Wondering how to make a bad day even worse?

Step one:  Decide to go to the mall

Step two:  Make sure it's on one of the busiest days of the year, when it will be a sure bet that all the good parking spots will be gone and there will be lots of screaming kids.


Step three:  Make sure a seagull poops on you right before you head in the door.

Family Christmas Celebrations

In Spokane:

Isn't my nephew ADORABLE?!

In Centralia:

Christmas Events

This year we planned ahead and made it to a few Christmas events that we've wanted to see for years!

We celebrated our sixth anniversary at The Nutcracker (the small local production in Bellingham), and continued celebrating the following week at Handel's Messiah.

We also visited Zoo Lights in Tacoma with Matt and Chelsea.

 
So fun!

Christmas Present Projects

 This year, instead of spending a lot of money buying Christmas presents for family, we talked through it ahead of time and agreed to cut back.  We don't need a bunch of "stuff" now that we're older, and we wanted Christmas to be about being together and enjoying one another's company instead of all the presents.  We set a price limit, and either made gifts or found them for cheap.  We did this with both sides of our family and it worked out GREAT!  It was fun to make gifts instead of spending a bunch of time at the mall, and receiving gifts was really meaningful because of the time and energy put into them.  Here are a few items I made this year:

Sundae Sauce with Toppings

Homemade Cards and Tags

Mulling Spices for cider and tea

An magnetic activity advent calendar mounted on decorative tin

Festive clothespins for holding Christmas cards

Homemade pillows (Thanks for all the help, mom!)

If you have two sides of the family to buy for, or even have a big family with mostly adults, we highly recommend doing Christmas this way.  On my side, we still bought presents for our nephews, but cut way back on purchases for the adults.  It turned out to be a very cheap, yet very meaningful, holiday!

23 Days Until Christmas!

Taylor and I spent last Sunday decorating for Christmas.  After six years of doing this I feel like we finally had a successful operation!  This year, instead of going to a tree farm in Bellingham minutes after they close, leading to us hurriedly stumbling around in the dark trying to feel our way to the perfect tree, and then me forcing Taylor to shove his nose to the ground and chop it down with our blunt saw, and of course forgetting twine to tie it to the top of the car so instead deciding to shove it inside the backseat leading to a sappy mess everywhere, we cut down a tree in Centralia and lugged it all the way up the I-5 corridor.  Much better!  Also, we have a holly tree across the street in the empty lot, and every year I cut a bunch and make a wreath to go around the advent candles on the dining room table.  If you've ever tried to make a wreath out of pokey holly you would probably never do it again.  Not me.  Every year I stuck it out and made that darn wreath because it was so Christmas-y.  This year, I have an unfinished puzzle on my table (yes, this is still the same puzzle from before Halloween).  Since there is no room on the table I bagged the idea of making a wreath and instead just put sprigs of holly all over my house in random places.  Genius!  It took all of five minutes and my fingers are oh so thankful!

Challenge Accomplished

Well, it's been a REALLY long time since I've posted, partly because I've had my nose stuck in four huge novels this last month and partly because life has been extremely normal!  As a follow up to my previous post though you all should know that I did it- I successfully accomplished my goal and read books 4, 5, 6 and half of 7 before Thanksgiving break.....and still haven't seen the movie.  I know, I know- that was the whole point of the challenge!  Instead of going to a movie over break though, I decided to spend my time with my in laws and invest in actual relationships.  I don't regret my choice one bit (we got in a few extra rounds of Hand and Foot and a nice football walk Friday afternoon), but I am really ready to see this movie.  I finished the rest of 7 last night, closed my book, and let myself be sad for just a little bit.  It sure is tough to end a good series.  Here's goodbye to peeking in on the trials and triumphs of the characters in Harry Potter.