Christmas 2014

Here we are a week after Christmas and I'm finally starting to catch up.  Blake woke up on Christmas with a cold and it's gotten worse from there: a sinus infection to end all sinus infections.

I've successfully avoided it this time around thanks to self-quarantine and lots of vitamins.  Poor Blake has had a go of it, though, and is getting very ready to be done with blowing his nose and steaming over boiling pots of water.

Christmas itself was wonderful.  We spent Christmas Eve at Blake's parents' house and enjoyed the usual festivities. The kids put on a nativity program and also take turns performing on whatever instruments they're currently learning.  A couple recited poems like this one:

Yesterday is history. Tomorrow's a mystery. But today is a gift. That's why it's called the present.

I love 8 year olds.

Luckily this year we were spared any renditions of current Taylor Swift songs.  In years past those have been the hardest to keep a straight face through.

My 11 year old niece, Coco, and I played a duet on cello and violin.  She, of course, played perfectly. And I, of course, messed her up.  My fingers are so out of shape.  Also, I'm blaming my staggering stage fright.  Sigh.

Iya and Papa (that's Blake's parents to their grandkids) organized a treasure hunt for the kids to find their gifts.  It was definitely a highlight.  It's so fun to see all 8 of them running around holding clues and looking like they might explode with excitement.  It's one of my favorite parts of Christmas.  Kids make everything more magical.

The rest of the evening was spent feasting on enchiladas and sides (we've all decided that Mexican food should be our new Christmas Eve tradition) and making ourselves sick by eating too many treats.  A good 'eve was had by all.

Because we're getting really old, Christmas morning started out around 7:00 with a long walk for the Bear followed by a leisurely morning in our pajamas while we opened gifts.  Blake and I did a mostly hand-made Christmas for our parents and we had so much fun.  I crocheted afghans for both sets of parents, and Blake printed out a couple of beautiful photos on canvas of loons from the lake this past summer.  It was a hit.  I love doing handmade gifts.  It makes me feel like I'm celebrating Christmas for a lot longer as I'm taking the time to work on the gifts so much earlier than I would have otherwise.

Also, because we're getting old, when our parents asked what we had on our Christmas lists it was all baby-related.  My parents generously bought us our dream stroller and Blake's parents spoiled us with a beautiful high chair and a video baby monitor.  We're getting close to being all set up and I can hardly believe it.  How strange it is that we'll have an 8 month old by next Christmas!

The 2014 Ugly Christmas Sweater Party

Blake has been hosting an Ugly Christmas Sweater Party for as long as I've known him (and I think all the way through college, so maybe 13-14 years?).  It's become one of our favorite Christmas traditions and we look forward to it every year.

It gives us the excuse to decorate the house and to make all of our favorite holiday treats that we couldn't otherwise justify having in the house (I have been known to eat a whole batch of cookies on my own...).

Bear is still at the "I will jump all over you, lick you, and steal your food" stage, so he spent the party in his crate, but had no shortage of friends petting him and sneaking him snacks through the openings.  I'm hoping that next year he'll be grown up enough to wander around the party un-watched.  But maybe that's wishful thinking.

The ugly Christmas sweater that my mom sent to me last year was looking perilously short after covering my growing bump (and love handles), so I had to wear a long undershirt so as not to flash our guests with any unexpected skin.

If I were better at remembering such things, I would have taken pictures during the actual party, but I'm sure it's not really that surprising that I didn't make it that far.  Frankly, after spending the day cooking and setting up, it's a miracle that was even awake through the party.  My bedtime has been no later than 10:00 lately, so staying up 'til all hours socializing was a welcome change.

I'm having a hard time believing that Christmas is less than a week away.  Is it just me, or does the Christmas season fly by faster and fast each year?  It's one of those times of the year when I wish things would slow down, but they always get so jam packed with fun activities that they proceed at a neck breaking pace.

We've got a handful of fun Christmassy outings planned for this coming week (along with another ultrasound - yippee!) and then on to the main event.  Bear's getting a new elk antler from Santa Paws, and I bought myself some luxuriously large Christmas jammies, so everyone around here is looking forward to the big day.

