It's a Wonderful Life

We had a fun, fun Christmas weekend! Friday night we went to David's sister and her husband's Ugly Christmas Sweater party on Barry Road.

Cute Bets and two of her brothers. Joe missed the memo about the ugly sweaters.

Are these cute boys or what? My brother-in-law Zack and Davey

And Sunday, my husband did something very, very sweet. He surprised me with a real Christmas tree. I have been a little bummed that we weren't getting one for our first Christmas. We have just been so ridiculously busy that we haven't had a chance to get one. And then this weekend we had some time but it's only a week until Christmas so I didn't think we needed to get one. We are leaving right after Christmas to go skiing so I was concerned about getting it put up and then taken down in time. Well, I got back from Christmas shopping and this beauty was in front of my fireplace. How wonderful is he? And Bo helped.

Of course I loaded it up with purple ornaments.

And I added some purple ornaments around the house. These ornaments were used to decorate at our wedding reception.

And now, after eating homemade pizza my parents brought over, we are going to pop popcorn, light the fire, drink egg nog, smell the fresh trea, and watch our favorite movie, "It's a Wonderful Life." It is.

Nourishment

Today in church we talked about amazing parts of the Christmas story that we have all heard over and over, but maybe haven't really thought about. For instance, I don't know why on earth I hadn't thought to ask, "Why did the angel tell the shepherds first?"

We explored a lot of the signs from this story. One of my favorite parts was how the angels tell the shepherds that there will be a sign, they will know they have found the baby who is Christ when they find a baby in a manger in Bethlehem. Do you remember what a manger really is? It’s a feeding trough. And do you know where this particular manger was located? Bethlehem, the “land of bread.” And who was laying there? The “bread of life.” Right there in the land of bread, the bread of life, laying in a feeding trough like a platter.

And do you know who would understand sacrifice? Not as big of sacrifice as what would be to come, but still big, big sacrifice? Shepherds. But not just any shepherds. The shepherds that were in charge of the flock that would be sacrificed during Passover. So the angels went and told those shepherds about this tiny savior baby, laying in a manger, in the little town of Bethlehem, that was sent to save us all. And they got it. And they went to see and then they told everyone about this miracle.

I love signs.

Lights and Candy

Last night David and I did one of my favorite Christmas things...we handed out Cherry Mashes at Krug Park!

It was so much fun. If you've never been, you have to go. You get to drive through the beautiful park and look at the way they have decorated and listen to Christmas music. It's really quite amazing. And then at the end you make a donation and get a Cherry Mash.

Well last night we were the bundled up goofy people handing out the Cherry Mashes. It was so much fun.

If you come through our little town between Thanksgiving and Christmas, make sure you go through Krug Park and see the beautiful decorations.

Pictures from http://www.stjoemo.info/parks/holiday_park.cfm

Almost Christmas!

It is two weeks until Christmas! I cannot believe how soon that is. I haven't really done anything Christmas-y that I usually do. For instance, usually by this time of year I have done all of my shopping and wrapping, drank so much egg nog I can't even stand to look at it, have spent many nights and morning staring at my Christmas tree, have read Little Women and all my fave John Steinbecks, and worn out my Gap slippers. This year, nada!

David and I have been busy. I know I've said it before, and I know we do it to ourselves, but yeesh, this holiday season has been busy! We have NOT had egg nog, we have NOT wrapped (or even bought most of) the presents, we have NOT watched It's A Wonderful Life, we have NOT gone to see the lights at The Plaza or EVEN Krug Park, and oh my gosh, hold in your gasps, we haven't even bought a Christmas tree.....

But all of that is about to change. This week. Right now! It starts now because I just finished my final school project! Now instead of going to class all night Wednesday and Thursday after working all day and doing homework all day Sunday and a some Monday night, I get to spend time with my husband. I couldn't be more excited. I have big plans for us this week and all of them include either hot chocolate, James Stewart. or tacky lights and decorations.

That is, of course, whenever my husband gets home from hunting.

You Win Some, You...

I was driving home from class this Thursday night, pretty tired. You will think I'm crazy, but I started a new job this week. Again. Right in the middle of preparing for finals and the holidays. And it's a pretty intense job right now. I keep reminding myself that it's because it's new. And the bottom line is, I love it. It's a wonderful ooportunity. I am one of four contract negotiators/analysts for my same company. It's been challenging and exciting already. I have worked hard each minute of each day, and I love that feeling so much.

So back to Thursday night. I was driving home from my second class of the week at 9 pm after working a full day and heard that Jason Mraz song, I'm Yours. (I have no idea why my radio wasn't set on Christmas music, forgive me?) I decided, or was too tired to pay attention, to change it so I was singing along and heard myself say, "I reckon it's again my turn to win some or learn..."

I love that line. I was nervous to leave my team and move to a new team with a completely new job. I was nervous about not liking the atmosphere and worried I wouldn't be able to figure out this role. And I don't know what came over me on the day I accepted (besides my loving husband's support and my prayers always feeling comforted and peaceful about it), but I felt like it couldn't be bad. Even if the atmosphere was different and even if it took me a long time to figure out the role, it would be new and I would be challenged and I would learn. So I said yes, and two weeks later I moved my pictures of my family and friends and my plant and coffee cup over to a new desk.

So I'm wondering if we don't have to worry about winning or losing quite as much. Even if this had been a wrong decision, wouldn't I have met new people, learned a lot about my company, learned a new role and experienced new processes? And it wasn't. This time I won. Even after one week, I love it and I'm so excited, even if I am a little bit tired and scared still.