I want a hippotomaus for Christmas...

Our neighbours have an inflatable Christmas hippo in their yard. A few days ago, Husband suggested we "steal" the hippo and place it our yard. Last night when we saw them leave for the evening, we knew it was the perfect time to pull off the heist! A couple of other neighbour kids caught us in the act, but instead of ratting us out, they helped us (They are brother and sister and as we were moving the hippo, the brother said "If you wanted to steal a hippo, you could just steal my sister!" Ha!). After we got Hugo situated, we began the task of patiently waiting for our neighbours to return. We were like children checking for Santa on Christmas Eve, constantly looking out the window to see if their car was in their driveway. Finally, five hours after the kidnapping, they returned! The neighbours say there will be retaliation, but we aren't too concerned. How can you top kidnapping a hippo yard decoration? By the way, another neighbour has an inflatable polar bear in their yard. I am thinking the polar bear would like to see the world from our yard in the next few days.

Christmas

Just a few pictures from our Christmas celebration. We didn't exchange presents this year. Instead, we decided to just do stockings. It was nice not to have to stress about getting the perfect (or even not so perfect) present. Stockings are a big deal in our house because they are full of treats we only get on our birthdays and at Christmas. We look forward to our stocking every year!

Husband with his stocking loot.

I LOVE Lucky Charms!

Christmas dinner table, complete with Gary (of course).

Husband lighting the candles.

Me making the gravy.

Our Christmas Advent scripture a day thing. The first verses were prophecies about Christ's coming. The next few verses about the birth. The last verses were about how Christ came to earth to die for our sins.

Ugly Sweater Party

We went to an ugly sweater party this weekend. I found a great sweater to wear, but despite searching in two States, we were unable to find a sweater for Husband. I guess we will have to start the search earlier next year.

Everyone brought appetizers. When I saw this on pinterest I just knew I HAD to make it! It's my first time making a cheese ball. I think it tasted pretty good! Husband did a great job turning the cheese ball into an igloo, proving once again that he is the Martha Stewart in our relationship!

My sweater. Isn't it a beauty?

Our friend, J!

Christmas pictures

Just some pictures from our Christmas celebration:

Our dinner table

Our Christmas tree. See how close it is to our door? Our living room is very small, and this was the only place our tree could go. We kept the decorations simple because we were constantly knocking the tree.

This little green guy is Harold. Husband got him during his Lego phase and we recently found him in a box. Since his discovery, we have taken turns hiding Harold in places for the other to find him. Husband won the prize for best hiding place when he wrapped Harold up and gave him to me as one of my Christmas gifts!

It's not Christmas in our house unless Husband is using a knife to open a gift!

Even my "Let it snow" blocks couldn't bring the snow. Oh well. I guess there is always next year!

My little secret

Now that Christmas is over, I can let you all in a little secret that very few people have known about. I'm very proud of myself for keeping this secret for so long (since about September). There were some days I thought I would burst if I didn't tell people, and I had to stop myself a time or two from posting on this blog. Before you get all excited, let me remind you of what I said in my last post: This is NOT an announcement! We do not, nor will we in the near future, have kids. Stop reading babies into everything! (Okay so I can see how what I just wrote could lead you to believe that babies are involved and for that I am sorry. No babies here.) I have been dying to tell everyone about the present I got Husband! I don't want to brag or sound all "Look at me! Look at me!", but I gave Husband THE perfect gift this Christmas. Have you ever given someone THE perfect gift? If you have then you know the excitement I've been feeling over the last few months. And I want to share that excitement with you!

In September, I got this brilliant idea that I would try to find Husband's ancestors. I knew that a few years ago he had made an attempt to figure out where he came from, but he didn't get very far and gave up. I knew that it would be a lot of work and that I might not get very far either, but I wanted to try it anyway. So, I emailed one of his aunts and got basic information (names of grandparents, birth dates etc). The project took off from there, thanks to the Family Search website and Google. I have no idea how much time I spent on this gift, but I can tell you it was hours and hours! It was pretty difficult to find time to do it because Husband was always home! A few times, I thought he was on to me despite my best efforts to keep it a secret. One day, I wanted to go to my church's family history centre so I told him I had some errands to run. Husband never wants to come with me when I run errands but for some reason he offered to go that day. I had to make up some story about taking a long time and doing a bunch of stuff so he would take back his offer. Another time, I accidentally left one of the charts on our photocopier and he found it. I told him it was something for church and quickly ran away! Despite the close calls and his always being home, I was able to find a lot of information and thankfully he had no idea. On some of his lines, I made it to the 1400s before I hit dead ends and I got one line back to the 1300s! I was also able to find some wikipedia articles and cool stories about some of his ancestors so I put those in the book as well.

