That’s the mood I’m in. It was a tough day at work and then I spent an hour writing out a Christmas post and my Windows LiveWriter pooped and I lost the whole thing. I don’t have the heart or energy to write it again. So, I leave you with this comparison of Isabella with Santa from the last 3 years (thanks Heather for the idea)!
Here’s hoping for a better tomorrow!
There was no part of this day that was filled with holiday spirit or inspiring cheer. It was actually a pretty bah-humbug kind of day. So, I’m doing another questions list!
I’ll do the first 5 questions tonight and another 5 later in the week! Here we go!
1. Favorite Christmas Song – hands down, “O Holy Night”. Have loved that song for as long as I can remember. My favorite version of it? Josh Grobans!
2. Open presents on Christmas Eve or Day? – our family opens 1 gift on Christmas eve and then the rest on Christmas day. We’ll do our little family in the morning and then head to my parent’s house for the afternoon.
3. Favorite Xmas movie – “A Christmas Carol”, with George C. Scott. My family would watch this every Xmas eve growing up and my dad always laughed at the exact same part. 2nd favorite would be “Elf”
4. Christmas memory from childhood – decorating the tree. It was always a big deal in our house. We’d have boxes and boxes or ornaments to put up. I loved telling the different stories that went with them too. Playing in the background were my parents old records with Andy Williams and Johnny Mathis crooning carols. My parents always fought while stringing the lights too. At the end, my dad would lift me up and I’d put the star on top of the tree (because I was the youngest). I love those memories!
5. Christmas memory from adulthood – my first Christmas with CJ. I was so nervous about what to get him for a gift! We’d only been dating for 2 months so there was some pressure! He got terribly sick with pneumonia too. He came over to join our family but pretty much curled up on the couch and slept. Poor guy! Another memory is Isabella’s 1st Christmas. We actually got snowed in and couldn’t celebrate with the family. So we spent the day in our pajamas, watching movies, eating cookies, napping and just enjoying each other. Then we got to celebrate again 2 days later when we could get out and be with the family!
Now I’m off to watch the Steelers roll over the Niners!
If you liked this, you might also like:
T-minus 7 days until Christmas arrives! In some ways I’m feeling very stressed and anxious about that. Too many small little things left to do – last minute gifts to buy, food to prepare, work to be done. But at the same time, it’s exciting and fun! So, in the spirit of said fun, I’m going to try and post every day this week about happy positive things that show the spirit of the season.
Today was a good day. It was productive, yet full of family fun and Christmas cheer.
I started the day off by meeting some girl friends for brunch. This is a group of gals who email a lot but don’t see each other as often as we’d like. With our busy schedules it’s hard to find the time and that makes it extra special when we do! We had a great time chatting and catching up, then I ran a few errands and headed back home.
While I was gone, a few elves had stopped by the house and dropped off a holiday basket. The elves were our good friends and Isabella’s boyfriend. They brought over several kinds of cookies, cupcakes, granola, an ornament and holiday soap. It was such a sweet gesture and really made the day that much brighter.
During Isabella’s nap, CJ went out to pick up a toddler bed that a friend was giving us while I worked around the house. I got so much done and it felt great! Emptied the dishwasher, did a load of laundry, switched the car seat around in CJ’s car, hung up some more pictures on the walls, wrapped a few gifts, unpacked a box and even had time to enjoy a cookie while watching the Packers get beat by the Chiefs!
Oddly enough, it was a really nice day out. So Isabella and I played in the backyard for a while. When I say “play”, I mean we picked up Samson’s dog poop. What? Isabella actually thinks that’s fun. And no I don’t let her handle the poop. She likes to point out the piles to me and I scoop them up. Believe me, there were plenty of piles too since we hadn’t been out there in a few weeks, what with all the snow on the ground. With that done, it was time to walk around the neighborhood!