It's the Holiday season

You know, I thought that I'd be much more prolific with my blogging when I quit my desk job.  But, it turns out that sitting at a desk 9-10 hours a day is actually helpful in the blogging department.  Now my days are filled with other projects (and the eternal morning sickness that just sucks all my energy and will to be productive), and I do a lot of my writing by hand or away from the intrigues of the internet.  So, sitting down for some quality blogging time seems to happen less than I'd like.

The holidays always seem to be an especially busy time of year.  And is it just me, or does the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas seem shorter every year?  There's just so much to do, and so little time in which to do it.

So, in the interest of brevity, and due to my recent sniffly temperament, here's what we've been up to since I checked in last:

1.  Pregnancy has made my sinuses stuffy in the general sense, so when I started getting stuffier last Sunday, I tried to play it off as a pregnancy symptom plus maybe a small cold.  A couple days later I was at the Urgent Care at the request of my OB.  Turns out I had a double ear infection and a sinus infection.  That, coupled with nausea and nosebleeds made for a very interesting week where I did little else but sniff Vicks Vap-o-Rub and blow my nose.  All I can say is thank goodness for antibiotics!

2.  Bear and Blake were troopers throughout my self-imposed quarantine.  Blake woke up extra early before work every day to take Bear on a long walk, and then took him on a long walk again (in the pitch black) when he got home.  Bear, for his part, was very sweet to me all week, and spent most of his time in bed with me resting his chin on my feet.

3.  I re-watched a couple of seasons of Gilmore Girls between nose blows.  It made me nostalgic for college (when I watched the show the first time, Rory and I were at the same time of life and I felt a special kindred with her).  Embarrassingly, Bear seemed to recognize the theme song by the end of the week.  I swear he was rolling his eyes at me every time a new episode started.  He's a cultured dog, but I guess he doesn't appreciate quality cinematic entertainment when he sees it.

4.  We've started in on our traditional Christmas movie marathon.  Every year we start with Love Actually on Thanksgiving, and proceed with Home Alone 1 & 2, Elf, Christmas Vacation, Fred Claus, and The Santa Clause (if I get my way - Blake hates that one).  Blake also makes a list of all the good Christmas shows on TV and we set them up to record so we always have something Christmassy to watch.  We're serious about our holiday entertainment around here.

5.  We're working hard to get our house decorated in time for our annual Ugly Sweater Christmas party this weekend.  Blake has held this party every year for 13 (or maybe 14?) years and it's one of our favorite Christmas traditions.  Everyone seems to have a great time each year, and it's always a hoot explaining to half our friends that we- as boring Mormons- aren't going to have alcohol at the party.  It's like a rite of passage for them, I think, surviving a Mormon party.  Ha.

Add in laundry, keeping the house mud-free with a Bear on the lose, and attempting to keep our sanity through this hellish experience called pregnancy, and that just about sums it up.   Here's to a happy and healthy holiday season filled with blogging and cheer.

Long overdue

The sinus fates and the Verizon Internet gods have conspired against me lately, but here I am finally uploading pictures of our Christmas celebration at Blake's parents' house.

They live about 20 minutes from us, but we decided to stay for a few days over at their place.  We packed up the car like Santa's sleigh with gifts, suitcases and an excited Bear (you would have thought we were going away for three weeks...).

Two of Blake's siblings live in the DC area, too, and they each brought their four kids.  Blake's brother and his wife were also here from Amsterdam, so we had the whole gang together.

Marilyn (Blake's mom) does two Christmas trees every year.  A silver-ornamented one in the more formal living room, and a traditional colorful tree in the family room.  Not to mention a million other great decorations around the house.

Bear loved curling up not he tree skirt under the family room tree.  If we couldn't find him anywhere, we knew where to look.

Blake and I brought over our stash of Santa hats and gave one to each of the nieces and nephews.  They all put them on for the annual Christmas performance.  Coco played the cello, Sydney, Morgan and Ella played the piano.  All eight of them sang a bung of Christmas carols.  It's so cute (and they're so cooperative!  My brothers and I never would have stood for something like that...)

After the kids unwrapped their Christmas jammies and the presents from Iya and Papa (Blake's parents), they ran around snagging cookies and treats while barely containing their excitement.  When their enthusiasm rose to a fever pitch, the parents decided it was time to head home (thankfully).

We spent Christmas morning quietly with Blake's parents and his oldest brother and sister-in-law.  You know you're getting old when you don't even start opening gifts until after noon.  But it was perfect, and low-key and restful.  Exactly what we needed.

