Deck the Halls - Christmas 2010

To keep myself on track, I'm going to stick with the format of my last holiday format.....

C is for car. 500 + miles in our car between Wednesday night and Sunday night. It's 230 miles from our front door to my parents', and then between running in between Chris' parents' house and mine, plus driving out to my Nana's in Marshall Illinois, we probably put closer to over 600 miles on my poor Malibu (nearing 140,000 miles very rapidly). That will be a perk when we start having kids. People will have to come to us!

H is for.....H is for.........husband! We actually exchanged gifts this year for the 1st time since we've been married (the first year we did "joint gifts" and last year I don't think we really did much of anything....his theory, and kind of mine too, is that we have joint money now, so we can just go buy our own stuff.....but we never do). We set a budget and I went a little over, but I had a lot of fun picking stuff out for him. I got him a couple hats, a box full of OSU gear, and a really nice Izod golf shirt. I have another thing, but I'm still working on it, so shhh...........he yelled at me for going over, but then I open mine and he did so well! He picked out some cold weather running clothes (Danskin from Walmart - just as good as Nike or Under Armour) for me, some good running headphones (nothing drives me crazier or distracts me more than wires all over the place and headphones that fall out of my ears), and a beautiful ring/ pendant/ earring set from Helzberg. I had really just wanted a ring for my right hand, but he went above and beyond :o) It's a light blue color which really has no meaning other than it's his birthstone (March), so I think of him everytime I see it!

R is for Ridiculous. Cowboys game Christmas night. Down 21-3. Came back to go ahead 26-24 with 1:41 to go. Missed the EXTRA POINT (as my friend Sarah would say, Jesus needed earmuffs). Defense made some huge stops and all we had to do was stop them on 4th and 15 (FOURTH AND FIFTEEN)!!!!!!!! and we couldn't. Cardinals go down the field and Jay Feely kicks one right down the middle with 0:05 to go to win 27-24. We suck.

I is for I LOVE MY FAMILY. Christmas has never been overly extravagant in our household, and I know that my mom & dad wish they could do more, but honestly? Anthony was on facebook and saw that one of friends had gotten (among other things) an Austin Collie authentic jersey (easily $150) and a PLASMA tv - and he's 15. Seriously? That's great for the people who can afford it, but I know so many people who go into debt over the holidays, and that just is so missing the whole point. My mom and dad have always made Christmas special - whether it always means putting apples & oranges in the bottoms of our stockings (we've all had the same ones since we were born), or all of us having a big "Santa" gift and the rest from mom and dad - I feel like no matter how much or how little my parents have, they always make sure Christmas is special for us. In the last couple of years, we've all been together at our house and watched a movie before Midnight Mass.........and then we all go to Midnight Mass together, which has become a really special time together.

S is for Scrapbooking! "Santa" brought me a huge "scrapbook starter kit" for Christmas, and I'm excited to get started! I took a lot of pictures all throughout college and since we've been married, but the only evidence of them is on facebook. I think I'm going to start with something creatively "easy" - our wedding. Wedding-themed paper and stickers, etc are pretty easy to find, and although Mom & Dad got us a book from snapfish of a bunch of pictures, I'd like to include a program, an invite and some other random "momentos" from the occasion. I have a BOX full of stuff that I've been quite sure what to do with (wedding cards, flower petals, leftover stickers from the candy) - so now I can put it to paper and throw out the rest (maybe not the wedding cards, though. My parents still have all of theirs and I think that's kind of neat)!!

T is for new Traditions.....every year since I was born, my mom's side of the family has gotten together on Christmas Day - my aunts, uncles and all of my cousins. Well, the oldest cousin (Kristi) is now almost 28; the youngest (Anthony) is 15, and there are now 3 littler cousins (Michael's 2 boys, Gabe & Jason; Kristi's little girl, Ava) - and last year's get-together was a madhouse. So, this year, each family "unit" did their own thing. It was nice just being my mom, dad, sister, brother-in-law, brother, hubby & me, but it was kind of sad to break a 20+ year tradition. Hopefully in a few years the hubby and I will start some new traditions of our own with our own family :-)

M is for Mother-in-Law....she's so funny!! We had gone shopping together on Black Friday where I picked out all of my husband's and brother- and sister-in-law's presents....well, she went back out the same day after we were done to pick up a bunch of the stuff that I had oohed and ahhed over! There were some earrings from JCP that I had actually picked up to buy but put down - she got them - and then this 24-opening photo collage from Kohl's that she got me, too, along with a lot of other stuff (Cowboys scarf/ socks, Bath & Body Works stuff, a gorgeous sweater, and some frames from IKEA). Our relationship has really changed for the better this year, and it's pretty cool.

A is for Anthony.........my brother.........my all of 6'3" brother who is 15......nothing much to say about him except for my grandpa brought over the little newspaper clipping from his 1st Christmas and I about burst into tears. He's a spoiled brat and I know that I had a lot to do with it.....he's just growing up so fast, and it's hard to believe that this time 7 or 8 years ago he still believed in Santa :-( He was still just as excited with all of his presents as a little kid though (a new DROID! from Nana, and all kinds of Oregon Duck stuff from our parents....not as excited over his letter jacket as Megan & I were when we got ours as sophomores, but still kind of surreal to see him with '13 on his sleeve!!)

S is for Stupidity............it seems a new tradition within my family is to lock ourselves out of places (when we had our girls' weekend in Indy, Dad & Anthony locked themselves out of the house)...........I went to my aunt's to see my cousins (and Ava!).....was in a hurry and just wanted to run in, grab a few pictures, and leave. Well, out of habit, I locked my car when I got out.....when I had thrown my keys in my purse on the front seat. Fortunately, my uncle came to the rescue with a wire coat hanger and I didn't have to pay a locksmith on Christmas weekend! Note to self: get Chris a spare!


Okay, so what each letter was for was kind of lame, but overall, we had a really nice Christmas. Very busy, very out of my routine (and I'm kind of like a 2-year old when I'm out of my routine too long), but a lot of time with family and each other. Christmas decorations are coming down as we speak - I'm ready to get back to normal!!! Thank goodness for Thursday & Friday off this week..........I need it to recover!