Just Us Christmas

Christmas: a time to celebrate Jesus' birth, reflect on his love for us, give to others, and.......mesh together traditions??? For those of you who are married, you'll know exactly what I'm talking about. You grow up with certain traditions and just assume that the person who you marry will have the exact same traditions :) haha! Yeah right :) However, what we have both loved doing is making up our own traditions. Some are traditions of our families, others are our own. This Christmas was heavenly to say the least. It was just one of those times that I will not forget easily. A new tradition we made: Monkey Bread on Christmas Eve morning :)

After eating Monkey Bread, we enjoyed time together taking pics by the tree, playing Yahtzee, and watching Elf.

Haha...we definitely have alot of fun together :)

Even though it was fun just to relax and hang out, the highlight of my day was our church's annual Christmas in the Barn reenactment of Jesus' birth. It hit me perhaps like it has never hit me before as I sat in a freezing cold barn, watching as Mary and Joseph sat with the baby Jesus. As we sang Silent Night, I had one of the most special times reflecting on Christ. Silent Night, Holy Night, All is calm... It was an incredibly holy and amazing experience that I wish I could put into words, however no words would be able to describe it to the depth it was.

After our incredibly special afternoon, we went home and had a tradition ham and corn (hey, we live in the Midwest! We have to have corn!), bread and cheesecake supper. We then expressed our love by giving gifts to each other. Materialistic-wise, my husband did amazing with the gifts he gave me...however, what I appreciated more was his thoughtfulness :) And, what was even better than giving and receiving gifts was the tradition that both of our families do...reading Luke 2 and talking about what God has done in our lives. I always love that part because it helps us keep the focus on the reason for Christmas :)

We finished up the night with watching White Christmas....makes me cry every time :) Even though it's a week late...We hope you all had a very Merry Christmas~we sure did :)

Christmas Update

Merry Christmas from us!!! :) We have had such a great Christmas so far!! Because of the days Christmas and New Years were on this year, we have been able to spend so much time with friends and family! :) This won't be much of an update since we are still spending time with Aaron's family, but just wanted to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!! :) More updates to come soon! :)

Relaxing is an Understatement

So, our last few days have been.....relaxing. Okay, I have to admit...we have not stepped out of our house except to take our dog outside, go sledding, and get the mail in the last 2 days. We saw "blizzard warning" and we stayed inside. Pathetic? Maybe. Smart? Maybe. Relaxing?....very. :) When everything gets cancelled, what else can you do though?? Here's a little sledding fun...I wonder how well Sadie would do as a dog in a dog sled?

Maybe we should try that one today :) Note to Self: Remove all makeup before sledding to reduce "raccoon eye" effect :)

(My husband lovingly came up with the nickname :)

Mailbox??

I don't think we'll have any Christmas cards come today :)

I wonder how much more we'll get?? :) I'm so ready for a blizzard tomorrow!

The Start of Snow

I forgot to post these pics a few weeks back when we got our first snow fall. :) Since we're snowed in today and have a blizzard on the way, I thought "what else is there to do?" :) Maybe tomorrow I'll take pictures of what it looks like NOW....I don't even know how much snow we have! I know a city nearby had 10 inches so maybe we have that much?? haha...all I know is that we're very snowed in :)

Caroling

We wish you a Merry Christmas

We wish you a Merry Christmas

We wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

Glad tidings we bring to you and your kin

Glad tidings for Christmas and a Happy New Year

Pretty Snow=Mixed Up Week

I love snow. I mean, I really really love snow. I look forward to it every year, watch the forecast once it hits December and marvel once it snows...especially when it snows alot. Our house is so beautiful all covered in snow. This morning on my way to work the song "It's Beginning to Look Alot Like Christmas" started playing :) Yes, it IS beginning to look like Christmas at least in this snow lover's eyes :) The only downside is that we have been getting so much snow that we have had things cancelled left and right it seems like and it is a very messed up week! And, although an occasional snow day is wonderful as a teacher, I've been sad that so many of my students have been gone due to the weather. I'm very much ready for a normal week...or at least a normal day :) BUT, I won't let that get me down....maybe tomorrow would be a good day for a little snowman or sledding action?? :) hmmm... :) But, for right now, we're being lazy...even our dog just wants to chill (ha!...pun not intended :)

For those of you in this winter weather, stay warm and enjoy :)

New Revelation

I had a new revelation today. But, before you think you're going to read something really deep and thought-provoking....my new revelation is this: I despise doing laundry!!

