Christmas 2004 Memories

Quick Wrap-Up
We got ornaments. I mean TONS. One was from my mother-in-law, for Christmas in our first home. My mom got us a first christmas ornament of Cherubs and also one with two bears as a bride and groom. She also brought us funky little ornaments for the dogs and things. Next year, we won't need new ornaments. Unless it says "Baby's First Christmas." (I'm thinking too far ahead).

Day by Day Recap
THURSDAY 12.23.04 Pictures Here

As my previous blog mentioned, Christina and I spent all day baking different things. The peanut butter chocolate Ritz was a big hit on Christmas Day, and the cookies were gobbled up really fast. That night, Bryan and I went to his grandmother's Christmas party which was loads of fun. Christmas 2003 I managed to open 3 gifts and have each one of them taken away during a mad game of dirty Santa. This year, the "big" gift was one of those vibrating squishy massage pillows. THREE OF THEM - And wouldn't you know, I opened all 3 and had them taken away from me. The laughter in that house was hysterical. I opened 8-10 gifts this year and had all of them swiped. Bryan even tried to help me out, but we lost track of whether or not the item was "dead" (after being "stolen" three times an item is "dead") and so someone got my massaging neck pillow. Bryan ended up with a shaving set and I got 2 Joe Boxer travel mugs. Pretty nice, broke them in Christmas Eve.

FRIDAY 12.24.04

I worked until about 7:30pm and then headed to my mother-in-law's, because every year that Bryan and I have been together it has become a tradition to share Christmas Eve with his mom and sister and open gifts. I had a theme, apparently, because all my gifts were kitchen related and ALL Fat Chef items. Bed,Bath,and Beyond sells the line I love. Then the final big present came and Bryan and I joked that it was another vaccum cleaner (this would've been the third year we'd received one) and....I GOT MY ISLAND FOR MY KITCHEN!!!! The minute we bought this house, I said I wanted an island to sit in the middle of the kitchen floor because it's SO huge. AND I GOT IT!! Okay, I'm still excited. Sue me! And sadly Bryan and I forgot to change out the battery in the digital camera, so there were no pictures this year.
Then we got home around 11pm and my mom and sisters came to spend the night with us. We didn't stay up too late that night, I think we watched "Two Brothers" halfway through before I went to bed. That is an adorable movie, by the way.

SATURDAY 12.25.04 Pictures Here

We got up early enough for me to start coffee and make breakfast (Baked Omelette, Waffles, Biscuits and homemade preserves). We ate breakfast and then started opening presents, not after Christina had said "This is the longest time we've EVER waited to open presents!" But my mom and I didn't feel like we had any reason to rush, so we didn't. I got more Fat Chef kitchen things (I now wonder if my Mother and Mother-in-law cohorted together on that plan) and I also got little toys and goodies in my stocking. My mother also have Bryan and I seperate gifts of Cordial Cherries, which is a sentimental gift in my family because that was a tradition started by my great-grandmother years before she passed away. Then we got all dressed up to go out and visit the rest of our family.

SUNDAY 12.26.04
My mom and sisters had slept over again, so I made another Baked Omelette, this time with just hashbrowns. After breakfast we gathered everybody up to go to my cousin Celena's house, and we spent the rest of the day out there having hamburgers and hotdogs off the grill for dinner.

We got snow....

Flurries. I'm not complaining, as much drama as I hear about icing driveways and scraping windshields...keep the real thing, those of you who are *lucky* enough to have it! Heh.

But we saw snow flurries today, me and my little sister, so we had some fun trying to shop at Wal-mart.

I think I filled my quota for Holiday Baking all in one afternoon. My sister and I made homemade Cranberry Chutney (it smelled so much like potpurri with the spices, we were almost too afraid to taste it), Peanut Butter Fudge with Chocolate Drizzle, Monster Cookies that consist of peanut butter, oatmeal, chocolate chips, and M&Ms (basically a flour-less cookie) and to finish it all off, we made Ritz peanut butter sandwich cookies dipped in chocolate.

And I was on good behavior, I only had 2 cookies and one chocolate dipped Ritz sandwich today.
Besides, most of it is going to Bryan's grandparents' Christmas party tonight, and some with me to my bosses tomorrow morning at work. Then we're spending Christmas Eve with Bryan's mom and sister, and then my family is coming over to spend the night.

So for breakfast Christmas Day, we plan on having a Baked Omelet, Hashbrowns and Coffee, and enjoying it in front of the fireplace while we watch A Christmas Carol.

Could I be anymore of a Christmas Geek? (I just pulled a Chandler!)

So This is Christmas.....