As with all great ideas, I didn't do this alone and I want to thank a few people in particular. Thanks to Husband's aunt for providing me with enough names and dates to start the search. Thanks to Husband's sister who was sneaky-sneaky about getting information from their mom. Thanks to my mom for answering my never-ending questions about how to verify names and dates, how to organise the information and how not to lose my mind when I came to a dead end! Thanks to Husband's friend who kept him out for 4 hours just days before Christmas so I could try to get as much information onto charts as possible. And lastly, thanks to my dear friend Alicia for assuring me that it is was definitely okay to lie to Husband about what I was up to, because it was for a Christmas gift! *Disclaimer, Neither Alicia nor I condone lying to your spouse, however there are some exceptions and this definitely counts!*

Husband sat for over 30 minutes just reading over the information I had collected. I really should have given this gift to him last, because I still had a gift to open and I had remind him about it. My gift definitely derailed our gift opening! Husband says we shouldn't exchange gifts anymore because nothing I give him will top this present. I say "Challenge accepted!"

Merry Christmas from our house to yours

Merry Christmas to all our family and friends! I heard this song on pandora today and thought that it nicely sums up what I wish for all of you this holiday season. It is a country song from 1968, so if you don't like country, or old country, sorry. Also, for the record and before you all get crazy, the second line says "from our kids to your kids". This is NOT an announcement! We do not, nor will we in the near future, have kids. It's a just a song with a sweet Christmas message that I wanted to share. Stop reading babies into everything!

Find the song here

The Cookie Jar

A couple Christmases ago (Is that how you pluralize "Christmas"?), Husband bought me a snowman cookie jar online. When it was delivered, Husband realized that the jar was broken. He thought he would be funny and wrap it up anyway (When he phoned the company, they said they couldn't send a replacement, and gave him a refund). Christmas morning found me opening up a broken present. To be honest, I thought it was pretty funny, but I pretended to be sad.

My wonderful present

Our own Humpty Dumpty

Over the next few days, Husband painstakingly tried to glue the pieces back together. He spent hours on it. Then, Christmas break was over and he had to go back to work. The cookie jar was put in a box, and Husband promised he would finish it.

Trying to glue it back together (I think he inhaled too many super glue fumes before this picture!)

Fast forward 18 months: We are in the process of clearing out some of the clutter in our apartment. Last night, I came across the cookie jar, still somewhat broken and still in the box (you may recall that we moved about 18 months ago. That means that we hauled a broken cookie jar clear across the country. You may be wondering why we didn't throw it out. Well, I wanted to toss it, but Husband insisted that he would and could put it back together!). I pulled the box out and showed Husband. He started laughing and said "I can still fix it, you know." I gave him "The Look" and said "We are throwing it out." But before I tossed it, I had to get a picture of Husband's hard work from 18 months ago! I think he gets an A for effort.

"I can still fix it, you know!"

Handmade Christmas gift

Back in October I made a flannel board at a church activity. I decided I wanted to give it to the girls I nanny as their Christmas gift. I couldn't give them just a flannel board though, so I spent a few weeks making cut-outs to go with the board. The girls love the board and play with it all the time. Here are some of the things I made. Husband helped a lot too. He made the adorable pigs. Turns out he is pretty good at channeling his inner Martha Stewart!

Christmas 2009

We hope everyone had a very merry Christmas! Husband and I had a great Christmas. We started our celebration on Christmas Eve making pizzas. Then we went to look at Christmas lights. After getting lost, and spending almost an hour trying to figure out how to get back to a main road (note to self: Never go looking at Christmas light without taking the GPS!), we got some sleep so Santa could come. Christmas day was full of presents, stockings (I finally found husband's stocking stuffers!), food and spending time together. A nice quiet Christmas with just the two of us. That's the way we like it. (Although an inch or two of snow would have been nice too.)

Husband is getting pretty good at making the pizza dough.

Look at those Army Strong hands kneading that dough into submission!

Yummy pizza!

No need for smaller pieces here...just eat the thing whole!

One of presents, wrapped by Husband. Does this remind anyone else of a sweater from the 1980s?

Everyone wants a hippopotamus for Christmas! Husband got four!



I really need to remember to put lipstick on before pictures! Sheesh!


Our Christmas dinner. Yes it is just for the two of us. And yes, I do need serving dishes! Stop judging me!