Inspired by our “elf” friends, I decided to make up some cookie bags for our neighbors. We’ve met most of them but in many cases it was a quick wave across the street or something brief like that. What better way to make more of an introduction, and leave behind some holiday cheer, then to deliver cookies! The 3 of us went door to door, to our immediate neighbors, and played elves ourselves. I had planned to just say “Merry Christmas”, drop off the goodies and go but every neighbor invited us inside to chat. That was totally unexpected and super nice. Not only did we get to know each other better, I also got to see inside all their houses! Hey, you already knew I was nosey! However, there was one awkward moment. One of the husband’s answered the door wearing only shorts. No shirt. He mentioned something about how he would have been more decent but he was in the middle of working out. Um, really? You couldn’t grab a t-shirt? Or else just don’t answer the door! AND he invited us in! So we’re standing there in the entryway, chit-chatting, all the while I’m trying not to stare at his bare chest or stomach that were right in front of me at eye level (he was a tall guy). Awkward! Other than that, it was a great experience and Isabella loved it!
Then we ate dinner and it was off to Target for me, to do some quick grocery shopping and buy a few gifts. I also had to get cough syrup for CJ who’s come down with a cold. The check out kid asked me for my birthday in order to ring up the cough syrup. I said “November 14th, ‘76”. He just stared at me. Then he said, “Um, what number is November?” Seriously? So I changed it to “11/14/76”. He slowly typed in “11” then “14” and then said “Um, 1976?” No kid, 1876. YES NINETEEN!! Not sure whether to be insulted that he thinks I’m 135 years old or appalled that he couldn’t figure any of that out on his own.
Now we’re winding down for the night and I’m hoping to get some laundry folded and put away before heading to bed. Tomorrow I am starting my workout routine back up and I can’t wait! I haven’t worked out since Kosama ended on 11/30 (that’s November for those of you who may not know). I’ve really missed exercising.
‘Til tomorrow!
If you liked this, you might also like:
…and for the first time, we have an actual chimney to hang them on!
But before I get in to all that, let’s review how Thanksgiving went.
It was great. Lots of family time. Did some shopping. End of story.
No really. I was going to dedicate a whole post to it but there really isn’t all that much to talk about. Turkey Day itself went per usual with awesome food, my sister and I combing through the Black Friday ads, kids playing games while the guys napped, and then stuffing our faces once again. Pumpkin pie = awesome!
One twist was that the sis and I headed out for Black Friday shopping to hit the midnight sales instead of at 4am the next day. I’m not sure I liked the change. There weren’t enough deals to make it worth our while. We were both ho-hum about the whole thing. Not sure if I’ll even do it next year. They’ll have to have some pretty freakin’ sweet steals to get me out again in the middle of the night.
Now on to the fun stuff!
Christmas decorating was great this year because we are in a new house and have new possibilities. PLUS, Isabella is old enough to not only really get in to it but she can also help!
This weekend has been a blast putting it all together. And we’re finally done (well, at least with the inside)!
Here are the fruits of our labors!
The family room complete with Christmas tree and dancing Santa Elmo!
Some of the very most important ornaments go front and center – like the Isabella one from last year and the Steelers football guy!
Close-up of the fireplace. We have the nativity in the middle, a decorative tree on one end and our Angel memorial on the end.
The Angel memorial is to honor the babies we have lost. The little one we got after my first miscarriage in 2008. The large one was a gift after the latest miscarriage in September. And the little silver heart box in front (which you can’t see real well) holds the ashes of that last baby. Even though we took down the normal everyday décor to make room for holiday stuff, we had to leave our angels there on the hearth. They’re a part of the family.
And in case you were wondering why there are 5 stockings hung from the mantel, with 2 that overlap, it’s because Isabella insisted we put up both her “Baby’s 1st Christmas” stocking and her new one.
This is a plain old hurricane lamp with colored Christmas bulbs in it. Super simple yet looks really elegant.
