Best Christmas Ever

I figured out why I have so thoroughly enjoyed Christmas this year... it's because it's been the first Christmas in ages that hasn't been overshadowed by life events.

Christmas 2010 - Got married exactly two weeks after Christmas... so I was drowning in wedding to-do lists.

Christmas 2009 - Graduated from Grad School (and threw myself a giant party)

Christmas 2006-2008 - Grad School Finals

Christmas 2003 and 2004 - Moved

So that leaves Christmas 2005 as my only quiet, normal Christmas since college. And that was ages ago! But this year we are making up for lost time...

Mostly by baking and attending parties.

From last Friday to today I will have had gone to six parties. And since Mr. Right and I express love through food (and crafts), here's what we did:

Chocolate-dipped marshmallows for a dinner we hosted at our house last weekend. They had kids... and kids love marshmallows. And let's face it, I love marshmallows too... so it worked perfectly. (Mr. Right claims to not like marshmallows, but let the record show that he ate enough to convince me otherwise.)

For a Christmas dinner Friday night I made chocolate-dipped strawberries and pretzel sticks. Chocolate + sweet + salty = love.

For a surprise birthday party Sunday night we made SIX DOZEN cupcakes - half iced in vanilla cream cheese icing, and the other half with Mr. Right's super secret banana chocolate frosting recipe. It's so good it'll change your life.

We were smart and only left ourselves a few at the house, and left the rest of the leftovers at the party, except for a handful which we dropped off at Andrea's house because (a) she has become like an extended member of our family and (b) she loves Mr. Right's cooking as much as I do, so we always try to swing her some goodies whenever possible.

Now that we're just a few days away from the big day, I'm trying hard to stay laid-back and stress-free about my long to-do list, which includes wrapping presents (we haven't wrapped a single one yet) and finishing a quilt (I see some hand-binding while watching Christmas movies in my plans for this week). The unimportant things, like vacuuming, will just have to wait until next week when I'm off of work for one whole glorious week.

Or maybe I'll save it for my New Year's resolutions... I've got to leave something for 2012.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas from Santa...

And Mrs. Claus...

I apologize for the crazy eye makeup. I was freaking out about how to make myself look like an old woman... and went a little nuts with my "stage" makeup. Ick.

A White Christmas... and years past

Today was Dallas' first white Christmas in 87 years. I could have sworn it happened one time back in high school, but my memory must be failing me. I hear that happens with old age.

We had an amazingly lazy Christmas Eve. I learned how to play Rummy Cube (and won two of three games), watched a couple of Christmas movies, knitted on my latest blanket, and ate a humongous dinner. Oh, and we played in the snow. My how beautiful it is.

But Christmas always makes me wax sentimental, so here are some memories from past Christmas blog posts:

Who could forget last Christmas, when I set my hair on fire at the candlelight service at church? (a personal favorite)

Also, a little Christmas video I threw together from last year.

There was Christmas of 2007, the year that I decorated cookies again. and again. and again. It turned out to be one of my all-time favorite Christmas memories, and yet... I also realized that I do not have a future as a professional cookie decorator. Man, it's hard.

There was the Tacky Sweater Christmas of 2005. The one where we didn't tell our extended family our plan, just showed up in tacky sweaters and never said anything about them. It was wonderfully awkward, the elephant in the room where nobody wanted to ask us about our tacky sweaters, for fear they were legit. I think this is one of the greatest things about my family--they're not afraid to look stupid.

As I lie here in my old bedroom at my parents' house, I'm recounting the many ways God has blessed me in 2009. I hope you and your family also experience, recognize, and give thanks to God for his blessings this Christmas season. He really is good, isn't he?

Almost Christmas and other stream-of-consciousness

It's almost Christmas and there's so much I still haven't done. I haven't wrapped ANY presents yet. That's right, not a one. I haven't driven around to look at Christmas lights. I haven't decorated Christmas cookies. I haven't watched very many Christmas movies. I haven't worn all my red sweaters. I haven't even eaten a single candy cane! (although I've got one swimming around the bottom of my purse, waiting for a weak moment when I will cave and devour it, most likely right before supper, thus ruining my appetite and yet making me quite content).

But I'm not that worried about it. The gifts will be wrapped... soon. The cookies will be made... although it might be January. The lights may not get seen. But I decided that this year, I'm not going to stress out about what needs to be done for Christmas. I'm just going to enjoy spending time with my family, continue to catch up on sleep, and relish the fact that life will go on if I don't check every item off my to-do list.