One Solitary Life

A few years ago, I attended the Rockettes Christmas Spectacular at Radio City Music Hall in New York City. The show was fun to watch. How those women are able to kick so high is beyond me! At the end of the show, they had a manger scene, and then a voice read a poem. A person sitting near me incredulously stated "What does Jesus have to do with Christmas?" I was shocked. I wish I knew who said it and I wish that I would have had the courage to tell her what Jesus had to do with Christmas. What does Jesus have to do with Christmas? Ummm...how about everything? Without the birth of Jesus Christ, there would have been no death of Jesus Christ. Without His death, there would be no way for us to be forgiven for our sins. If we can't be forgiven for our sins, we cannot return to the presence of our Father in Heaven. Jesus is the Christ, the Saviour and Redeemer of mankind. It is through His sacrifice that we are made clean so that we can stand spotless before God and enter into his presence. Not only does Jesus have everything to do with Christmas, He has everything to do with our daily life. Instead of just keeping Christ in Christmas, let's keep Christ in life.

Here is the poem that was read that day:

One Solitary Life
(by Dr. Jame Allan Francis, the date on the poem says 1926)

He was born in an obscure village
The child of a peasant woman
He grew up in another obscure village
Where he worked in a carpenter shop
Until he was thirty

He never wrote a book
He never held an office
He never went to college
He never visited a big city
He never travelled more than two hundred miles
From the place where he was born
He did none of the things
Usually associated with greatness
He had no credentials but himself

He was only thirty three
His friends ran away
One of them denied him
He was turned over to his enemies
And went through the mockery of a trial
He was nailed to a cross between two thieves
While dying, his executioners gambled for his clothing
The only property he had on earth

When he was dead
He was laid in a borrowed grave
Through the pity of a friend

Nineteen centuries have come and gone
And today Jesus is the central figure of the human race
And the leader of mankind's progress
All the armies that have ever marched
All the navies that have ever sailed
All the parliaments that have ever sat
All the kings that ever reigned put together
Have not affected the life of mankind on earth
As powerfully as that one solitary life

Sometimes I am too smart

I have just spent over an hour searching the house for Husband's stocking stuffers. I bought them last week, and hid them somewhere until I had time to wrap them. I had to hide them in a good spot because Husband is what I call a "seeker and a shaker". He's like a kid when it comes to presents. I pride myself on finding good hiding places, but this time I have out done myself. I hid the stocking stuffers so well that I can't even find them! I know I can go out and buy more stuff so he doesn't have an empty stocking on Christmas, so an empty stocking isn't my main concern. My main concern is the chocolate that is now hidden somewhere in my apartment, just waiting for all sorts of creepy creatures to consume it! If I can't find everything by tonight, I think I will send Husband on a search mission. I don't think he will mind.

Christmas tree of memories

Husband and I put up the Christmas tree last night. We got the tree in July from someone who was giving it away on freecycle. Last night was the first time we had opened the box. I was a bit worried that the tree would look horrible, but to my surprise, it wasn't that bad. For the price we paid, I am happy with our tree. After all, you can't beat getting something for free!

As you can see, I still need a star or something to put on the top. I spent hours last year looking for one, and this year has been no different. I just can't seem to find something that is satisfactory.

Decorating the tree is like taking a walk down memory lane. Over the past few years, I have collected ornaments from various places I have travelled to. As I unwrap each ornament, the memories of that place wash over me. I think of the people I was with and the things we did there. Here are just a few of the ornaments and the memories behind them. This tradition started on my first visit to New York City. It was New Year's Eve, so all the shops still had Christmas stuff up. (Just a side note, I do NOT recommend NYC on New Year's Eve! It is so not worth it. Stay home, nice and warm with a bathroom nearby and watch the ball drop on your TV.) I bought this Statue of Liberty ornament to remember the day. Every time I pull it out, I not only think of that New Year's Eve, but I also think of the proceeding trips to NYC. Until I lived just outside the city, I only went once or twice a year. I would always go at Christmastime. There is something special about Christmas in NYC: seeing the tree in Rockefeller Center, the Macy's window displays, watching the Rockettes Christmas show, seeing people dragging Christmas trees down the busy sidewalks, eating roasted nuts from a street vendor. All the sights, sounds and smells of New York City come back to me as I place the Statue of Liberty on my tree.

A couple of years ago, when Husband and I were dating we wanted to go hiking in the Adirondacks. Due to poor planning on our part, we never did find an good hiking trail. Rather than turn around and head home, we decided to drive up to Lake Placid. What a great idea that turned out to be. The town was home to the 1980 Winter Olympics, and even in the summer it feels like a skiing town. We spent the day wandering the streets, popping in and out of shops, and visiting the various Olympic event sites (right in front of the high school is the speeding skating track!). This spontaneous trip to Lake Placid is one of our favourite memories, and we reference it all the time. Who knew that poor planning could end with such a great day?


