I cannot tell you how excited I am that only one work day stands between me and my "Christmas break." I don't know if I can really classify my 2 and a half days off from work as a Christmas break, but I guess in my new 'grown-up' life, that's what I am going to call it. This Christmas is going to be a lot different than the last 23 Christmases that I have had. This will be the first Christmas (that I know of) that I won't spend Christmas Eve with my immediate family, go to the Christmas Eve service at church, and then wake up early (our definition of 'early' has gotten a little later, though) on Christmas morning to wake my parents up so we can open presents. That is a little sad for me, just because I don't typically handle change all that well. But don't you go thinking that you need to be sad for me because I am not going to be there! I am extremely thrilled that I get to wake up Christmas morning, get out of bed and walk out of the room where I'm sleeping, and give my soon-to-be husband a kiss and tell him Merry Christmas! And even though I can kind of give myself a minor anxiety attack when I think about things changing, I don't think this qualifies as one of those situations. I am very blessed to be able to spend all of the days surrounding Christmas with not just one family that loves me, but TWO! How lucky am I?!? I'm very excited for all of the new experiences I am going to have during this year's holidays, and I can't wait for it to begin.
Trent and I are taking off from Omaha tomorrow evening after I leave from work. We are spending the 23rd and Christmas Eve with his family and then heading to my parents' house on Christmas morning to spend the weekend there. We've got a lot of holiday partying jammed into 4 days, but that's why Christmas is my favorite holiday!!
Since Trent and I will be spending the entire Christmas weekend traveling around and having our family holiday parties, we had our own, private Christmas party last weekend. We wanted to start a tradition of what food we would eat every year for our Christmas supper, but instead of picking the food and having the same thing every year, we decided to start the tradition that we would just go to the store on the day we were going to have our Christmas supper without a plan, and pick out whatever we wanted to have for supper that evening. I think that this year's excursion went very well. We had baked 'chicken grillers' (chicke
n breasts wrapped in bacon and stuffed with cheese and jalapenos for him and ham and cheese for me), mashed potatoes, and corn. Very good, in my opinion! We then opened our presents from each other. I was very disappointed in myself because I had forgotten to get something to fill his stocking. :( He was very good, though, because I had gum and toothbrushes in mine. (I thought it was very sweet, but when I told Lauren about it she just said he must be trying to tell me I have bad breath!) We then preceded to take turns opening our presents from each other. A game and running socks and shorts for Trent, and a game, perfume, and a new ring for me. Yes, that's right, I said a ring! And I know, I am spoiled. I was so shocked and surprised when I opened it, I almost burst out in tears (in a very good way), but I held myself together. Here is the beautiful white sapphire ring:
n breasts wrapped in bacon and stuffed with cheese and jalapenos for him and ham and cheese for me), mashed potatoes, and corn. Very good, in my opinion! We then opened our presents from each other. I was very disappointed in myself because I had forgotten to get something to fill his stocking. :( He was very good, though, because I had gum and toothbrushes in mine. (I thought it was very sweet, but when I told Lauren about it she just said he must be trying to tell me I have bad breath!) We then preceded to take turns opening our presents from each other. A game and running socks and shorts for Trent, and a game, perfume, and a new ring for me. Yes, that's right, I said a ring! And I know, I am spoiled. I was so shocked and surprised when I opened it, I almost burst out in tears (in a very good way), but I held myself together. Here is the beautiful white sapphire ring:
The rest of the night, I played my new game for a few hours. I am going to need to practice a lot more to get good at it, though. We then watched a movie and called it a night. It was a great night. I love Trent and I's private little holiday parties. I especially love to think back on how things change for us from the year before. It will be very interesting to see where we are and what's new when we get to Christmastime next year!
Sunday was also a day filled with Christmas cheer. We went to Hy Vee and bought all the supplies needed to make plates of holiday goodies to bring along to our family Christmases this week. We made chocolate covered pretzels, some chocolate bars with graham crackers and marshmallows in them, and sugar cookies with frosting. We made the treats up into plates to bring along, and stuck them in the freezer until it's time to go on our merry way.
Tonight I finished up wrapping my last presents and made some pumpkin dessert for the family Christmas on Christmas Eve and packed for the long weekend. I am excited about seeing family and for celebrating Christ's birth with them all!! I hope you all have a great holiday as well!!
Merry Christmas!!
