened as sort of a pre-Christmas gift. My little brother got called on an LDS mission--he'll be leaving in March for 2 years. The leaving part isn't necessarily the exciting part but he'll be able to partake in so many opportunities, experience a different culture, and meet a myriad of people. I'm excited for him to have the faith to take this opportunity and for the experiences he's going to have.
That was probably one of the most exciting moments over the holidays.
The 24th I received my fridge. I got it from Sears and I'll say it is fabulous. The best part? It's listed at $999 and I got it for $599! ...This week I price checked it again and it's listed for $799. The joys of discovering you have good timing. I'll say though that I loved it. At first I was skeptical of buying black. But I've decided as long as I stick to black appliances I think it will fit. Despite the fact that I have cream cupboards. (Update with pictures coming soon)
The stove that I got will work well with it too--at least, I hope. Someday I will get a black dishwasher and microwave etc. (But that's going to be a someday for a while now.) Then Christmas Eve my boyfriend came over and we had all of our Christmas Eve rituals as my family. It was bittersweet realizing that this would be the last year that we'd be doing such, next year our Christmas will be spent waiting for a phone call. But it will all work out. I'm such a sucker for tradition I can't see how we'd be able to NOT do certain things. That's honestly what this year was as well. Even though all of us "children" are older now I still insist on certain things (which is slightly ridiculous seeing how I'm the oldest.) We watched Mr. Krueger's Christmas. Which, I will admit, is NOT my favorite part of the rituals. Then we had a wonderful traditional Christmas dinner with turkey--we always cook the dinner for Christmas Eve then snack and laze for Christmas. Then we sit together and everyone opens 1 gift--which is always pajamas. We read the Christmas story from Luke and then my Mom reads the poem "Annie and Willie's Prayer" just like she has since I was around...3? We talk about the true meaning of Christmas then set out cookies, milk and gum drops for Santa. (He always leaves 1/2 of them uneaten.) Then we trod off to bed.
This year was different in that manner though, we went down to Weston's family's house after this and wrapped presents for Santa with his family and did Christmas morning with them. It was really fun actually. He has a younger brother and sister who still believe in Santa so it was fun to see their excitement. That morning I was surprised to actually sleep in until 7 (My brothers would have been up at 5:30) then the typical opening of presents. It was so much fun to watch the little kid's faces.
That was my Christmas. It was fabulous I was able to spend time with my family, my amazing boyfriend and his family. We even got in some time to see my Grandpa. Then that night, we watched Despicable Me at my house--which was, officially my first "get together" at my house (despite the paint cans and brushes all over the place.) Not to mention, I LOVE that movie. It was a very nice, lazy Christmas. It was my first time not exclusively with my family though. That was different. Weston's family made me feel at home and comfortable though.
Sunday I went with Weston's family again to see his sister and her family. She has the cutest little girl. Then back to the real world.
I'm setting up goals. For New Years too but not quite yet:
My Goals for This Week:
1-Finish Painting Cabinets
2-Set up Cabinets
3-Not stress Work
4-Unpack
5-Clean house
6-Have a New Years Party.
I best go get busy.

Monday, December 13, 2010

Moving Joy

I finally have moved all of my stuff into my house! ....well aside from my bed, my clothes, and...oh yeah, myself! However, It is so nice to have everything out of that storage unit and everything worked out. Hopefully I'll be in before Christmas...with my Christmas tree up. That's my goal. I'm just cleaning and painting and moving everything right now.