Wrapping up 2010

Wrapping..get it?? Yeah, I know, that was terrible ;)

When friends and co-workers have asked, "How was your Christmas?", I've been responding that it was the best Christmas I could recall in the past several years. It's hard to believe that the anxiety and fear I was feeling in the days leading up to the holiday was so quickly turned to enjoyment and relaxation, but that's exactly what occurred. Family tensions were resolved (at least for the time being), crisis's were averted, and happy memories were made. WHEW! Jason and I had a wonderful first Christmas together, and it was so much fun waking up Christmas morning together to exchange the gifts that we've had to be clever in hiding from one another. Since we'd never lived together before, we hadn't needed to worry about where to hide gifts. But this year, we share the same home with limited amount of space for hiding presents! Jason finally gave up and just said, "OK, here's where I'm hiding one of your gifts. DON'T LOOK THERE!". It took a lot of will power, but I kept my nose clean! And I was rewarded....

 

Diamond stud earrings!! What a sweet hubby! And I didn't even ask for them. Very early on in the holiday season I asked him if he wanted some ideas for Christmas, and he confidently replied "Oh, I know what I'm getting you". Jason never fails to surprise me :)

And now, 2010 is coming to a close. We're looking forward to New Year's Eve with some great friends, and a relaxing weekend. Hopefully I'll get over this terrible sinus infection that has snuck up on me. Several people at work thought I was crying today because the pressure behind my eyes was so strong that my eyes were red and watery! I think that's a sign that I'm going to explode soon...either way, I hope this resolves soon because the open-mouthed breathing I'm doing at night is so not sexy.

A New Season

Wow, what ever happened to the official start of winter being on December 21st?? It's been several weeks of barely 2-digit temps, several decent snowfalls, and even a 2-hour delay for the schools! (Insert obligatory "So much for 'global warming' joke here"). In any case, I believe winter is much more bearable if there is pretty snow to look at and play in. So two weekends ago, after a wonderful snowy luncheon at the Villa Restuarant (also a bed & breakfast - SO CUTE!) with a few cherished grad school friends, Jason and I decided to venture out for a wintery walk around our area. As I mentioned before, our apartment is downtown but more specifically we're located in St. Joseph's Historic Neighborhood. We love taking walks around the neighborhood and the snow was a fun bonus and made for some great pictures!

The snow was falling pretty heavily; you can barely see the buildings 9 blocks away from our corner, which you can usually see perfectly!

Dead branches covered in snow are interesting...or maybe I just got trigger-happy on my camera :)

I just love how the holly is peeking through the snow! That is holly, right?

This tree was just begging to have it's picture taken.

I hope we get to do this again soon!

Deck the Halls

First, a big thank you (hey look, I even bolded it!) to Jessica Klatte for walking me through how to personalize my blog design! I'm still terribly blog illiterate, but at least my background looks a bit more interesting.

There are so many "firsts" at this time in my life - first professional job, our first place together, first holidays as a married couple...and really, just about anything right now with Jason and I could be considered a "first". First grocery shopping trip together, first refrigerator together, first window shades together....this could get ridiculous. But a legitimately exciting first for us (as a married couple) is Christmas. Over the weekend, we went shopping for Christmas decorations together to make our place festive. However, poor Jason had no clue what he was in for when he happily agreed to go with me.

We had spend the last few weeks debating whether we should get a full-sized Christmas tree or not. Doing this would mean that we would have to temporarily remove a piece of furniture and store it at one of our parent's houses. In truth, there is just no place for a big tree in our teeny place. But, getting a small tree seemed somehow not "married-like". Finally, we decided to go ahead and get a full-sized tree. We had already been to several different shops getting various decorations, bulbs, and lights, but my thrifty self wouldn't purchase a tree at any of those places because I knew there just had to be a cheaper one somewhere! So we made our way to Wal-Mart and found that yes, just like everything else at the superstore, a synthetic Christmas tree could be purchased for a lower place than anywhere else we had looked. Having loaded our cart with the tree and having already spent several hours shopping and filling the car with lights, bulbs, a tree skirt, a star for the top of the tree, and other decorations, we were all set to head home and get to decorating. Well, maybe almost ready...here's a little play-by-play of what happened next..

Me: "Honey. I've changed my mind. I think we should get a little tree."
Jason: "....." as he silently looks up at the ceiling.
Me: "Do you hate me?"
Jason: "No, I'm just looking up at heaven."
Me: "Are you cursing me?"
Jason: "No, just asking god 'Really? This is the woman you gave me??'"

Yes, really. That's me, Mrs. indecisive, queen of the last-minute decision changes. So, we got a smaller tree, and had to return to the other stores to exchange the larger bulbs for those designed for our midget-sized tree. I had also realized that string lights were cheaper at Wal-Mart so we returned more expensive ones at a different store, too. At one of the stores, I noticed that our same-sized tree we had just purchased was $10 cheaper here. I casually mentioned this to Jason, and the look he gave me was absolutely priceless. Once in the car, with all of the shopping finally said and done, we both couldn't help but crack up laughing at all that had happened. We both have our own neuroses that can drive the other crazy, but sometimes you just have to accept them and find the humor in the madness!

What our tree lacks in size, it makes up for in twinkle.

The garland was a PAIN to put up, but it looks amazing and I've decided that it's staying up through January. I can do that, right? Garland and white lights aren't inherently Christmas-y, they're just winter decor. That'll be my justification, at least.

 
No fireplace to hang the stockings on, but I will say, I love them just how they are :)