A Very Merry Christmas

Blake and I switch off major holidays with our families.  This year it was Thanksgiving with my family and Christmas with Blake's.  It's a nice system because everyone knows what to expect and when to plan on us.  Plus, we're able to buy our plane tickets way in advance, which is music to my cheapskate ears.

Blake's parents host Christmas Eve dinner and festivities at their house every year.  The 8 nieces and nephews come.  Iya and Papa (the grandkids' name for Blake's parents) give their gifts to the kids and the kids do a Christmas program.  I think Blake took some great shots of the gang doing the nativity and singing carols with matching Santa hats, but I've got to steal those from him, so I'll work on posting those later this week.

We also exchange gifts with Blake's siblings on Christmas Eve.  We pick names and have a specific dollar limit, which makes shopping and planning so easy and stress-free.  This year we had Tyler and Rebecca (Tyler is #2 of 4 in Blake's family).

I wanted to do some handmade gifts this year, so as soon as I confirmed who we had in the exchange I started working on a blanket.

Now that Christmas is over and there's no chance of my ruining the surprise, I can show the final product.  I did it in a thick, squishy, warm yarn in cream and grey.  The last two photos are truest to the color in real life.

It ended up about seven feet by seven feet - perfect for snuggling up with on the couch.  It's not perfect (don't look too closely at where I joined the yarn!), but I'm really pleased that I was able to complete it in time and that it actually resembles what I'd imagined.

Now I think I need a crafting break!  On to house projects for the New Year.

Christmas around the house.

I tried something new in my Christmas decorating around the house this year.  Each room had a color theme (more or less): the living room was red, the family room was green, and the dining room was silver and gold.

I had red plaid pillows on the couch in the living room, red candles and a red tree skirt.  In the family room I had green plaid pillows, green topiaries, and a green garland around the windows.  In the dining room I had my silver and gold candlestick collection down the center of the table (with all white tapers) and a new gold Christmas tree in the corner with silver snowflake ornaments.

It was probably too subtle a scheme for anyone but me to notice, but I had fun doing it anyway.  Nothing makes the house feel more cosy than a Christmas tree and twinkle lights.  We added more garland and twinkle lights to the mix this year because we just can't get enough.

You'll notice we didn't put lights or ornaments on the bottom portion of the tree - that's thanks to little Bear.  He's obsessed with the tree and the lights and we were worried lest he bite the lights and electrocute his fully self.

At least now when we catch him laying under the tree biting off the lower limbs (his new favorite past-time) we're not worried about sudden death.

Doggy discourse

This rascally ball of fur brought home a prize from our walk yesterday.  He often brings home branches and nuts that he finds along the way, so I didn't think anything of it when he was throwing something around to himself in the living room.

But.  What I thought was a twig turned out to be a rat leg.

They way I know this?

Once he was done playing with it, I went to pick it up off the hearth to throw it away and realized that it had a paw and claws.  Shiver.  It was one of the more disgusting dog-owner bits of business I've ever come across (and that's saying something seeing as I have to pick up his poop every day).  There is not enough anti-bacterial hand soap in all the world to make me feel clean after holding a dismembered rat claw in my hand.

Other than that, though, Bear is a delight.  He followed us around all day on Saturday while we were preparing for our annual Ugly Christmas Sweater party and cried and moaned when he wasn't allowed to taste all of the treats.  I think he's finally figured out how much better human food is than dog food.

But enough about the dog.

The party was great - tons of food, tons of people, tons of funny white elephant gifts.  It's one of our favorite traditions every year and it really helps it feel like Christmas.  Plus, it's a good excuse to get the house all decorated for the holiday.

My mom sent me a new ugly sweater for the occasion.  I'm wearing it below.  I got a lot of comments saying it wasn't nearly ugly enough...and that's true.  I think I'd actually wear it on a normal day.  It's more kitschy than ugly, so it's a winner in my book.

Now that it officially feels like Christmas, I can hardly believe it's only a little over a week away!  Where is the time going?  December, how come you move so fast?!

Santa Paws is Comin' to Town

I think when you adopt a puppy you're signing some sort of cosmic contract that says, "I, the undersigned, agree to never pee alone again."

