Christmas Prep

Oops, I missed Music Monday!

I have to be honest: I completely lost track of what day it was. That is one of the blissful luxuries of Christmas break. Of course I remembered when Tim and I had to start thinking about dinner so he could eat something before work, but by then I was well into elfing for the day.

Wrapped and ready!

We are just a few minor preparations and some major baking away from being ready to celebrate Christmas with WI family this weekend!!

And we have just a few more (small) steps before being able to mail off a few gifts to other familia around the U.S.!!

Our Christmas cards just may be going in the mail today, but I still consider this a victory as well because last year (and maybe the year before?) we didn't even attempt to send any...and even then I still have not mailed a few from last year because I just found them stashed away! Oops!

I woke up this morning to snow outside. Ordinarily I hate snow, but
A) I do not have to drive anywhere today.
B) Scout loves to play in it so much that he literally begs at the door, and it's fun to watch him. Check out the video on my Instagram if you want to see him play, too. :)
C) It adds to the Christmas spirit!

Happy Tuesday, and happy last few days until CHRISTMAS!!!

Q&A Session

I was nominated for this award by Emily over at Love Woke Me Up This Morning. If you haven't ever read her stuff, you should stop by. She has a talent for being honest yet witty in both her writing and her vlogs. She loves coffee, writing, and musicals, and she's a lot of fun! We actually met in college and have stayed connected through blogging -- it's pretty fun. Seriously, go check it out! Thanks for the nomination, Emily!!

So this award comes with some tasks: 

1. Thank the blogger that nominated you and link back to their website. 
2. Post the award’s logo on your blog.
3. Answer the ten questions you have been asked.
4. Nominator ten other bloggers and ask them ten other questions.

I have to skip number 4 because I really don't follow other bloggers besides Emily that still post anything. Le sigh. But I'll have some fun answering these 10 questions today!! 

1) What is one of the most underrated books/series you've ever read?

I love the book Falling Home by Karen White. It's about this woman who moved away from her Southern home at the first opportunity and hasn't looked back in years. She's become this successful business woman who is engaged to be married to a successful business man, and she feels like she has the perfect life. She gets a phone call from her estranged sister saying their dad is dying, and she books it back home. She ends up staying there much longer than planned and begins to question the life she's been leading. She has to come to grips with the fact that what she thought was perfect is lacking in many ways, and she has to decide if she is going to go back to living a lie or if she'll be brave enough to embrace who she really is and what she really wants. I love this story because this woman learns to open herself up to the support of family and friends and finds her life enriched by it when she just wanted to do it all herself, and it's a reminder that it's okay that finding out who you are is a messy process. I also like the fact that there's a romance story line involved, but there are many other dynamics involved as well.

2) What's your favorite holiday story?

I love the Christmas story. Our school does a Christmas program where part of it is having the Christmas story read from Luke while the preschoolers through 2nd graders act it out, and it's so much fun explaining to my kindergarteners that Jesus is just like you and me because he was an actual person who had a Mommy and a Daddy and who grew from a baby to a grown up, but he was different because he was also God and grew up to save the whole entire world from all the yucky stuff like rudeness, death, sickness, and being sad or mad. This tiny baby was born so we could know how much God loves us and treasures each one of us. He wants us to live with Him in heaven so we can be happy and perfect again like He first created us. I think it's powerful to think about how God chose two special people to parent the Savior of the world, and He really kept all of the promises He made throughout the Old Testament in the details surrounding how and where Jesus was born. It is an awesome thing to get to share this story with the kids in such a tangible way because they have fun and ask a lot of great questions, but it's also such a huge and awesome reminder to me to study this story so closely with them. God loves us so much that He really puts a lot of thought even into the details of our lives and keeping His promises. I am unworthy of that love, but I am thankful to have such a loving and gracious God. The sacrifice He made by coming to earth and dying is something that continues to amaze me the more I think about it. 

3) If your pet wrote a story about the holidays, what do you think it would be about? If you don't have a pet, pick your favorite animal.