I always thought it was maybe because I had to have a "certain amount of quarters" my freshmen year of college. Then, in my later years of college, they went to a credit card system which made my life even more difficult because I had to go to a different building to put money on my card.

I thought everything would be perfect after I got married. The washer and dryer was just down the hall and it was back to quarters. WRONG! :) I was awful at it there too. So, when we moved into our house almost two years ago, I thought everything would be perfect....I had my OWN washer and dryer, didn't have to pay quarters, and could do it whenever. hahahahahahahaha

NOW, my big thing is...."if only I didn't have to go out to my garage to get to my basement" and "if only I had a laundry shoot!" :) So, my revelation is that no matter what my laundry circumstances are, I really hate the chore :) Anyone else share my despise of it? :)

First Impressions

Have you ever remembered what your first impression of someone was?? When I was in college, my RA staff played a game called "First Impressions". We went around, telling each other what our first impressions of each other were. Some us liked each other at first and some of us despised each other :) It was absolutely hilarious to hear what the impressions were! My first impression of Aaron was a very good looking man who was very taken :) haha :) Now he's taken by me :) ANYWAYS,

I had a first impression of someone last night at a 5th Quarter event at the local high school. This high school girl was beautiful and was one of the more popular girls. I was a "leader" so it was my job to socialize and make sure everyone was having a good time. Not hard when I feel comfortable around the kids I'm supposed to talk to. But, my first impression of this girl was "What do I have to offer to her? She probably doesn't want to talk to an adult!" But, slowly, I bit my tongue and said, "Hi! What's your name?" We were the only ones not playing a game, so there was quite a bit of time to kill. I tried to think of all the normal questions I usually ask high schoolers when I first meet them when all of a sudden, my "first impression" of this girl changed. She was so incredibly deep, intelligent, and transparent. We started talking about our faiths, Europe, concentration camps (which I've found is a HUGE thing to talk about with high schoolers! They like hearing that I've visited a concentration camp! Go figure), hopes, dreams, and the future. I am so glad I didn't let my "first impression" get in the way of getting to know this girl. So, the lesson I learned last night and I'm passing along...

Never go by your first impressions of someone!!!

In the Christmas Spirit

Yesterday was a snowy, fun-filled, beautiful wintry day! I was definitely in the Christmas spirit! We went to the annual Christmas parade down main street...it was FREEZING but very fun to see all the lighted floats :) And, they gave out candy but by the time they threw it, it was frozen! I learned that one the hard way :)

All bundled up for the parade

Then, after the parade, we were really feeling the Christmas spirit! We drove around, looking at the houses lit, listening to Christmas music, and rating neighborhoods. Although I'm a little biased, our neighborhood did a pretty good job of decorating their houses this year. We definitely decided it was the best out of all the neighborhoods in town :)

We came home, put on our Christmas lights, made cheese popcorn, and watched a movie. How Christmasy!! :)

Our shimmering Christmas tree and entertainment center :)

*sigh* Lately I've just been overwhelmed with God's goodness, provision, and grace. Especially God's grace. I've been meditating on how God sent his Son to earth as a little innocent baby, then He died on the cross for our sins, even when we have absolutely not deserved it, and then loves us though we are a fallen nation, a fallen human, have a fallen nature. Sometimes we think we're "entitled" to things. Entitled to a Christmas present, entitled to a perfect life, entitled to no struggles, so on and so forth. We are not entitled to anything....what we (I'm talking mostly to myself) should be focusing on is God. Alright, that's my little musings for the day. It's just really been on my mind lately and I really need to work on getting my mind off myself and onto God. :)