And then you're held to that contract every moment of every day.  Close the door to the bathroom before he can get in?  No worries, he'll just cry, moan and scratch at the door until you give in to his pleas.  Then again, with a face as cute and fluffy as Bear's, it's really hard to ever say no.

It's also really hard to want to be away from the little guy.

We brought Bear up to New York with us this past weekend (we tagged along with Blake's parents who were up there for the law firm Christmas party).  He was, as usual, a fuzzy celebrity everywhere we went.  He's such a diva.

He got his own seat in the car between Blake's parents and loved every second of the ride - alternately putting his head on Brent and Marilyn's laps for snuggles.  He got to sneak up on the bed at the hotel (hey, I'm not the one washing those sheets, ok?).  He walked around SoHo with the knowing gait of an uptown pup, allowing himself to be snuggled and photographed by all sorts of admirers.

He was, however, particularly sad when we didn't let him eat any Tacos from La Esquina (our favorite place for Tacos), even though I tried to tell him it was for his own good.

After a fruitless 10-block search for a potty spot around our Hotel in midtown, we decided that NYC is just not a dog-friendly place.  Where are all the dogs doing their business? On the streets?  That thought makes me want to take another shower today.

Bear has been trained not to wee on the cement, so he held it for ages while we located a suitable dirt patch.  What a champ.  For only five months old he did pretty well in the big city.

New York, we love you, but we're sure glad to be home.

Christmas

I never really got around to writing about Christmas this year.  We were in Utah for a week, where we were busy spending time with friends and family.  When we got back to DC we basically hit the ground running and I feel like I've been behind in most aspects of my life ever since.

Oh well.

Christmas was great.  It started snowing on Christmas Eve and didn't let up until the day before we flew home.  It was exactly what I wanted - a true white Christmas.  I think we got something like 18 inches.  Sundance, strangely, got more snow than any of the Park City joints, so Blake was in heaven being able to ski so close to home.

It was a really relaxing trip.  Because of the snow and only have one 4-wheel drive car, we had an excuse to stay home and warm with a book, a puzzle, or a movie by the Christmas tree.  In my mind, there's no better way to spend the holidays. 

I'm already wishing it were Christmas again.  I mean, what's the point of winter when there's no Christmas to look forward to?  All these cold, grey days are getting me down.

Before I sign-off, what Christmas would be complete without some gratuitous Noosa shots?  Sure, she's 10 years old, and getting a bit creaky and slow, but I'll still contend that she's the cutest yellow lab to ever walk the earth.

(P.S. some of these cute faces may or may not have been coerced through use of turkey held overhead.)

A channel for all ages.

In the weeks since I last posted, we've been busy celebrating the season, vacationing and relaxing.  We had our annual Ugly Christmas Sweater Party (our biggest yet!), celebrated Christmas early with Blake's family, flew to Utah to spend Christmas with my family, enjoyed 18 inches of powdery Utah snow, flew back to DC to cold grey weather, and lazily rang in the new year with friends.

But, before I get to all that...

Last night while we were watching TV, Blake and I saw several commercials for Life Alert and a handful more for the Hurry Cane (the all-terrain cane, of course!).  All of this during the prime-time hours.  It was at this point that we realized that we were watching the travel channel.  I guess we're not quite the demographic that's usually watching the travel channel at 8:30 p.m. on a Wednesday.  What can I say, Baggage Battles is oddly captivating.

Also, as our vacation came to a close, Blake and I decided that playing is more fulfilling than working.  The Travel Channel (and HGTV) have convinced us that to get the most out of life we need to quit our jobs and become real estate moguls.  So, if anyone knows of any real estate that currently needs moguling, please let me know.

Sigh.

Where has December gone?

Oh, right.  It went to crummy things like the stomach flu, a cold, and laryngitis right in a row.  And horrible news on CNN.  And church meetings, long work hours, and keeping house.  And fun things like baking, Friday night dates, Christmas shopping, party planning and family outings.

Now that I have a moment, I can hardly believe Christmas is next week!

I finished the absolute last of my Christmas shopping last night.  Once again, I had the hardest time figuring out what to get for my Dad.  He's a hard one to shop for (he's not very materialistic, and male-oriented gifts are just harder) and I always want to make sure I've found just the right thing.  So, last night found me clutching the steering wheel, peering through the smacking windshield wipers trying to navigate the fog and cursing the heavily trafficked DC streets. 