Danny and Squirt have been through a few Christmases with us already, but this will be Scout's first Christmas! Danny would just write about how excited he is about the chewy bones in his stocking and snuggles on the couches with us on Christmas. Squirt and Scout would tell you about the struggles of the Christmas tree. Squirt just wants to sniff it, drink water from the tree holder, and pee on it. Scout just wants to know how it tastes and smells, and Mommy is okay with the sniffing but for some reason keeps saying that eating it will make him sick. Oh, and he'd tell you his Mommy got really mad when he kept trying to chew on everyone's stockings, and she had to hide them up high in the closet...but they sure are soft and chewy and fun! 

4) Tell me about your favorite classic story/book/movie.

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer is by far #1 of my Top 3 Christmas Movies. I definitely make a big stink about watching this every year. It's still on DVR right now, and I told Tim that I need to watch it again at least one time before Christmas is over. I think I love this more as an adult than I ever did as a kid, but I love to sit down with hot chocolate and watch it. I just think it's so funny with all the word play in there, like Yukon Cornelius' "This fog is as thick as peanut butter!" or all of the Misfit Toys like the Charlie in the Box. And Rudolph's pouty little kid voice just is adorable. Then at the end this little underdog reindeer whom everyone made fun of comes back to save the day and shows us that being different is special, not bad. Ahh, all the warm and fuzzy feelings! 

5) What are you looking forward to in 2015?

2015 is going to bring changes with it and new adventures. I'm nervous about some of the unknowns right now, but I'm excited to see how God will be at work for us next year. 

6) What's your favorite holiday dessert? (Can you tell I'm in a holiday mood?)

Christmas cookies!! I've been waiting to be on break so I could start baking and decorating sugar cookies and trying out a few other cookie recipes, too! 

7) Which fictional character do you think you are the most like?

I definitely am a mix of Lorelei and Rory on Gilmore Girls. I love my coffee, and I love books. I can be the quirky one with witty one-liners, and I have been known to be annoyingly and endearingly persuasive at times. I get really anxious when it comes to projects and work, and I don't like my agenda to be thrown off. I love to make lists, and I do find it stress-relieving. I enjoy writing, and I love my family and friends dearly. 

8) What is your latest Netflix binge?

As soon as Oct. 1 rolled around and Gilmore Girls was added to Netflix I started watching seasons 5-7. I own seasons 1-4 and have watched them so many times, but I needed to catch up on 5-7 again! Now I'm on to rewatching Glee. 

9) Who are your favorite YouTubers? If you don't watch much YouTube, share bloggers, Tweeters, Instagramers, etc.

I don't routinely watching YouTubers anymore, more just when I'm in the mood for them. I use YouTube mostly for music while I'm working on school stuff at home these days. Most recently I used it for this:

We sang this as a staff during the Christmas program the other night. I wish I'd recorded it because my coworkers are amazing at harmonies. 

10) What's your current background on your laptop/tablet/cell phone?

On my phone I have a picture I took up in Alaska, and my locked screen is Danny and Squirt. My iPad just has a generic grass picture that came with it. :) 

3 Years and Counting.

Today marks 3 years since I gained a little shadow named Squirt.

His favorite things are snuggles, naps, and piles of laundry or pillows. He goes absolutely nuts for chicken jerky. He's even been known to chew through bags to get to it. Oh, he's also our little Houdini. He helped us find every loose or open space in our fence before Tim put our wooden fence up, and he even let us knew he lost weight by squeezing through the gate the backyard to go for a nice walk over to the neighbor's.

Flash back to 3 years ago. During my first year of teaching I realized I was letting myself become consumed by teaching.  I was becoming restless and needed more in my life than my job. I needed a life. The apartments I lived in also had some interesting tenants, and I wanted to feel totally safe. I liked taking walks to relax, but they got lonely. Yup, I needed a dog. 

When I first saw Squirt's info online, I admit I thought he was cute but bypassed him because he was tiny. I wanted a medium dog so I could feel safe but could also pick it up should the need ever arise (like if the dog got sick or hurt). Something kept bringing me back to his picture, though, so I set up a visit at the shelter. 

Squirt had been in the shelter for just over a year.  He was found wandering around, and they think someone may have kept him as a breeding dog for a while. I just don't think he was taken care of well wherever he once was because of how anxious he is now. He has major separation anxiety and is very easily spooked. Loud or strange noises send him running, and he freaks out during storms. He also gets scared when he doesn't know where I am in the house. He'll pace around until he finds me. Yup, he's a ferocious guard dog. If you're not careful while you're at our house, he'll lick you to pieces or take over your lap so you are forced to snuggle him.

