big decision.

Ok folks, I have made a big decision. For the past couple of years, I have sent out lovingly, homemade, work-filled Christmas cards. As many of you know, that did not happen this year. I had every intention - good intentions at that! - but it just didn't happen. So, I cleverly thought, I will send out New Year's cards! We got a beautiful white Christmas and took some fun pictures then so it worked out perfectly. And then I started thinking - why spend the money now? Everyone else has already sent theirs and they will be enjoyed on refridgerators for months to come (I know they will be on ours!). And of course, it isn't really too late, the refridgerators aren't going anywhere. But, I think I will just post some pictures here and make a promise to do better next year. I'll even put it in my list of New Year's Resolutions....Resolution #87: Get jumping on Christmas cards no later than Nov. and get those bad boys sent out in early December of 2011 with cute pictures and filled with love.

See there? Now I will be stuck to it!

As for now, I will just give you some pictures of our White Christmas from 2010 - some of which you might see on next year's cards! :)

So, from our box-loving, back-yard running, snow-ball throwing, house-buying, white-Christmasing family to yours - we hope you had the merriest of Christmases, filled with love, and family, and remembering what Christmas is really all about...

And we wish you the most wonderful of New Years. May 2011 be better than you could ever imagine!

p.s. sorry about the crazy layout. we all know blogger has a mind of its own.

back home.

Well - we are safely back in Chattanooga after a few days away and a day - today - of perfectly not doing much of anything. We are looking forward to a few more days of laying low, watching movies, working on the house a bit and of course, the requesite laundry and grocery shopping in preparation for going back to work on Monday (Tuesday for Chad)...

Christmas was grand. We recieved many fun and useful gifts - always recognizing how blessed we are by our families and friends. The time spent with them was the sweetest - looking forward to another weekend in Columbus in Feb. to hang out with my mom - and sorry friends - no one else! :) That was her Christmas present...

here!

We've arrived in Columbus after a non-eventful drive through snowy countryside. I slept - almost an hour and a half - and it was lovely. Been missing out on night sleep so a nap was totally in order!

Sister and Frannie coming late tonight and Christmas Numero Dos tomorrow...

...and to all a good night.

This has been the most uneventful Christmas Eve in my history and yet one of my favorites thus far...we attended one of the sweetest church services I have ever been too - I love Calvary Chapel. A few animals in the nativity - complete with a REAL BABY - the music was awesome (a fabulous drum quartet after a little par-rum-pum-pum-puming) and finished up with a passing of the glow stick. Hey - candles are a fire hazard. Yes, glow sticks. No lie. Pastor F started it off, broke his glow stick, then it passed through the room ending up with the whole room waving their glow sticks and singing.
It was too cool...once we went outside, we heard sirens and watched about 20 or 30 fire trucks, ambulances, and police cars head into our neighborhood. Admittedly, I was thinking about all of the horrible things that could be happening that would bring that kind of power into our little part of town. And then I saw - in the middle of this long line of sirens blaring and lights flashing - the white stretch limo. With a white gloved hand and red sleeve sticking out of the back window, waving as they drove by. Again, I would not lie. Come on...you have to believe! I can only assume it was the annual gift drive/giving of the emergency services to families in need - which our area of town has a lot of - but seriously, to see all the vehicles, lights, sirens, and then Santa in a limo in the middle of it. Hilarious, amazing, awesome. And totally fun.
We plan to sleep in tomorrow then exchange stockings. We aren't supposed to be anywhere until lunch time. My sister would not approve of the sleeping in...but it's ok because neither does the cat - blasted early riser. Early we shall rise. I will make my casserole and we will head over to be with our sweet family...

excited.

It is going to be a great Christmas full of family, fun, remembering the past, and creating new traditions and memories.
I am a little sad not to be waking up in my parents house on Christmas morning - the first in 26 years that will not be the case. But I will be waking up in our house - the very first house we have ever owned - the first time in 26 years as well. Lots of new, different, and equally as special and good memories to make.

Tomorrow we will spend the day with Chad's family and then leave for Columbus on Sunday. Looking forward to a few days of simply being with those I love.

"Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy. It is for all the people. Today, in the town of David, a savior has been born to you. He is Christ the Lord." - Luke 2:10-11

plans change.

Well, I had big dreams of sleeping 'till an indecent 9am this morning - but Gwendolen had other plans. I slept until a normal 7:15 when Chad leaves and Gwendolen starts barking - oh right - then she doesn't stop. She has been in rare vocal form all morning and it is starting to...get old.

