A Cause for Celebration

December--this year especially--is a month of celebration. Oh, yes, there's Christmas and all the festivities that come along with it. But also in December is Husby's birthday and the anniversary of our first date. And this year, as we celebrate each monthiversary, we celebrated two months of marriage.

Here are a few pictures of us. Because I know that's why you read this blog. For the pictures. Of us.

(I do, however, love pictures of us. Even if it takes us 12 times to get the perfect shot.)

Getting our marriage license

The night before our wedding

On our honeymoon

To Make a Long Story Short

Merry belated Christmas, y'all. It's been a whirlwind of a month.

(Seriously...only four posts in December? That's just ridiculous!)

We actually started Christmas celebrations the week before Christmas. Husby's brother and sister-in-law spent the holidays in Spain, visiting her family. So we did the full-blown Christmas dinner, presents, breakfast, and stockings starting the 18th. It was awesome to get presents a week in advance!

Last week was a packed week. I had my first ever crown in my mouth. Actually, it's just the prep work with the temporary crown. More on that later. I cleaned house, did laundry and cooked. For two days. I made almost all of the food we took to Athens for our Christmas Eve celebration with my family and the Wilson's, our family friends. I also made two dishes to take to Christmas lunch with Husby's fam. Of course it required use of every utensil and bowl in our kitchen, so the dishwasher never stopped. But it was all worth it. We had a wonderful Christmas celebrations with both families.

So my temporary crown happened to come out yesterday. By last night I wanted to do my own root canal. Yeah, I've heard those are painful, but once that nerve is gone, you're home free. At least that's what I believe. Instead, I took some super-duper pain killers that knocked me into a deep sleep. When I woke this morning, it was difficult to get out of bed, walk and talk. So, other than making lunch and dinner, I've not done much except watch movies in the living room on a palate made from couch cushions and a featherbed. On the playlist: Confessions of a Shopaholic, Head Over Heels, and Little Women. Husby played a video game for the better part of the afternoon, which allowed free reign over the television. Very nice.

I'm headed downstairs now to toast some bread for our supper of bruschetta. We're eating it while we watch Julie & Julia. It was in my stocking. Along with a super cute hat and leather gloves. Do I have the best husband, or what?!

A Little Competition

This is my friend, Allison. She's really more like a sister. Our mom's have co-owned a business for almost 20 years, so we've known each other for quite a while. Before I go on, I would like to add the disclaimer that neither of us like this picture, but after four attempts of the same picture, we gave up.

Allison and I work at the same school. Although we're in different offices, we see each other fairly often, if not everyday. Yesterday, we attended the same potluck Christmas party. Oh, there was such good food!

And we ate.

A lot.

Way too much.

We had to come up with a plan to avoid gaining ump-teen-gillion pounds before January 1. And because competition is a great motivator, we decided to throw that into the mix.

Our grand plan is that we each have to walk at least 20 miles before Christmas. We call it a draw if we both reach 20 miles, but when Allison doesn't, she'll buy me a Christmas gift. (Or I'll buy her one, but that's so not happening.)

Right now, I have to get moving. Home girl is five miles up. But I'm not concerned. Slow and steady wins the race. So will walking a marathon on Christmas Eve.

O, Christmas Tree

Our Christmas tree went up the Friday before Thanksgiving. That's right, folks. I love everything about Christmas trees. (Well, fake Christmas trees. I'm sure I'd love the smell of a real tree, but they put me in an allergy-induced haze. It's really not that great for me.)

This year, we have a brand new tree. As a single lady, I used a tree formerly owned by my parents. I loved that little tree. Other than the two branches that somehow went missing and required some hefty maneuvering to make the tree look full all the way around. So, our new tree has some pretty cool features, including:

1. It's flocked. I never thought I wanted a flocked tree. Until now. I think they're so much prettier. At least with the ornaments we have.

2. It has clear AND colored lights, which means it's perfect for a house divided over the color of lights. I like clear; Husby likes colored. Conflict avoided.

3. It has a remote control. This feature in itself allowed me to purchase the tree without Husby seeing it. I knew that this one feature would cover anything he didn't like about the tree. Conflict avoided, again. (I'm so good at that!)

My love for our Christmas tree could be fueled by an obsession with Christmas ornaments. I think I've always loved ornaments. At least as far back as I can remember. I was delighted to receive this ornament from one of my students. It came a couple of weeks after I returned to work from our honeymoon; she had to find the perfect ornament, she said. I think she did well.