Today is also Squirt's birthday! Well, I say it's his birthday. They think he was 6 when they found him, so he was 7 when I got him. That's technically a senior for a small dog. I decided his adoption day was his birthday just so I could remember it. Today he's 10! He's celebrating by taking a nap at my feet as I type, and he's gotten a few chunks of chicken jerky without having to work for them. 

This quirky little guy was the start of my own little family. It was because of him that Danny came bounding over one afternoon to sniff us, and it was his barking all day that led to Tim dog-sitting and us getting to dog-sit Danny. It was that trade-off that sparked a much-needed friendship between two lonely people. That new friend became the love of my life, the man I am now blessed to call my husband. Our little family of us plus two furry boys has expanded to include an unstoppable force of a puppy.

And it all started with my little old man dog. 

Happy birthday, Little Bit. I love you very, very much. 

Music Monday: Christmas-ing Continues

Today's song isn't anything particularly awe-inspiring or beautiful, and it may not even make you giggle -- it's just one that I really like. I find that whenever it's on, I'm compelled to turn it up. 

The Grinch used to be a running family joke. I don't even remember how it got started, exactly, but for a while this song was my dad's ringtone when he called me. I kept it on year-round, though, not just during the Christmas season.

Maybe this is appealing today because this song is comfortable and familiar, and sometimes you just need that. It's a busy time with the Christmas Program Wednesday, program practice tonight until 5:30, and some crummy weather that made the drive longer. I don't want to grumble because I love my job, but I'm one tired teacher. I don't like being a grump, though, so I needed a song tonight that'd be a bit of comfortable in the midst of crazy. 

Just for kicks and giggles, here you go.

Christmas Classics

The first Christmas that I was in college was probably one of my all-time favorite Christmas seasons. We had this little "family" of us that hung out a lot in college, and a lot of them were huge Christmas fans like me. It was awesome getting to do so many Christmas-y things like baking cookies, watching as many Christmas movies as we could, and drinking loads of hot chocolate.

And then there was the rocking out to Christmas music that we did together. We even sang in the Hot Chocolate Choir together at Concordia's annual tree lighting ceremony.

My friend Aaron made us Christmas mix CDs the following year for Christmas, and it still is one of my favorite things to listen to this time of year because it takes me back to that group of friends and that time in our lives...not just college, but those nights and days around Christmas where we took time to just have fun and enjoy being together. There was so much joy and love in that group of friends when we were together.

Here's just one of the songs on the CD...yup, feels like Christmas now. :)

It's Here!!!

Christmas season is FINALLY here again! I have waited for 11 whole months for this.

I know, technically it started Friday. Don't take my lack of posting about my excitement as a dimmed enthusiasm this year for this Most Wonderful Time of the Year. Trust me, I was super-excited. I got giddy hearing the Christmas tunes this weekend while we were out and about. I was ecstatic when Tim consented to listening to Christmas music for "just a half an hour"...which turned into a good chunk of the 9 hour car ride home...and I have had Christmas songs cycling through my head like crazy -- especially one of the songs my kiddos are singing for our Christmas program this year. It's called "Let's Take a Peek in the Manger" and it's super adorable. 

And this morning I got pumped up for the day by listening to Josh Groban's Noel on the way to school. It's only one of the best Christmas CDs ever. And I listened to another Christmas CD on the way home from school, too. Um, I can't even think of when the last time I was glad to have this commute, but Christmas music sure did the trick today. 

See? Amazing. You're welcome. 

I feel a rush of excitement and joy...and I really feel like there is a lot to squeeze into this month to make the most of this short window of Christmas amazingness. I love getting to see the kids get excited to share the Christmas story in our program. This year we have an Advent calendar in our classroom that we are doing everyday, and the kids are so excited and so am I!! I'm itching to get our tree and put up our decorations. I need to figure out what kind of new creation I want to try making this year to go with my annual sugar cookies and fudge. I want to bask in the glow of Christmas lights and see our 5 stockings hanging up. I can't wait to snuggle on the couch in my jammies with peppermint hot chocolate in my Santa mug with some Rudolph and Elf and all of those wonderful Christmas classics.

Did I mention how much I love the Christmas season?!?!?