We had a WONDERFUL time with Mark's family! There were a few little bumps, but otherwise a really good holiday. I got to enjoy my first taste of yorkshire pudding, breaking open crackers (not the kind you eat), and trying to find the pickle gift and other fun Peeples traditions ;) Mark got to enjoy some intimate time with the toilet and rumblies in his tummy.
Mark and I left for his parent's place on Friday (the 21st) after work. Mark showed up to pick me up with the car packed and loaded and we were on our way. Other than a few traffic issues, it was an uneventful drive. We were glad not to be heading the other direction as there were quite a few accidents that blocked and slowed lanes of traffic. We did stop off at Mark's favorite burger joint in Seattle to grab a bite - it's our tradition to stop there when driving to his parents. We also visited the nearby grocery store for some cough drops for me.
Saturday and Sunday were great! We relaxed, ate great food, watched a movie, took naps, visited with everyone, etc. The only down side (at least for me), was the cough I acquired before we left. It kept me up every night quite a bit (hence the naps). Mark's mom gave me some mega cough syrup but it didn't seem to make a dent.
Other than the cough, the trip was great... until Monday (Christmas Eve). Mark wasn't feeling too well and by mid morning laid down on his parent's bed. By noon he had thrown up once and pretty much enjoyed that ritual for the rest of the day. I stayed with him and read to him for a while, watched some tv while he rested and got him whatever he needed. I felt so bad for him it made me want to cry! Throwing up is the worst!!
Mark said it was okay if we left him for a short time to attend the Christmas Eve service that evening, which was very nice. Although I was sad to be there without Mark. Everyone was. Jean (Mark's mom) leaned over to me during the last song and said it was always Mark's favorite part because it was the end of the service ;) It was implied that Mark seemed to have double the excitement as anyone else, about Christmas and especially presents. So there was lots of talk about how sad it was that he wasn't able to enjoy the day.
That night we all gave Jack & Jean the camera we pitched in for them for Christmas. We stood in the living room and tried to talk loud so Mark could here from the bedroom. I also took a few pictures and showed them to him.
Later, after the stockings were hung by the fireplace with care, we all headed to bed. Actually, by that time the stockings were stuffed with gifts (apparently Santa showed up before we even went to bed) and were placed nicely on the dining room table. In Santa's defense, there really were too many of them to all hang near the fireplace.
Anyway, that night Mark slept poorly, but didn't throw up any more. Between his not feeling/sleeping well and getting up the middle of the night and me coughing half the night, we were quite the pair. But morning finally came and we went upstairs to join the rest of the family. After nibbling on a yummy cinnamon pastry and consuming a little coffee (Mark opted out of these 2 treats), we roused Adrienne (Mark's sister) and all gathered in the living room to open our stockings. It was fun for me to see the family routine on Christmas morning. It was pleasantly very similar to my families'. All the little gifts were really nice!
We then moved to the kitchen for breakfast of egg casserole (again, similar to my family). Some of us got dressed and some of us didn't, but after breakfast and cleaning up, we opening gifts. That was really fun!! Rian (only 2 years old) got a little overwhelmed part way through so went down for a nap. During which time Mark I were instructed to just keep opening gifts because we had brought ALL ours gifts for each other, and there were quite a few. Mark and I laughed when we discovered we got each other the same gift, a cool camera tripod. And appreciated that we shared the same idea and had gotten each other warm fuzzy bathrobes. We both were very pleased and excited about our Christmas gifts, from each other and the rest of the family. Everyone was SO thoughtful!!!
The gift opening culminated with Adrienne opening a much needed laptop from her parents. She was pretty excited and everyone else knew about it so we enjoyed watching her as she very pleasantly realized what it was.
After gift opening we moved into different activities. Mark got out his Playstation (he brought it because he was convinced he would be getting a game he wanted). Apparently he was right ;) I started getting us packed as he was feeling better, but not 100%.
We had dinner at 3pm and it was VERY yummy. It wasn't the traditional turkey, which was kind of nice and this is where I enjoyed popping open cracker, which included a paper crown... they all did and was a tradition to wear your gold paper crown through dinner. This is also where I tried my new favorite thing, yorkshire pudding!! Seriously, it was SO good!! And of course, my place setting had a napkin in a silver napkin ring that had my name on it. It's a tradition in the Peeples house that when you marry or are birthed into the family you get a napkin ring with your name on it. Jack & Jean had brought mine to set up on a table at our wedding reception so I had known I had one, but it was really neat to see it there. It's a fun reminder of how loved and accepted I am by this new family!!
