An Oh-So-Pleasant Christmas:).

The quietness of Christmas Eve and Christmas Day was almost overwhelming... almost. To have a whole Friday evening with Nat is almost unthinkable... almost. Saturdays are usually a work day for me, so it almost never happens that I see my husband on the one day he's off... almost never. To say this past weekend was a treat for us is an understatement!

Sleeping in, reading the Christmas story, quietly talking while the candles flickered and the tree lights cheerfully lit up a corner, lots of hot chocolate with biscotti (thanks to a cute Sunday School student!), cutting up tons of fruit for a brunch at church, and then going to the craziness at my mom's house sums it all up!

We both love family time, so after a call down to Texas to say hello to Nat's family, we geared up for a family Christmas with my side! I have never seen so much food in my entire life for a smallish group of 13. I should clarify that I've seen lots of food (case in point was at Nat's grandma's house for Thanksgiving), but there was tons of food at mom's for just a few siblings gathered together:).

I told Nat I haven't had to cook in a week because of my crazy work schedule last week, dinner (and leftovers!) at mom's, the Christmas brunch at church Sunday morning, and now going to camp this week.

Yep, it's winter camp for us! My sensible husband has already packed his stuff up and is now getting a few things at the store for me. I decided to spend my morning cleaning the house since we're having a New Year's Day party with some friends. We don't get home from camp until Thursday night and I work Friday, so that doesn't leave much time to clean and get ready for the party:). Plus we have a New Year's Eve fellowship at church.

Just another loaded week for us ~ like usual!

By the way, I couldn't do a post without a picture.... isn't her grin contagious?!?

Checking Out.

I got my work schedule for this week and it's insane:), so I'll see you Christmas Eve??? Christmas Day???

Merry Christmas!

'Tis The Season...

..... for cookies.

Oh yes, working at a bakery means tons of cookies (and pies, and cakes, and brownies.... I'll stop there)! I don't make the cookies at the bakery, but I do box them and I must say that cookies aren't high on my list:). When people come into the bakery and look at all the food and goodies, they usually say something like, "oh, it must be so HARD to work here! I would eat everything all the time!"

Well no, not really. You know, that phrase "familiarity breeds contempt" is very true. I'm not too tempted (usually) to sample every single item at the bakery. That's a good thing!

I know bunches of people get into the holiday spirit by baking cookies.... I won't be joining them though. Too many cookies!

Christmas-y Things:).

For the first time in a long time, my church is not doing a manger program (outdoors or indoors), a drama, or a cantata. Instead we're doing a Christmas concert this year!

I'm extremely excited yet slightly nervous for my husband as he is doing the dramatic reading but I know he'll do a great job! The kiddos of my church are going to sing as well as the big people and then the hand bells are going to be played by the teenagers. Overall it's going to be a great night!

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Nat and I saw a cute little 3 ft. tree at Home Depot and chose to go the "artificial tree" route for our first Christmas together:).

A few ornaments have since been added, such as our first first Christmas ornament. A sweet family at church had our names and 2010 engraved on a Mary, Joseph, baby Jesus ornament and now it is hanging on our cute little tree:).

When I was younger, my family and I would always sit in the living room with all the lights off except for the Christmas tree lights and enjoy them. I've added candles to that little tradition and now one of my favorite things to do is to curl up on the couch with the tree lights on, candles lit, and quietly chat with my husband!

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I feel like I need a third picture to complete this post... yikes, OCD is kicking in!

Nat and I are going out to Sight and Sound to see "The Miracle of Christmas" and I am quite excited about this for several reasons: (1) I get to spend time with my husband! (2) Nat's grandma just saw it Tuesday and said it was terrific (3) S & S always does a good job (4) I haven't seen this one yet. :)

As bonus, we're going to Yoder's Restaurant for lunch since my parents talk about it constantly:). It's going to be a great day!

Toothpaste Tubes.

My pastor was preaching on contention tonight and made me chuckle (to my self, of course) at one point. I have unknowingly spared my marriage from one of the classic marital disputes: the dreaded toothpaste tube. Squeeze in the middle or bottom? (Or top I suppose). How did Nat and I manage to skate past this potential land mine that would threaten wedded bliss?

It's quite simple. Really!

When Nat and I first got married, we packed for our honeymoon separately (insert a big "obviously" here!). That meant our toiletries were separate... right down to that little tube of Colgate (or Crest... we're not picky). When we returned to our apartment, we continued the trend we started on the honeymoon: using our own toiletries. Including that little tube of Colgate (or Crest... like I said, we're not picky!).

Never once have we had a dispute over the tube being squeezed in the wrong place because we each have our own. I don't care how he squeezes his toothpaste tube and he doesn't care how I squeeze mine. Rocket science is taking place here at our little apartment:). And thanks to Pastor's message, we're reminded about a little piece of contention that we are missing out on... gladly!

The Party That Wasn't.

A couple of weeks ago, Nat told me he would be going away for a planning retreat with some staff members on Thursday into Friday. Immediately I began to think about my husband being gone for 24ish hours. Now I realize this happens to lots of people all the time, but you must forgive me for being wistful over my husband leaving - we've only been married 5 months. :)

I had been tossing around the idea of having some girls over and realized this would be the perfect time: girls over while hubby's gone without me having to kick hubby out. Sounded good to me! I knew that Thursday night is a strange time to have a girls' night, but I was working with what I had. Of course several girls had to work or couldn't make it, so I was planning for 8 girls and even chatted with several of the girls on Wednesday night.

Now the one thing I hadn't planned on was being sick... all week long. In the back of my mind, I was just going to get better and never actually thought of the alternative. Thursday morning rolled around and I felt like getting up took a huge amount of work. When Nat came home for lunch, I asked him what I should do. Being the great guy that he is, he knew I wanted to have these girls over so he was trying to make it work for me.... but reality settled in and I knew I couldn't do it and so did he.

I sent texts and facebook messages to my friends cancelling the party, slept some, bid a good-bye to my husband (yes there were a few tears), slept some more, read some.... ding dong.

My friend stood on the other side of the door with a cheerful rendition of "we wish you a merry Christmas!" while I felt bad because she didn't get my message. She understood though and we parted ways.

I went back to my place on the couch and within ten minutes.... ding dong. Oh no! That made two friends who didn't get the message about the cancelled party. This friend actually came up and visited for 15 minutes. I had to laugh when she said she didn't get my text. Here I actually sent a text to her mom's home phone number... whoops! She also called a third friend to let her know about the party. By this time I'm realizing the unreliability of facebook messaging. :)

In a way, it worked out not having the party Thursday night. I crashed on the couch trying to feel better and thinking about the irony of not wanting to be alone the first time my husband goes away and yet finding myself in that very position anyway. :) God has a sense of humor!

My husband comes home today (yay!) and the party will be had .... another day!