I hate driving at night.  Have I mentioned it before? If not, I should have.  It's one of Rachel's necessary truths: thou shalt not voluntarily drive at night.  Unless under the influence of an extreme Christmas-shopping high, I suppose.  And night driving in low-visibility fog?  The pitts.  It ages me 50 years and finds me turning off the radio, pushing up the seat and driving in the slow lane.  Oh well.

It's all worth it to have found the right thing. 

And now. Sweet bliss. I can enjoy the stress-free anticipation that come with the holiday. 

Cleaning out the closets

Blake has been out of town a lot lately for work.  In fact, he's been gone about two nights a week for the last 5 weeks: Chicago, Dallas, New York, Boston, Atlanta...the list goes one. 

While he's away, I try to keep myself extra busy.  It's usually the time when I finally get down to business with my housekeeping- vacuuming, scrubbing baseboards etc., but it's also when I do a lot of crafting.

Last night some friends came over and we watched the movie Brave while we knitted/sewed on our various projects. 

Knitting night may sound a bit sister-wives-ish, but let me tell you: it's simply grand!  It's the perfect time to watch silly movies, eat snacks, and attempt one of the pins languishing in the depths of the pinterest archives. 

Blake served part of his mission in Cape Verde (a group of islands off the west coast of Africa).  Some of his converts made him lace doilies by hand as a thank you gift.  They've been hiding out in the back of his closet in New Hampshire ever since, but this summer when I saw them I knew I wanted to drag them out and make something useful out of them.  I'd seen an idea on pinterest via Martha Stewart and mentally filed it away as a potential use for the doilies.

So yesterday it was finally down to business.  After much arranging and re-arranging, I came up with a satisfactory placement and roughly sewed the doilies together.  I may or may not have accidentally sewn a couple of them to the rug as I went (wasn't that a fun discovery at the end when I tried to pick the whole thing up? whoops).

After snipping my creation free of the rug, I added it to the table with a new poinsettia from the grocery store and some grey-green candles.  Nothing glamorous, but it makes me happy to have Christmas making an appearance at the house.

First world problems

Most years I have my Christmas shopping done (or close to done) by Thanksgiving.  This is partially because I like to plan ahead and find deals throughout the year, but it's mostly due to the fact that I absolutely can't stand going to the mall in December.

The crowds.  The harsh lights.  The cold weather outside that makes me dress warm and then carry around more and more clothes as I shed layers in the store. 

I get stressed.  I get tired.  I get sweaty.

This year I am way behind.  As in I just started my shopping this week.  November 2012, I love you, but you're bringing me down.  Why are you bringing me down?

Now, this late start would be ok if I actually had a idea in mind of what to buy for everyone on my list.  Then I could go clicky clicky online from the comfort of my own bed on Black Friday morning and get most of it taken care of.  But alas, I'm fresh out of ideas. 

Like most December-mall-o-phobes, I'll be turning to the internet for guidance (and pestering my family and friends with every spare second of my time for their lists).  I'll tell you one thing, though, there ain't no way you'll see me out at all hours waiting in line with those hooligans on Black Friday.

BuzzFeed claims that the the US Army lists Walmart as the most dangerous place in the country on Black Friday each year.  Not Detroit, not SE DC, but Walmart. 

If that's not enough to keep you out of the malls this weekend, I don't know what would.

Apocalypse Now

The world is in a sorry state.  You know how I know?  Because something like this is for sale on the world wide web.  And it's for sale for $49.00 (!!!). 

The dubious levels of taste on Etsy make me question the status of the human race. [And now I'm off to have nightmares about those bulging black eyes.]

HoliDecorations

My in-laws house is always decorated beautifully, but I especially love it at Christmas.  These photos don't really do it justice (I stole them from Blake's phone), but I was too busy enjoying myself to take too many photos. 

I'm having a fun time remembering Christmas Eve: a perfect salmon dinner, lots of baked treats, a concert (complete with choreographed dance moves to "Let it Snow") by the kiddos, the annual nativity, discussing the likelihood of Santa being real with some of the older curious kids, and watching the excitement on their faces as they opened gifts. 

One of my favorite things about Christmas is listening to and chatting with the kids.  They always have the funniest things to say.  This year my favorite kid-ism came not from my nieces and nephews, but from one of our 12-year-old Sunday school kids.