Jeremy and I both love this verse from Joshua 24: "As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." And I just couldn't pass up this ornament; it's complete with a great verse, polka dots and a cute ribbon!

On our honeymoon, we decided that we'd collect Christmas ornaments each time we visit somewhere new for the first time. It's a souvenier that can be appreciated over and over again! Here is one of our ornaments from San Francisco, the Golden Gate Bridge.

If this ornament looks vintatge, that's because it is! I inherited two awesome boxes of ornaments from my great-grandmother. They're all hanging proudly on our tree, but I think this is my fave!

One year in college, I decided to make ornaments for myself. I made a set of five out of felt, but I think I like this one the best.

I love our tree and hope that memories are proudly displayed on it every year.

Our Honeymoon, Chinatown Edition

Our story resumes...

After our stop at the Redwoods, Husby and I drove down the mountain through immensely thick fog. (Okay, it could have been a really steep hill, but I'm pretty sure it was a small mountain. With a winding road and no guardrails.)

San Francisco is known for fog. And we witnessed it. We saw signs for the Golden Gate Bridge and kept thinking that we'd see it. Soon enough, we spotted the very tip of it. It was the only part visible. It was a little eerie driving across it! I kept thinking of the sharks that must be waiting on some unlucky driver to plunge into the icy cold below. And then praying that it wasn't us. (I so didn't want to die on our honeymoon!)

We arrived at The Palace Hotel, and it was fabulous! We received two nights at The Palace for a wedding gift. We were so blessed! Our room was huge. This is the Garden Court, visible when you first walk inside the hotel.

On our first day in San Fran, our first stop was Chinatown. The sights and smells were of a different country. Here we are in front of the Chinatown gate.

Evidently, this is Chinatown's first bakery. I'm sure it's like Ray's Pizza in NYC--44 of them all claim to be the original Ray's. Even though we'd just eaten breakfast, I wanted something from the bakery. But after a quick inspection, I couldn't bring myself to have a pastery filled with lotus or black beans.

A cat across the street from the bakery. He was quite content and eventually had enough of me and turned to go inside.

I just had to go inside the markets. Everything was so different! Things in jars and boxes that smelled and looked funny. And dried fish and shrimp and ducks in the finest of displays.

A couple of days later, we decided to cut through Chinatown on the way to Fisherman's Wharf. Only this time, we didn't go through the touristy-commercialized route. The culture was completely different. We were surrounded by people living their lives, rather than shops with purses and sunglasses. We were so glad that we were able to see this part of their culture.

Stay tuned for more...

A Little Miscellany

Wow, a week off of work for Thanksgiving meant a week off of everything. Except laundry. It never ends. My strategy this week is to do a load a day. Somehow I still think I'll have as much laundry to do this weekend.

Tomorrow, I'm leaving for a trip with the juniors at our school. We're heading to tour five colleges in three days. Ex-haus-ting! And it's the first time Husby and I will spend time apart. Which means I'll have all the covers to myself everynight. I suspect I'll be excited to return to him on Friday. You know, I do have a husband and all. He'll need food. And clean laundry.

We finished our Christmas tree tonight, and I must say, he's a master tree-decorator. Seriously, this man has skills! The Christmas tree looks amazing. Pictures will come at some point. Maybe when I convince myself that it doesn't take that long to download pictures. Although, photographing a tree is difficult. They just don't seem as pretty in a picture.

I need to pack for the next three days, but before I do, I have some exciting things to share. These could make for good Christmas presents!

1. Amazon is amazing. So is Real Simple magazine. Today, I ordered a year-long subscription from Amazon for $5. That's right 12 issues = $5. Holla. They have other titles, as well.

2. I am a new lover of Stella & Dot jewlery. It's so cute super cute! I'm hosting a party next Tuesday, and I'm so excited!

3. One of my favorite movies this year, Julie & Julia, will be released to DVD next week. Because Amazon is amazing, they're offering a pre-order for $9.99. That's awesome, people. I hope my email with the link to Husby was a direct enough hint.

4. On our honeymoon, I purchased a One Line a Day Memory Book. I always have great intentions of journaling, but life happens, and I forget. Then the journals turn into binders for shopping lists or packing lists. This book is great. You write the highlights of the day, and you're done! And it's not completely overwhelming if you get a couple of days behind.

Enjoy the rest of the week! Happy December!