Dicken’s village on the dining room table. It looks really plain here and when I took a look at last year’s photos, I can see why. I forgot to cover the table with fake snow. Must do that tomorrow!
The snowmen atop the dining room buffet.
A new addition to our repertoire this year – Isabella’s purple tree! We have it in her playroom and she loves it! It’s bright; it’s fun; and it’s shiny! What more could a kid want?
Speaking of kids….
Look who had gotten a hold of Isabella’s naughty/nice Santa hat. And wouldn’t you know…
…he got caught red-handed on the naughty side!
Well that does it for what we have out so far. I’m sure we’ll add more things here and there as the big day approaches. One room I didn’t show was Isabella’s bedroom, where she has her own nativity scene and another little tree.
Now I’m off to pack our bags – tomorrow CJ and I are headed to Kansas City for the Steelers/Chiefs game! Bring it!
If you liked this, you might also like:
I still don’t have my bearings yet. I still feel like I’m always running around crazy with a million things yet to do. Some of it’s the new house. Some of it’s work. And really just life.
We had our first Halloween at the new house. It was great. We carved 2 pumpkins this year. I thought Munch would have fun scooping the seeds out but she didn’t really want any part of it.
Samson helped though.
She finally stuck her hand in the bowl of seeds, albeit very briefly.
We let her decide what should be carved on them. I did the ghost one and CJ did the face:
Isabella came to visit me at work and she loaded up on candy there. Her costume was a lady bug this year and we ran in to a little baby also dressed as a lady bug. We had to get the 2 in a pic together!
I can’t believe how grown up Isabella looks next to the little baby. *choke*
We had our families over for dinner on Halloween night (I ordered pizza but also made Jell-o with eyes in it, “mummy dogs” and pumpkin bread) and then took all the kids out trick-or-treating. CJ, my dad and Samson stayed home to hand out the candy and my mom, sister, brother-in-law and I went with the kids.
CJ caught this picture when Isabella was literally in the middle of saying “cheese!”
This was her first year doing “real” trick or treating. Last year we took her to visit a couple neighbors but that was it. This year we hit up several streets. She did not want to walk though so I ended up carrying her most of the way, with my sister and mom taking a turn too. My arms were so tired when we got home. But it was a good chance to meet the neighbors we hadn’t been introduced to yet and score some free goodies!
By the way, CJ and I dressed as “Lady and the Tramp” for Halloween this year. It was a last minute, throw together costume.
That’s my “OMG he is so disgusting” look. And then I fall madly in love with the bum.
For the most part, no one really “got it”. They knew what CJ was but didn’t have a cool how I fit in to the picture. Oh well, maybe we’ll spend more time on it next year.
—
November is my favorite month of the year for several reasons – 1) Our wedding anniversary, 2) my birthday, 3) Thanksgiving 4) Black Friday and 5) the start of the holiday season. Roll all of those up in a ball and you’ve got one frickin’ awesome month!
Today is CJ and my 5 year wedding anniversary. Last year on our 4th, I posted pics of our engagement, wedding and honeymoon. This year I thought I’d post some of us from previous anniversaries.
1 year
So young and really wanting to do it up right. We ate at Mahogany Prime, which was very good, but also very expensive. We spent over $200 on that dinner. That’s ok. We had an amazing night and one we’ll never forget!! Plus I had lobster for the first time!
2 years
Money was tight that year so we made gifts for each other. The traditional gift for the 2nd year is cotton so I made him an origami heart card out of a red bandana and he made me a card out of a pillow case, along with some cotton roses. It was cheesy and corny but so fun!
(Apparently we didn’t take any pics on our 3 year, or at least I can’t find them…)
4 years
I think we look older and wiser here. Note I didn’t say OLD, just oldER. We look like 2 people very happy with their life and how it’s going. I hope we always stay that way.
Happy Anniversary Ceige! Here’s to 5 wonderful years together and many more to come!
Next stop, my 35th birthday!!
If you liked this, you might also like:
Team Trader Mom 