Mark and I left at 5pm with the car loaded, wind blowing outside and light rain. Mark was worried about how he would do on the drive, but he did great!! I drove and we stopped only once. We had heard rumors of snow in Portland, but called ahead and found out that there was snow falling most of Christmas day, but nothing stuck. We ran into snow fall quite a few times between Seattle and Portland and only about a 5 mile stretch where there was a little on the road, but otherwise it was just really wet.
We got home at 10pm and unloaded the car. Mark immediately laid down because he wasn't feeling well and I turned on some heat, read the mail, and put a few things away before crawling into bed. Mark wasn't feeling well at all, which culminated around 1:30am when he hit the bathroom to throw up Christmas dinner. Poor guy!! I woke up around that time with a coughing fit that lasted for most of the next hour. This was the 5th night in a row of bad sleep, so was pretty frustrating. I got up and went into the living room so I wouldn't wake Mark until it calmed a little.
I was at work by 8am and was able to leave during the day long enough to hit the store for food for Mark and to check in on him. He was doing much better!
We had a rough re-entry back to home, but by the end of last night when we had put everything away, showered, were cozy in our new bathrobes, eating dinner and watching Mark's new Seinfeld DVDs, we were much better. Oh, and I had purchased some appropriate cough medicine for my type of cough and slept just fine last night!! I woke up a few times coughing but not nearly as bad as before. It's the worst thing I have ever tasted in my life but I think I'm in love with it!
The rest of this week should be fun. We have a few activities plan but otherwise plan to relax and take it easy. I'm excited as that is how I prefer to spend my New Years. Nothing like entering the new year fully rested ;)
I'll post pictures later.
My brother forwarded me this SWEET video today of a company that sells a blender and has a "Will It Blend" video series where they blend ANYTHING!! On this list, you can see an iPhone, Halo 3, Guitar Hero III, Chuck Norris and bad guys, blend! Oh man, I think I could spend all day watched these videos!!!
Because of these videos I'm definitely interested in buying this blender, but mostly so I can blend things ;) Even though you should NOT try these at home!!
That is the question. And I think it's obvious that the answer lately has been "not to blog". I have not forgotten about my blog world, but like some, am lacking content or motivation, not sure which one. But we're all allowed a little break now and then.
So, I'll post something more later, but for right now Mark and I are looking forward to Christmas with the Peeples. We leave Friday after work to drive to Whidbey and come back Christmas night. It's my first Christmas away from my parents, but I'm feeling excited about this new adventure. Mark also sacrificed Christmas with his family last year to join me and he was so great about it, so I'm glad to make the sacrifice this year. It certainly doesn't hurt that I really love Mark's family and enjoy being with them!! (and no, I'm not just saying that. I have TERRIFIC in-laws ;)
I'm also looking forward to tomorrow night when we have dinner and exchange gifts with Barb. I think it's fun when the first gifts of the season are exchanged ;)
As a side note, Sunday night I spoke at Insight with Barb and it was really cool to be back there!! I felt exceptionally inadequate to be speaking, but hope God used our message. Barb had come up with this cool idea of having the kids "consume" God by doing communion with like 4 times the amount of bread and juice normally distributed. I really appreciated the extra time to think and reflect while chewing on my hunk of bread, I hope the kids did as well.
I really miss hanging out with highschoolers and am not sure how long I will stay away. It's been almost a year since I was moved to Fusion (the college group) with my students. Jenni is also back as worship leader, which I think is pretty rad!! She's a great leader to students! I'm sort of envious they all get to hangout with her ;) I love students, but am enjoying the time to focus on being married and establishing a great foundation with my husband!!
If I'm not on again in the next week, Merry Christmas!!!
Mark and I have been on a budget since October. We've noticed a reasonable decrease in our debt each month, but we've also noticed a lack of money for other things, like new clothes. No, we don't think we need new clothes all the time, but a few extra pieces to help subsidize our fall/winter wardrobes would be nice.
We have varying clothing frustrations. Mark only has a few pair of "work" pants that range from being too big to too small with probably only pair that are the right size. My selection is lacking anything beyond the t-shirt and jeans variety of which I wear to work. I've even pulled out the ones from the back of the closet I'd rather not have in my rotation, just have a few more pieces to choose from.
