Daryll and I had another busy Christmas season this year. We headed up to Burbank a week early for a Christmas celebration with Dad, Melanie, and George. We had a lovely brunch at the 94th Aerosquadron before going back to Melanie's for some cake and presents.
Daryll had to head back to San Diego for work, but I spent the week before Christmas up in Burbank visiting family and friends and shopping and baking. Daryll joined me on Christmas Eve to visit wiht my Mom and Pete, Grandpa, Uncle Rod, Amy, and Conor. One of the highlights of the evening was seeing Conor model his new footed pajamas!
Christmas Day we ventured to Daryll's large family gathering in Pasadena for more visiting and merriment. Brandon and Meagan came down to San Diego to visit for a few days after Chrsitmas and it was so wonderful to see them! (But too brief, in my opinion!) The entire Christmas season went by entirely too quickly, as per usual, but now I'm looking forward to 2010 and a new and better year! One more thing... even more Christmas pictures can be seen here.
Today is my blog's first birthday! We've had some tremendously good times in its first year of existence and I'm looking forward to many more! We've gone through times of a lot of posts, and times where the posts were few and far between (see: recent months). But my blog's roller coaster pattern mimics real life and I'm still proud of all the posts from this past year! I have a lot of goals for my blog in 2010, such as a blog makeover (even I'm getting tired of the blue polka dots) and more frequent posts. We'll see how each of these goals are accomplished (or not) in the coming months! Until then, Happy Birthday Blog!
I just love my house at Christmastime. I think we have the perfect house to dress up in Christmas cheer. I love the banisters wrapped in garlands, the stockings hung from the chimney with a pinecone garland draped across, our beautiful tree with all the ornaments from my childhood and today (and Daryll's lone ESPN ornament), the 4 wreaths that adorn our doors and staircase, the vintage sheet music window hung behind our couch, the bells that jingle when the front door opens, the cards that crawl up the holder on our wall, the cookie jar that is seldom empty this time of year... The Christmas season always goes by way to fast in my opinion. I love the feeling of this time of year, and this year especially we are trying to get back to the real meaning for Christmas. That means spending less money on fewer gifts, spending more time enjoying time with each other and our family and friends, and remembering how truly blessed we are. I am so blessed to have a wonderful family who gives me a ton of love and support through everything. I hope to continually repay all that they have given to me, but I'm not sure I'll ever be able to catch up!
This year I decided to make most of my gifts for Christmas, which means everybody is getting at least one thing handmade by me. (Pictures will be shown when the gifts have been given!) The idea came about initially as a means of saving some money, but it has grown into more than that. It has truly been a challenge to come up with unique but (hopefully) likable gifts for everyone on our list. It was an experiment in finishing. So many times I thought it would just be easier to go buy gifts from the stores, but now that I'm finished I feel so rewarded. I can't wait to see everybody's reaction to their handmade creations!
Tonight is my last night at home before Christmas and I'm going to relish in every second of it. The tree is lit, Daryll's playing Christmas music, and the puppies are cuddled up sleeping next to me. Life really doesn't get any better than this.
My house is all decorated for Christmas with the swift change in the season, temperature, and month, but I haven't had a moment to reflect on our Thanksgiving experience yet on the blog, so I thought I'd take a moment tonight to recount the lovely day. Thanksgiving was everything that it should be this year; a day of peace, family, good food, and a spirit of thankfulness overwhelming. This year I personally have a lot to be thankful for: a good job that I love, a supportive husband and family, an inner peace and joy that seem to be overwhelming my spirit recently... As I prepared to host our first Thanksgiving, I tried to keep this feelings at the forefront of my mind and allow the spirit of the season to dictate my actions. Many people asked me if I was nervous or overwhelmed at the thought of hosting my first Thanksgiving, but I didn't feel any anxiety. On the contrary, I was excited to have our families gather at our home to share a meal and each other's company. Throughout the weekend we were delighted to have Daryll's parents, my Mom and Pete, my Grandpa, and Dad and Melanie visit with us. We started a new tradition this year of asking each person in attendance 2 questions for them to answer on camera, which turned out to be my favorite part (Daryll might still go with the turkey dinner as his favorite...) We took turns recounting our favorite past holiday memories, life lessons, and hopes for the future. And I am so thankful to have not only "survived," but to have relished in our first hosted Thanksgiving!
I recently wrote down some thoughts that I had on potential scrapbook journaling that sum up the logistics of Thanksgiving. Here are the "Numbers of Thanksgiving" for your viewing pleasure:
7-The number of people who gathered around the table for Thanksgiving dinner (Don, Andrea, Mom, Pete, Grandpa, Daryll, and me)
6-The number of side dishes that were served: green beans, twice-baked mashed potatoes, creamed spinach, corn casserole, sweet potatoes, and roasted garlic and Italian sausage stuffing (and garlic cheddar biscuits too!)
5-The number of items on our Thanksgiving menu that I had never cooked before (turkey, creamed spinach, stuffed mushroom appetizer, roasted garlic and Italian sausage stuffing, and garlic cheddar biscuits)
4-The number of hours the turkey cooked for
3-The number of days we had visitors over Thanksgiving weekend
2-The number of questions each person was asked on camera for the new Thanksgiving tradition we started this year
1- The number of times we dropped the turkey! (Before we cooked it, of course!)