As my family likes to say... "good enough."

I am quite excited about my other Christmas tradition though--using my time off from work to lie around my house and breeze through novel after novel, catching up on the wonderful stack of books that have been calling my name for months. I'm a good ways into Wuthering Heights, and I love it, but I've got a Pat Conroy novel waiting in the wings, and a Barnes & Noble gift card burning a hole in my pocket.

I should save that candy cane for one of my leisurely reading afternoons.

In other news...

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The number one question I get, now that I'm finished with grad school, is "Now what?" Apparently the proper thing to do after one finishes a masters degree is to change jobs. Nobody wants to hear my answer: "I don't know. I sure do love my job. I love my boss. I find my work to be incredibly interesting. I love the enormous amount of vacation time I get. I love that I get to help people. And I love that my commute is super easy. So yes, someday I may change, but I'm quite content where I am today." I've decided that I'm extremely A.D.D. when it comes to hobbies/projects/after-school activities, and yet when it comes to my job and my church, I am loyal and enjoy the stability that comes with staying in the same place for several years (6 years at one, 5.5 at the other). I'm not sure what that means... the psychoanalzation will have to continue for a bit longer. But I do wish folks would stop asking me the "now what." That, and the "What do you want to be when you grow up" question. Because I honestly don't know. I have some inklings, but telling someone you want to stay home and write novels while sitting on your back porch in your pajamas, drinking coffee out of a giant thermos, sort of sounds frivolous.

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I had a blind date tonight. I really shouldn't go on these, as they never turn out, but blind dates are a gold mine for funny stories that I can tell for years to come. Tonight's was disappointingly uneventful--other than a giant pimple that popped up on my forehead about three fateful hours before the date, there was no drama, no tragedy, no humiliation. It was simply a nice dinner, some pleasant conversation, and the quick realization that there would be no need for a second date. But I did have the most AMAZING flour-less chocolate cake for dessert. So totally worth it.

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I am officially in half marathon training mode. I squeezed in a run tonight between work and the date. I should know by now that even after I finish running, my face will continue to look like a red, sweaty tomato for several more hours. Yet I so easily forget this minor detail, so I was still a tad red/sweaty for the date. I'm clinging to the hope that my redness was mistaken for a tan... and not some horrible disease. I guess in either case, it really doesn't matter. Oh... but did I mention that chocolate cake? (sigh)

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I've got a month off from teaching Sunday School, so I have time to study something that's just for me. I've decided to hang out in Hosea for awhile, and let me tell you, my Bible Commentary is definitely my friend. This book's a challenge, but challenges are good.

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Off to bed... Christmas Eve launches in just a few hours, and I have some wrapping to do! Merry Christmas, and God bless.

Christmas Newsletter-2009 Edition

I started working on my 4th Annual Christmas Newsletter tonight. It's my annual tradition of showing my year in pictures... here's a few from last year...

Here's a sneak preview of one of my newsletter pics...

Want to be on the mailing list? Send me your address!

Shopping is hazardous to your health

Want to know why I like to get my Christmas shopping done before Thanksgiving? So this doesn't happen...

Survived.

Saturday night was our church Christmas party, and I think we had about 75 people packed into my little house. It was a wonderful night! This is the whole reason I wanted to have my own house, so that I could use it to bless other people. And somehow, by the grace of God, there wasn't a single spill, stain, or spot on anything. Now that's a miracle!

My next party will be a wedding shower for a good friend in January. I ordered the invitations tonight--I can't wait!

Time to party

Tomorrow I'm hosting my church Christmas party at my house. I can't wait. I've been looking forward to this all month. My Christmas lights are up (and working... hopefully), my house is fully decorated, and I have dozens of freshly decorated Christmas cookies waiting to be served.

I was planning to get my piano tuned so we could do a Christmas carol sing-along, but I got busy, and someone told me that might be cheesy. I love it when they do that in movies--when they sing around a piano, usually wearing turtle necks and drinking cocoa and smiling knowingly at each other.

I really should go to bed. It's 1:00 a.m. and I have to get up in six hours to hear one of our doctors get interviewed on a local radio show. I really wish he could have been on around 10, because tomorrow would have been a good day to sleep in.

Christmas Lights

Yesterday I decorated my new house with Christmas lights. I feel a special connection to Clark Griswald, because they look GREAT when they're not on. When they're on, half of them look great, and half don't work. But I'm working on that...