Thanksgiving Update: Part 3~Wedding Fun

I won't talk too long on Part 3~Wedding Fun. On Saturday we rushed back home to make it to a camp friend's wedding! He and I have been friends since we were 15 and were camp counselors and area directors together. Although I was excited for him and his special day, I was even more excited to see my old college roommate and friends from college! I was expecting to see more camp people but I guess the older you get, the more you lose touch with camp friends :) However, I was so excited that I got to reconnect with college people :)

I wish this picture turned out better but the lighting was really bad. Oh well :)

That night I was feeling so energetic that I tried to convince Aaron to help me put up the Christmas tree. He thought I was crazy for even thinking about decorating at 10:15 at night. But, alas, I put up the tree with Christmas music blasting and decorated my living room only to be absolutely exhausted for church the next morning :)

As you can see, we had a fabulous weekend :) It went way too fast though! I am very much looking forward to Christmas when we can see all our family! :)

Well, off to finish up the decorating and wrapping of presents. Have I mentioned yet that I LOVE Christmas??? :)

Thanksgiving Update: Part 2~Black Friday

Part 2 covers what our day looked like last Friday....the Friday some affectionately call "Black Friday". First, background info. We live an hour from the closest mall. SO, when we want to get something, we have to be very strategic and really plan ahead. Since Aaron's family lives right by a mall, we decided that we would hit up the Black Friday deals. Last year we tried but failed when we got there too late (I think we started shopping at 1:00 in the afternoon!) So, this year was different and we were on a mission!

We weren't quite as hardcore as some, but getting up at 5:30 was hard enough! Slowly but surely we got ourselves ready and headed to Target first. At 6:30, we walked into absolute chaos! The line was all the way to the back of the store and it was a 45 minute wait just to check out! Umm, no thank you. We headed out of there and went to some other stores and what we found were....DEALS, DEALS, and more DEALS!! I know I shouldn't be surprised because I've shopped on Black Friday before but this year was especially good! My patient husband stuck with me every step of the way as we shopped for our families and each other. We took a little break to say goodbye to Aaron's brother and then headed back to the stores.

6:00 that evening, we were finally done. And now, we are all done Christmas shopping :) Like I said before, though, we have to be when we live so far away from the nearest mall! And that was our shopping excursion....wow :)

*My poor, poor husband :) (I'm in the background ordering a few online purchases during our afternoon break! :)

Thanksgiving Update: Part 1~Thankfulness

I have alot of things to say so I need to split up my posts just a bit! So, here is our Thanksgiving update: Part 1~Thankfulness

We had a really great Thanksgiving. It felt a little surreal as I was sitting at my in-laws eating turkey and all the other "Thanksgiving" traditional foods. I didn't reflect, didn't even really think about what I was thankful and who I was thankful to. Maybe it was because I was just enjoying their company so much or maybe I was too full...but for whatever reason, I want to reflect now...even though it is 4 days after Thanksgiving.

I am thankful for:

*My heavenly Father. Words cannot express how much I am thankful for His love and redemption in my life.

*My dear husband. I am so blessed by this man :)

*My parents who patiently raised me.

*My brother

*My inlaws who have accepted me into their family
*My "in-law" siblings

*My dog who just sits and cuddles up to me when I need it the most

*A shelter over my head

*A Christian heritage

*My dear friends and family...each one of you has influenced my life greatly

*My job

*Aaron's job and the students that have been such an encouragement to me

*Our church

Those are the big ones...we all could probably have a long list of things. If I forgot someone/something really important, I apologize :)

Lord, I pray that we would not just be thankful on Thanksgiving. Give us thankful hearts and let us always remember what YOU have done for us and how you have given us more than we deserve.