Isn't it funny that at Christmas something in you gets so lonely for - I don't know what exactly, but it is something that you don't mind so much not having at other times.
Kate L. Bosher
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
And Now Let's Talk About Christmas - some random notes
I finished decorating for Christmas this past weekend. And now my house is pretty and glittery with beautimous white Christmas lights everywhere (I'm - with a few exceptions - anti colored Christmas lights). And it makes me happy! I love decorating for Christmas; my poor husband truly does not understand the point. But it makes me happy, and so he tolerates it!
Our Ugly Tree party is this weekend, so it's always a good incentive to make sure I get all Christmas decorations up prior to that annual event. For those who are unfamiliar with that crazy party, check out an exlanation here.
We've not had a real snow yet just a couple of pretend attempts. I was under instructions from my mother to let her know the minute we had snow. And so, five minutes after I got off Skype with her, I called her back to let her know we had flakage! But it didn't last at all. The weather has been bizarre. One day it's 50F and then next it's 20F! I hate cold; I love snow, but I hate cold. However, I can deal with cold. But I much prefer to do so when it's consistantly cold. When I don't know if I'm preparing myself to freeze or be just a little cold, it becomes really difficult to dress in the mornings. And that bugs me.
I've been busy trying to finish up our Christmas shopping. A somewhat difficult task this year as we're trying to fit it around crazy amounts of homework for my poor husband. We were looking at his schedule for the next few months and realized in full the true craziness of this course he's in. He has Christmas vacation. And then he has one week off in March. And then one week off in June. And then not another week off until.....THANKSGIVING! 44 weeks of non-stop classes - craziness! However, he keeps plugging away at it, and the whole degree will be over before we know it; it just sometimes gets stressful in the middle of it all!
For Christmas this year, we are going to make up for our lost Thanksgiving trip and go down to Texas to celebrate with Chris' aunt and uncle (and their five children) and his grandparents. We're both really looking forward to that delight.
Sorry for the random notes. But that's what it takes sometimes!
Our Ugly Tree party is this weekend, so it's always a good incentive to make sure I get all Christmas decorations up prior to that annual event. For those who are unfamiliar with that crazy party, check out an exlanation here.
We've not had a real snow yet just a couple of pretend attempts. I was under instructions from my mother to let her know the minute we had snow. And so, five minutes after I got off Skype with her, I called her back to let her know we had flakage! But it didn't last at all. The weather has been bizarre. One day it's 50F and then next it's 20F! I hate cold; I love snow, but I hate cold. However, I can deal with cold. But I much prefer to do so when it's consistantly cold. When I don't know if I'm preparing myself to freeze or be just a little cold, it becomes really difficult to dress in the mornings. And that bugs me.
I've been busy trying to finish up our Christmas shopping. A somewhat difficult task this year as we're trying to fit it around crazy amounts of homework for my poor husband. We were looking at his schedule for the next few months and realized in full the true craziness of this course he's in. He has Christmas vacation. And then he has one week off in March. And then one week off in June. And then not another week off until.....THANKSGIVING! 44 weeks of non-stop classes - craziness! However, he keeps plugging away at it, and the whole degree will be over before we know it; it just sometimes gets stressful in the middle of it all!
For Christmas this year, we are going to make up for our lost Thanksgiving trip and go down to Texas to celebrate with Chris' aunt and uncle (and their five children) and his grandparents. We're both really looking forward to that delight.
Sorry for the random notes. But that's what it takes sometimes!
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Let's Talk about Thanksgiving
So Thanksgiving this year was interesting. And random!
The Plan: To go to Texas to spend it with Chris' lovely Aunt, Uncle, and their five children (one of whom we haven't met yet, and I'm absolutely DYING to see!).
The Problem: Sickness...not our sickness but the family we were going to see. It was one of those tricky decisions: do we go and hope that the illness will clear up before we get there or that we won't catch it or do we stay home and avoid getting sick ourselves and also not put extra burden on the ill and the caretakers thereof by being extra people in a house of sick kids (and potentially adults!)?
The Solution: After much discussion and sadness on our parts, we decided it was better to stay home.
New Problem: What to do for Thanksgiving?
New Solution: (a regular holiday fallback) - invite over our "other" family (friends who are like family to us) as they had no where to go for Thanksgiving either. So Thanksgiving was spent with much playing of Star Wars Risk and eating of delectable tasties (I made homemade cranberry sauce which actually turned out pretty good and gluten free French bread which is really, really yummy plus of course other delectables!)
And then, for the best part, we decided to go ahead and take a much shorter road trip (with the same friends - a Christmas present for them) to go see the Trans Siberian Orchestra.
Now, for those of you who are unfamiliar with the Trans Siberian Orchestra, please feel free to watch a few of the videos below that have some of the TSO songs I love dearly. They started out with only Christmas music - with a rock twist - but have moved on to include many other classical pieces as well.
Christmas Canon
Carol of the Bells
Their concerts are great. We went to one a few years ago and absolutely loved it. The music is phenomenal and they have an entire light show that goes along with their concerts. The first half is their basic Christmas program but the second half is composed of a random selection of their other pieces. Oh, and they play for three hours!
I had originally looked a few weeks ago at buying tickets to see their show for our anniversary; however, all the shows around here were right over Thanksgiving weekend. And since, if we had to choose, we would far rather go to see Chris' aunt, uncle, and cousins, I left it for another year. However, when we had made the decision not to go to Texas, I knew the perfect solution (and a nice way to stave off disappointment!).
So end result, despite unexpected bumps, we had a good time and much thankfulness was had by all!
The Plan: To go to Texas to spend it with Chris' lovely Aunt, Uncle, and their five children (one of whom we haven't met yet, and I'm absolutely DYING to see!).
The Problem: Sickness...not our sickness but the family we were going to see. It was one of those tricky decisions: do we go and hope that the illness will clear up before we get there or that we won't catch it or do we stay home and avoid getting sick ourselves and also not put extra burden on the ill and the caretakers thereof by being extra people in a house of sick kids (and potentially adults!)?
The Solution: After much discussion and sadness on our parts, we decided it was better to stay home.
New Problem: What to do for Thanksgiving?
New Solution: (a regular holiday fallback) - invite over our "other" family (friends who are like family to us) as they had no where to go for Thanksgiving either. So Thanksgiving was spent with much playing of Star Wars Risk and eating of delectable tasties (I made homemade cranberry sauce which actually turned out pretty good and gluten free French bread which is really, really yummy plus of course other delectables!)
And then, for the best part, we decided to go ahead and take a much shorter road trip (with the same friends - a Christmas present for them) to go see the Trans Siberian Orchestra.
Now, for those of you who are unfamiliar with the Trans Siberian Orchestra, please feel free to watch a few of the videos below that have some of the TSO songs I love dearly. They started out with only Christmas music - with a rock twist - but have moved on to include many other classical pieces as well.
Christmas Canon
Carol of the Bells
Their concerts are great. We went to one a few years ago and absolutely loved it. The music is phenomenal and they have an entire light show that goes along with their concerts. The first half is their basic Christmas program but the second half is composed of a random selection of their other pieces. Oh, and they play for three hours!
I had originally looked a few weeks ago at buying tickets to see their show for our anniversary; however, all the shows around here were right over Thanksgiving weekend. And since, if we had to choose, we would far rather go to see Chris' aunt, uncle, and cousins, I left it for another year. However, when we had made the decision not to go to Texas, I knew the perfect solution (and a nice way to stave off disappointment!).
So end result, despite unexpected bumps, we had a good time and much thankfulness was had by all!
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