Perhaps my favourite place to visit in Boston is the Habour right next to the Aquarium. I could sit for hours at the Harbour and watch the ships as I listen to the water. Anytime anyone came to visit me, I would make sure I took them to the Harbour. This ornament brings back more than memories of the Harbour, though. It reminds me of my years spent in Massachusetts. It reminds me of the trees, the ocean, the beach, the crazy drivers, and the wonderful people who I met there.

This New Hampshire outhouse ornament is one of my most cherished and favourite ornaments. It reminds me off my dear friends, The Willard's. You would be hard pressed to find better people than Alicia and Jon. They are two of the kindest, most caring people I have ever met. They would literally give you the shirts off their backs if you needed it. They are always there if you need anything, ready and willing to help. Jon's family has a small rustic cabin (complete with an outhouse) in New Hampshire. Alicia and Jon would invite me to go to the cabin a few times a year. Those weekends at the cabin were fantastic. There is no TV, no radio and very spotty cell phone reception. The weekend would be spent hiking, relaxing, shopping in the cute little towns nearby, swimming in the lake, skiing, and driving through the White Mountains. The cabin was where I found peace and solace. It was where time stopped for a couple days, where life became clear and centered again. It was wonderful to get away for a weekend, especially when life was bit stressful. I was at the cabin just a few weeks after my father died (and I might add, it was also about 5 weeks after Alicia and Jon got married. That's the type of people they are. They knew I was going through a rough time and they knew a weekend at the cabin would do me a world of good, so they invited me to go with them, even though they had been married less than 2 months!) It was at the cabin that I decided that I wanted to marry Husband. I miss the cabin more than I miss anything else about New England. That cabin was my sanctuary

When we went on our cruise last year, I wanted to find a nativity set to bring back. We searched every island we stopped at but had no luck. I was starting to give up hope. Finally, on the last day at the last island, we found one! Not only was it a nativity, but it was an ornament too! When I see this ornament I think about the cruise and about search for the nativity. Then I laugh a bit because I think of the craft market I went to here in Central Texas a couple of months ago where there was an long table full of these exact same ornaments! All that searching in the Caribbean for something that could be bought in a town just an hour down the road!

Although it wasn't always easy to find ornaments on my travels and I am missing a few (you try finding a ornament in Kentucky in July!), I love my tradition! It makes decorating the tree more fun. I am able to share stories with Husband of my life before him, and then we reminisce about the places we've been together. We laugh as we share memories then we hang those memories on our tree.

Our first Christmas together

Our first Christmas together! Husband and I were dating last Christmas, but he was in Iraq, so compared to that, this Christmas was 100000000000 times better. Our friend Ian, who couldn't fly home because of all the crazy snow storms, joined us for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. He was a pleasant addition to our celebration. We started our own tradition of making pizzas on Christmas Eve. I used the pizza dough recipe from the Better Homes and Gardens cookbook, which was simple and very delicious. Husband practiced his domestic skills by kneading the dough. After pizzas, we incorporated my family's tradition of playing a board game. Trivial Pursuit was the game of the night, with Ian proving to be full of random, useless information.

Christmas Day brought presents, food and more games. I was a bit concerned about cooking a turkey because I had never done it before. But it turns out it's not so hard. Husband once again showed his skills in the kitchen by mashing the potatoes. He had better stop doing things or I will know that he is good at them and make him do them all the time! Much to my surprise, all the food was done about the same time! I have no idea how that happened, but I call it my Christmas miracle.

Perhaps the highlight of the day, and the moment that will be talked about for years to come came when Husband opened up this present...

Happy Valentine's Day?

Yesterday, I went into Michael's in search of some Christmas decorations. I am still looking for something to top my tree. I fear that another epic search has begun, but more on that in another post. As I walked through the store, I noticed that a lot of the shelves had been stripped of the Christmas products and were bare. I wondered what the deal was, and so, as I was at the check-out I mentioned the bare shelves and lack of Christmas decorations to the cashier. Her response? "We are getting ready to put our our Valentine's stuff. It should be out by the middle of the week." Sorry? What? Christmas isn't even here yet! Is it too much to ask to let us finish one holiday before we start preparing for the next one? Just a thought.

Oh Christmas tree?

Last night, while Ryan and I were out for a walk, we passed a house with a Christmas tree in the window. Yes, you read right: A Christmas tree, up already. Although my friend Natalie would disagree, I say it's too early! Why can't people wait until December? Doesn't this take away the magic of Christmas? I would think that by having Christmas decorations up for 6 to 8 weeks leading up to the Holiday, you would be tired of it by the time Christmas actually comes. I know that I can only take so much hype. Maybe I am a Grinch, but I say it's too early!