I've already made toffee and sweet Chex mix...I'll be adding those to the homemade chocolate and peanut butter fudge Chad made and sending all of our neighbors into a sugar coma. Hopefully they can exhibit a little self control - because that is exactly why I am getting as much of it out of my house as possible!

More cooking to do, jewelry to make, and a little laundry and my day off will be fabtabulous!

11 days.

I am so thrilled - I just finished up my last day of work until next year. Oh, it is even fun just to say that! I am off work for the next 11 days in a row - counting the weekends too! It is going to be amazing, fun, and good to just be off hanging out for a while. I am off work tomorrow and Chad is not so I am going to do some cooking and laundry folding but our house is still mostly clean from me cleaning everything before my parents came this past weekend. Just need to put sheets back on the bed and fold some clothes and I will be done. Tomorrow is reserved for a little cooking and possibly breaking out my first Christmas songs (sorry - not a fan of listening to them non-stop from Thanksgiving until the 25th...).
I think I am done shopping. And if I'm not - and I've forgotten someone - then I will just have to be done. Bought my last couple of things for girlfriends today after work and I will wrap and be finished with it tonight or tomorrow. I am going to paint on something for M and make some jewelry but I think I am wrapping it up for this yeah (haha...wrapping it up...).

blessed Saturday.

Oh, Saturday, how I love thee. Yes, I know I got two other "Saturdays" this week but there isn't anything like a real Saturday.
Today, I clean, organize, wrap a present or two and get ready for my mom and dad to be here tonight...yes, oh yes, they are coming to see ME! So excited, thrilled, looking forward to it. Dad hasn't been up since before we closed on the house so he has never seen it with furniture in it so it should be loads of fun!

incredibly "lucky" girl.

I am one seriously, majorly lucky - shall we say blessed - girl. Let's start with last night...went to a surprise party for Samantha (the glue that holds my department together at work) at the Melting Pot. Now, if you have never been to the Melting Pot and did not grow up in the appropriate fondue eating era - this is a novel and pretty fun experience. It was definately my first time both visiting this eatery and eating fondue in general so I had a blast. It is incredibly expensive but I am sure you are paying for the experience/atmosphere as much as the fancy cheese, food -that you have to cook yourself, mind you - and chocolate. I'm a salty over sweet lover so the cheese was by far my favorite. Some of the other gals from the office met us there and as it turned out, one lady from work actually offered to buy all of our food/beverages. It was an amazing offer/expense for her to do that and a really sweet blessing for those of us sitting around her...she didn't have to do that but she could afford to and wanted to and it was a really nice surprise. So, I got to go out, have fun, try something new and was blessed in having someone else foot the bill. She's awesome...
Then, as the weather continued to worsen, I knew we all needed to be heading home. From what I heard, the roads got really, really bad last night. Snow turned to rain and then froze creating a skating rink on all the major highways...I took my time getting home (literally drove like 28mph on the interstate!) but made it home safely. Blessing #2 (or 4 billion and something but hey, who is counting?).
Since the weather got pretty nasty - and even though it was supposed to warm up nicely today (I think I saw something like 52 on the thermometer in the car) and all melt away - the schools were closed again today to keep buses and kiddos safe. What does that mean?? I got my second day off of work this week. Yes, oh yes, Blessing #3.
Oh wait...there's more! The road up to the forest where Chad works was completely frozen over. Like - hello, I used to be a gravel road and now I have 1 inch of ice over my top and you should have brought your zamboni to work today - frozen. So, he got to stay home today too (for his 2nd day this week - even though he pays for it in personal days - darn the State of Tennessee and their stupid weather policies). We did seperate stuff some (video games for him next door, cleaning up at the house for me) and then got to hang out most of the afternoon. Ran some errands this evening, did dinner with his parents, got Gwendolen and Wooby their Christmas presents (Wooby's includes a laser pointer...and she already loves it. I couldn't wait!), and now are home snug as the temperature drops again. I just made some biscotti to take to work tomorrow and it is cooling, preparing for the 2nd baking so I have some time to kill.

Note: I have about $3 left to spend on Chad's stocking gifts. Small suggestions *in size and price! Dani's suggestions were all good - probably use one of those - any others out there - for the man who has everything and yet a minimalist nothing all at once?

brrr....