Okay, I think it's safe to assume just by the weather conditions alone that Christmas is just around the corner. And while the tune of Jim Carrey singing You're a Mean One, Mr.Grinch I have changed the template on my blog and have done nothing but surf the internet for the last two and a half hours. I've been productive! (not.)

If you're someone who loves movies but hates paying late fees when you rent, there is a website you should definitely check out --> Netflix

Several people have recommended it to me, and Bryan and I signed up on Sunday and we've already received our first three movies (all Christmas movies, so I'm glad they got here when they did).

Nothing new going on around here. I'm still enjoying my official "off days" from work and school, and I can't say I've done anything worth talking about in the free time I've had. My mom is coming up this weekend for Christmas, so I should have good holiday pictures to post next week sometime.

PS - I love Jim Carrey's version of "The Grinch"!!

Calling all angels....

Then it's one foot, then the other, as you step out on the road
Step out on the road..how much weight , how much?
Then it's how long and how far and how many times....
Oh before it's too late

Have you ever had one of those days where you feel like your entire world is crashing down around you....you want to just curl up in a ball and cry yourself into oblivion.....I've had days like that. And you're asking yourself "How much more of this can I deal with?"
Looking to God.
How much more can you possibly put on my shoulders right now. Are you testing me?

Calling all angels, calling all angels
Walk me through this one...don't leave me alone
Calling all angels, calling all angels
We're trying and we're hoping
But we're not sure how

Sometimes I think people can be cruel for no reason other than they think they're helping. How are you helping by taking everything you don't like about me and tearing into me, piece by piece? Does it make you feel good about yourself? I think you get some satisfaction out of the fact that you hurt me. Hope you enjoy my pain.

Calling all angels, calling all angels
We're trying, we're hoping
We're hurting, we're loving
We're crying, we're calling
Cause we're not sure how this goes

Death Penalty for Peterson

The jury announced the verdict this afternoon about 4 o'clock my time - Scott Peterson will receive the death penalty for the murder of Laci and Connor. I'm confused though because on the radio, the DJ said that sentencing would begin in February....does that mean Scott will begin serving his sentence in February or what? I'm only assuming because I thought sentencing came after the trial, and then he served his time.

I'm going with the guilty verdict because of his behavior after Laci's disappearance, and because of the stint with dying his hair, getting a large sum of cash, and heading for Mexico. And the fact that the evidence just started stacking up against him.

Just.Want.Sleep.

. Sadly, yesterday was probably the worst birthday I've had.

I was supposed to be at work between 2:30-3:00 am yesterday morning. The night before, I had gone to bed with a terrible stomach ache and woke feeling even worse. I made it to work around 4:00am (I work in pricing, so we're required to be there early) and found myself greeted by the pricing manager/my co-worker, and a police car. Apparently, at 2:40 a.m. the store had been robbed at gunpoint.

Thankfully, no one was hurt but I was terrified because this is the first time that's ever happened at our store, and apparently one of the overnight stockers involved is seriously shaken up about it. I was told by the overnight cashier - she and the stocker were told to get face down on the floor at gunpoint - that she was terrified that he was going to bolt and run.

There is a small blurb in the Montgomery Newspaper about the robbery. Just go here.

The day just progressed from there, with my last stressful day of classes and then finding out that MrC would not be getting off work very early - so I ate birthday cake by myself last night.

And then some stupid woman called me an idiot when I was driving out of Food World because she and her daughter didn't bother to stop when I was driving toward them. So I drove around them instead.

What guts me the most about the entire robbery thing is that I was supposed to be there. So my mental state today isn't a good one. And now it's raining.

New Developments

We've been having problems adjusting. Our new city is totally different from the old one, and a major part of that is because of the fact that we lived on THE busiest street in the old city and now this new one is.....slow. I won't say slow exactly. The problem is, we're accustomed to slamming doors and stomping neighbors, barking dogs at all hours, and laughing children playing in the walkway of our apartment. I was accustomed to knowing where my husband was in the apartment by certain creaks the floor made as he walked. We kept our windows open in the summer and listened to the wonderful sounds of blairing stereos or revving engines. Now when you stand outside after about 9 o'clock, the only thing you might here is crickets churping. And even they keep it down to a dull roar.

We love our new house. We're not complaining at all. I was shocked by the fact that on Sunday as we're moving in, the neighbors to our right came over JUST to introduce themselves. We socialized with our apartment neighbors, sure, but just coming out to tell us who you are? And we paid $20 the other night for two large speciality pizzas and some breadsticks and a LOCALLY owned pizza place. I love getting to pay 2% less on my sales tax, that's absolutely great. And the dogs don't know what to do with themselves when they're allowed out in the yard - alone - to play. But we need noise. We've lived with it for almost four years now. Maybe one night I'll go down the street with my windows down, radio blaring. Do you think the neighbors will think badly of me if I do?