Blake and I taught a Christmas-themed lesson a week before Christmas.  We had some extra time at the end and the kids were getting obnoxious and loud (in such a way as only those middle-school-aged kids can be), so I read them my favorite Christmas story: The Other Wise Man.  My family reads The Other Wise Man every year on Christmas Even in addition to Luke 2.  It's a beautifully told and beautifully illustrated story.

After two pages the kids were hooked.  They pulled their chairs in close and, miraculously, closed their mouths.  They were unusually quiet right up until the point where Herod sends his troops to kill all of the babies.  At this point there was some interjection from the heretofore silent peanut gallery.

 Christian interrupted: "wait! wait! Herod killed all the babies?!" 

Me: "Yes, Christian, he did.  Horrible, right?" 

Christian: In a shocked tone "Well, I hope he goes to HELL!"

Tate: scandalized "Christian! We don't say HELL, we say HECK!"

Me: Trying to stifle a giggle "um, ok, let's just continue on with the story..."

Man I love those kids.  They always keep me entertained.

It's amazing how far behind in life I've gotten due to my nasty battle with strep over the break. Alas. I'll catch up someday. Sooner or later the un-written ideas in my head and the dust/hair bunnies tumbling across my floors will force me into fully catching up to the present.

Taking a break with the wee elves.

It's going to be a crazy week this week, but I had to take a quick break from the madness to look back at some of my pictures from Christmas.  I made these Santa/Elves props for our Christmas party and ended up bringing them to our family Christmas Eve party to entertain the kiddos.  They (Right: Ella, Coco and Sidney. Left: James and Jack) had a great time posing as Santa in front of the Christmas tree. 

I think my favorite part was trying to direct them how to hold the beards and hats: no James, the beard goes over your mouth and chin...not up over your eyebrows...but close...well, close enough...

Sigh

Remember how I planned to spend my time off making my way through this list of things to get paid for while I wasn't working?

Well, some of the cute kidlets were sick at Christmas Eve dinner...so I was sick two days later.  Strep throat is never fun, but at least it can be cured with a quick round of Zythromax, a comfy bed, and a stack of movies. 

So besides sniffling, drinking tea, taking meds and waiting to be less uncomfortable, here's what I actually accomplished over my break:

- Going to the temple with my Blake and having a Cafe Rio lunch with old friends
Yep. Did both of those things on Christmas Eve eve.  It was fun to see Scott & Kirby and fun to try the new Cafe Rio location in Arlington.  We even got a free meal, which is never a bad thing.

- Going to a pre-Christmas kickoff
We briefly made it out of our post-Cafe Rio food coma in time to head to a party hosted by some friends from church.  There must have been 30 kids there running around having a great time...and that made it all the more festive.

- Cooking and baking galore
I got a little bit carried away baking for Christmas eve dinner.  I made homemade oreos, a french lemon tart, spiral sugar cookies, chocolate chip meringues and chocolate and caramel dipped marshmallows.  I have a sugar hangover just thinking about it.

- Eating, eating and more eating
Check, check, and triple check.

- Wrapping and subsequently opening presents
Wrapping presents is one of my favorite things to do and I had a wonderful time doing it this year.  I treated myself to several different kinds of paper, ribbons and tags and had a grand old time listening to music, watching Christmas movies, and creating Christmas masterpieces.

- Watching my nieces and nephews perform the nativity
There was surprisingly little crying.  We even had a Joseph this year thanks to a flannel shirt and a quickly drawn beard on Sidney.  It was as cute as ever. 

- Celebrating Christmas Eve and Christmas day with Blake's family
Christmas is always so fun with kids.  We had a big dinner, presents and the nativity with all the nieces and nephews, then woke up late on Christmas, went to church and finally opened presents around 3:00 p.m.  My how things have changed since the early days of waking up at 5:30 to bother my parents into letting us open gifts.

- Sharing in the kids' anticipation of Santa
Most of them still believe.  And the ones who don't are still so excited for Christmas that it doesn't dampen the spirit of anticipation.

- Chatting with my family on the phone
The darn time difference makes this difficult, but we had a great time chatting.