It has been cold here. I mean like bone chilling, wear leggings under my pants, don't want to get out of bed, stay home and make chili cold. We got a nice bit of snow Sunday night and Monday that got me out of work one day and we are under another "winter weather advisory" for tonight that - crossing my fingers - might get me out of work another day this week. I did work about 13 hours yesterday so I would not feel bad about taking another one off if given the opportunity....

Most of my Christmas shopping is done. A few small things to get and wrap here and there but mostly going pretty well. I do need some ideas for stocking stuffers for that dude I am married to...since we bought ourselves a new laptop, we are not really buying anything else this year. I suggested the stockings with a limit and I am pretty sure he will head to the dollar store and buy 20 things. It would be amusing if nothing else...I've already bought him a couple of small things but I need one or two more. Any suggestions out there? I'm open to all ideas! Fun, creative, handy, useful, or goofy!

a big hurrah!

Ok, people...we are having our first good snow of the winter! It has been snowing since about 11am and finally started sticking this eveving when it cooled off after the sun went down. They have already cancelled school for tomorrow because the overnight low is far below freezing and I imagine that the roads will be a mess. However, my office goes by the county school cancellation for closing its doors as well - that means...drumroll please....I get a surprise Monday off! And oh boy, could I use it. I didn't use the weekend to the best of my ability and I still have floors that need vacuuming and presents that need wrapping and a messy kitchen. Yippe for an extra day of the weekend and beautiful snow to boot! (Wish I had gone to the grocery store so I could be baking yummy and warm food too but alas...it will have to wait.)

weekend plans.

We plan on it being a nice quiet weekend around the house, getting needed things done before the holidays hit us over the head. My plans for the day include raking leaves in the front yard, changing sheets, doing laundry, vacuuming, folding said laundry (and debating whether or not to put it away), wrapping Christmas presents to place under our tree to try and weight down the tree skirt which keeps making its way across the room due to animal play time.
How does that sound for a day of work?
We are predicted to get snow on Monday - a nasty mix of snow and rain and I just might have to stay home. I do NOT like to drive when the roads are bad - after last year's sliding down the hill in my car incident - I am pretty much done with it. I just have to cross my fingers that the schools might be closed if it really gets bad. The rule at work is that we close when the schools close...a novel idea to this girl who worked at the HobLob last winter. And they don't close for anything.
I am looking forward to having some time off the end of this month. I have big plans for a whole lot of nothing - except spending time with my nearest and dearest.

no words.

Sorry it has been almost a week since you last heard from me. I know I should do a better job since this is really for me and posterity but I guess I have just been a little busy with...you know, life.
Work is still busy - not out 5 nights a week busy but just out 3 nights a week busy. I am truly and deeply looking forward to the 11 days off that are coming for Christmas and New Year's. I think that Chad is going to take a couple of days off so that his will match mine and we can just hang. I will be a very happy girl when that happens!

My mom and sister are down at my grandparent's house in South GA cleaning, organizing, remembering. I wish I was with them - thinking of stories, remembering my Papa's multiple knee replacement gate as he walked across the backyard he loved, and Mema and ice cream sandwiches - big sigh.

Got most of my Christmas shopping done. Except for my parents who are notoriously hard to shop for. Take my mom for example...all she wants is time. No, seriously. Easy enough you would think. I wish I could go to Columbus and see them every weekend, alas life tends to get in the way. So, I won't be buying them much of anything. Might make my mom a little something and then give her time.

merry everything!

Christmas came a little early to our little family this year...
I am currently blogging on our new laptop - bought on a Black Friday sale and delivered in the mail this week.
Thank you - wonderful neighbors - and those who sell crack too - for not stealing it off our front porch this afternoon before we could get home and rescue it. I guess it is a good thing that you all probably thought it was a box of pajamas or Christmas pears or something less valuable. No, really, I actually really like about 95% of our neighbors - really love even. Except those that sell crack. They aren't our favorite. Gwen doesn't like them either. But we also have some neighbors who might have taken the Christmas goodies as a joke too.
Which wouldn't have been very funny.

Been working on setting up the wireless network all evening. Mostly the internet's fault - not the nice, fast, quiet new computer.
Oh bless my soul - a computer that works on command! Lovely!
This is pretty much it for Christmas for Chad and I. We might do one other small thing but this was sort of a splurge in our saving to fix up stuff around the house budget so I am ever so thankful.