You might see us and think we look nice and even stylish, but you are seeing the better end of our wardrobe. If you saw me at the past 2 or 3 events I've worn anything nicer than jeans to, you'd see the same pair of brown Gap pants I've been sporting this fall. They happen to be my only pair of pants that fit correctly beyond my jeans.
We do actually have a budget for clothes, but $60 a month for 2 people doesn't get you very far and I think we spent part of it on something else last month.
I'm not sure why I felt the need to write about this, but I was just reflecting on how today I'm wearing the same pair of brown Gap pants I wear when I'll be seen beyond my normal stops (work, gym, errands, home), and the same blue sweater I purchased with the Gap pants and a coat I haven't worn yet this fall that I like. It all goes nicely together unless you look closer. At which time you'll notice the jacket has black trimming, which doesn't match my navy blue sweater or brown pants! I decided this morning, when I had no other warm nicer winter coat to wear, that Beggars can't be choosers!!
Whenever I hear that title I think of the old Christmas song where the boy lisp-ly sings about simply wanting his 2 front teeth for Christmas. I have to admit that this year I already have what I want (Mark as my super wonderful handsome husband), so anything else is simply icing on the cake!!
My mom is a fantastic writer and she's written several articles for Crosswalk.com and Peacemaker Ministries. Last year she posted an article about all she wanted for Christmas. Here's a little blurb and a link to the rest of the article:
"All I Want For Christmas... Is A Peaceful Family"
I began to collect Norman Rockwell prints as a girl. At 17 my favorite Christmas gift was a giant book of Norman Rockwell paintings and Saturday Evening Post Covers. I loved the detail, the nostalgic scenes and faces, and I would spend hours poring over the pages.
The November 24th issue of World Magazine featured Norman Rockwell's painting Freedom from Want from the "Four Freedoms" series. This picture, depicting three generations enjoying a holiday meal, reminded me of why I love Rockwell's paintings. I long for loving, peaceful family moments like this.
When my mother was asked what she wanted for Christmas, she would always respond, "I just want a family that will get along together." We did have our share of conflicts and maybe that was the beginning of my fascination with Rockwell paintings. Warm meaningful moments are frequent themes of Rockwell's work, and I wanted moments like that in my family. This desire for peace in my home continued on in my adulthood. Buried deep in my decision to home school was a desire for a conflict-free family.
Click here for the rest of the article.
I find myself with a few minutes on my hand and a computer in front of me, but I can't think of anything to write. How is that possible?? I think of dozens of things to blog about all day every day but now, when I'm at the computer, I can't think of what to write about. So I thought I'd do random throughts.
- I sort of wished our power went out at home. I think it's fun to be without power for a while.
- Peanut M&Ms are calling my name right now. I tried to take it easy, with only a few at a time but that doesn't seem to satisfy.
- Speaking of eating, I've been battling a mild desire to "take it easy" on what I eat lately. Even so far as trying to come up with a "diet plan". I always comment that I don't diet and after trying to follow a lower calorie count last week, I remember why. So I'm not sure the solution but I guess moderation is my theme.
- My effort to take it easy on running is coming along quite effectively. In other words, I haven't run in several weeks. I sometimes feel bad about this but then remember my body was getting mad at me so spend my gym days on other activities, including a turbo kick-boxing class that rocks! Although I'm definitely not working as hard as I should be. But decided it's okay for right now... at least that's what I'm trying to tell myself.
- Mark and I are doing great!! His work continues to be challenging and our little life together continues to be wonderful! Recently we've been trying to come up with weekly meal plans, but don't have much of a system yet and are on our 3rd month of budgeting, which we're struggling through and starting to see a few benefits.
- We decorated what we're calling our "training wheel tree" - a borrowed fake decorative tree we got from Barb and put some lights on and then some of each of our ornaments. It was fun to talk about what all the decorations meant and where they came from. Neither of us had pulled out our ornaments in quite a few years. When we were in Montana my mom hooked me up with some fun starter Christmas decorations that helped around our place ;)
- As I've spent Starbucks dates with God, I've missed my role(s) in ministry. I think not being in ministry is good for me, but I sure the booster in your personal relationship with God as you can't really slack off as much when in ministry. I'm trying not to slack, but there just isn't as much going on right now. I'm trying to enjoy the break as I know it won't last!
- I think that's all I can come up with at the moment.
Happy Holidays!!