- Watching multiple movies at home and at the theater
We saw Sherlock Holmes (two thumbs way down! super boring!) and MI4 (two thumbs, surprisingly, way up!) in the theaters, watched Midnight in Paris twice (Blake got it for me for Christmas) and filled in the other time with episodes of Castle, The Dead Zone, and rental movies.

- Painting my toenails (because it's vacation and I have time to be luxurious)
Didn't do this one.  Oh well.

- Picking out and installing a new bathroom light fixture (hopefully)
Check.  I'll post pictures soon.  The bathroom is a like-new, light-flooded, room.  I could hardly believe it!  And for less than $40.00!  It was definitely one of those things that made us both wonder why we'd waited so long to do it.

- Painting the guest bathroom, guest room and downstairs puppet theater
I painted the guest bathroom, but didn't get to either of the other two projects.  In my sickness-induced stupor it took me two loooong days of painting just to do the tiny bathroom.  I probably shouldn't have done that (hindsight is much clearer than strep-throat clouded sight), but it looks so good that I have no regrets.  Once we added the new light fixture and bought some bright white towels it looked like a brand new space.  We've definitely classed up the joint.

- Staying in my pajamas for a long as I want to
Sickness = pajamas.  End of story.  Poor Blake had to deal with seeing me only in PJs or painting clothes (which are worse...much worse) for a week straight.  I think he'd forgotten that I clean up ok.  In fact, I think I'd forgotten that I clean up ok. 

Now it's back to reality.  I've finished my round of antibiotics and Blake should be starting his today (I am feeling extremely guilty for sharing this particular Christmas gift with him).  Wish us luck.

Georgetown's Christmas Generosity

There's really no better feeling in all the world than setting your out-of-office e-mail and knowing that you won't be back in the office for a week and a half.  Oh, and on top of that, knowing that the week and half is paid. 

Here's what I plan to spend the next week and a half getting paid to do:

- Going to the temple with my Blake and having a Cafe Rio lunch with old friends
- Going to a pre-Christmas kickoff
- Cooking and baking galore
- Eating, eating and more eating
- Wrapping and subsequently opening presents
- Watching my nieces and nephews perform the nativity
- Celebrating Christmas Eve and Christmas day with Blake's family
- Sharing in the kids' anticipation of Santa
- Chatting with my family on the phone
- Watching multiple movies at home and at the theater
- Painting my toenails (because it's vacation and I have time to be luxurious)
- Picking out and installing a new bathroom light fixture (hopefully)
- Painting the guest bathroom, guest room and downstairs puppet theater
- Staying in my pajamas for a long as I want to

Now if only I could figure out a way to get paid to do exactly what I want every day of the year.  THAT would be the life.

Christmas Crafting

We're staying in DC for Christmas this year (Blake's parents live 20 minutes from us) so we've been going all out with the decorations. 

Christmas is really the only holiday I decorate for, but my budget and lack of time prevent me from adding more than a couple new things every year.  During last night's viewing of NCIS: Los Angeles (LL Cool J and Chris O'Donnell? You know that's right!) I finished up my newest addition to our festive decor. 

Two dollars for the felt (with tons left over), four dollars for the faux cranberry garland, some leftover red thread and a couple hours of hacking away with my somewhat useless scissors, and voila:

Ok, so it's more like joy to France, Paris, Rome, London and DC...but close enough.

Simply having a wonderful Christmas time.

It's been a glorious Christmas season so far.  Blake and I have been making the most of it. We picked out our Christmas tree at our traditional lot and decorated it with the ornaments that we collected together on our travels and throughout our childhoods.  Unpacking Christmas ornaments every year brings back so many fun memories.

We went to see/hear The Messiah at Strathmore on Saturday night with Blake's parents.  It was absolutely beautiful and especially fun for me because I got to see my old friend, Becky, who was in the choir.

We've also wrapped presents, hung garland and twinkle lights, stood in many a line at the mall, decorated the church for the ward Christmas party, crafted, baked, and watched all manner of traditional Christmas movies.  We've already checked off Love Actually, It's a Wonderful Life, Elf and Home Alone 1.  Next up are, naturally, Home Alone 2 and Miracle on 34th Street.  Christmas just isn't complete without the whole line-up. 

Between now and Christmas we've got work parties, parties with friends, The Nutcracker, and countless more cookies to bake and a stack of presents to wrap.  Yes, it's busy, but I don't want it to end.