Christmas Music and Movies

#28 and 29: Christmas music and movies

I don’t know about you, but we’ve been watching Christmas movies and listening to Christmas music since before Thanksgiving! There are so many songs I love, but my all-time favorite would be "Oh Holy Night" hands down. The inspiring lyrics depicting Jesus’ birth combined with the powerful ballad never fails to make me well up with tears in the same spot every time…..”Fall on your knees…Oh hear the angel’s voices…Oh night, divine…” So powerful. I also still can’t help but belt out Mariah Carey’s “All I want for Christmas”. It’s a classic!

We own a great deal of our Christmas movie favorites (Christmas Vacation, Elf, Christmas with the Kranks), but we decided to check out what Netflix had. To our delight, they had so many classics! All of the old Christmas cartoons are on there AND I was even able to find the Radio City Rockettes Christmas Spectacular! Here’s a video of the toy soldier scene.

Bryan was not so enthusiastic for this one; however, when I was growing up I dreamed of becoming a Rockette after my parents took me to see them in Las Vegas in the late ‘90s. Then a few years later we went and saw them in Cleveland for this exact same show, their Christmas Spectacular! Not only is their singing and dancing beautiful, but this show tells and illustrates the Christmas story of Jesus’ birth in a beautiful way! If you haven’t seen it, and you have Netflix, I highly recommend it! 

Bryan was able to find his one of his childhood favorite on Netflix and on youtube! Here it is. It’s too cute!

We LOVE everything Christmas!

Who doesn't love Christmas decorations?!

 I’m SO thankful for the Christmas season to finally be here!!! Bryan and I have been decorating, watching Christmas movies, and Christmas music since last Thursday. I don’t know about you, but something about this season just makes me happy. I suppose one could find negatives to the attitudes and behaviors that come out during this time of year, but if those are avoided it really is a beautiful time. It is a time of year where Christ is probably most talked about and recognized. Jesus is the Reason for the Season!

Which brings me to my #27: Christmas décor. Our goal for this month, as far as décor goes, is to transform our house into a Christmas wonderland, lol. I wish I was joking, but Bryan and I seriously LOVE decorating. When we were engaged, we were given an engagement party and the guests all brought us a Christmas ornament to decorate our tree. This was the most amazing idea, because every time we decorate our tree  we are reminisce about each ornament. They each hold so much sentimental value. 

Us with all the ornaments we received at our Engagement Party 2010

We had two very special additions this year: 1.) a mini replica of Tiger! Tiger definitely needed a spot on our tree. When we visited Amish country for our one year anniversary in July, we visited Ohio’s largest Christmas store called ‘Tis the Season. 

It was amazing! We wanted to buy everything in it; however, we restrained ourselves and walked away with a lil’ Tiger for our  Christmas tree. We can’t wait to go back!

2.) An August Wendell hammered ornament to symbolize Amish country. Again, we got this on our anniversary trip to Amish Country, which was beautiful by the way. We stayed at Donna’s Premier Lodging in Berlin, Ohio. Donna gave us a coupon for a free gift with purchase for the Wendell August store. Who doesn’t love free stuff?! Naturally, we went to the store and sought out to find something to purchase. We ended up finding a hammered plate of a picture of the place we were engaged, McConnell’s Mills! 

McConnell's Mills- Where Bryan proposed!

We were so surprised to see it there considering this place is in PA. Well, we came to find out that this store originates from PA! Ah ha! Either way, we thought we had to have it considering it was our anniversary and it was the place we were engaged! We got that and our Amish country Wendell August ornament!

We did get a few other new things and repurposed others. New tree skirt from TJ Maxx. A new star to top our tree from Target. Some new stocking hangers from Target. We are still on a hunt for a choo-choo train. Bryan REALLY wants a train that will run on a track around our tree and I’m all about new Christmas décor! It certainly is beginning to look a lot like Christmas and we LOVE it!

Thankful Thanksgiving Weekend Recap

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! I must say that with the help from a few wonderful people in our family assisting us, we successfully hosted our first Thanksgiving! My husband cooked the most amazing Turkey I’ve ever had!  We bought a frozen turkey, thawed it, brined it, stuffed it, and roasted it in the bag. It was delicious. This brings me to my #18 item of thankfulness: my husband’s cooking skills! For those of you who don’t know this, Bryan is an amazing cook! I’m so blessed! When he was choosing what he wanted to do as a career, he was actually torn between nursing and culinary school. He chose nursing, which he is also very good at. His compassion for people makes him one of those nurses that you always hope you get when you go to the hospital. Nevertheless, his love for cooking and creating delicious concoctions still remains. In addition to the perfect turkey, he also made Pistachio Marzipans. Holy moly were they delicious!! Being the perfectionist he is, he said, “I think I can make those better next time…” I thought they were fantastic, but I heard “next time…” and so I figure it’s a win-win for me!

#19: Thanksgiving goodies. Does Thanksgiving not have the best foods or what? Thanksgiving is the one holiday feast that I don’t mind eating days after for leftover. Oh and I have eaten leftovers for days; this is no exaggeration.

#20: My personal favorite: sweet potatoes/ Yams. Any way shape or form, I just love this nutrient-packed super food! This year, we had two side dishes including these wonderful vegetables: sweet potato casserole and Yams with marshmallows and pineapple. Perhaps I love them so much because they are a side dish that taste like dessert!

#21: As you can probably tell our kitchen was busy and our oven full with preparation and cooking of dishes. I sure am thankful for the Market Day fundraiser that I purchased some pies from, because I was able to bake those in advanced! To my pleasant surprise, they were SO GOOD! I purchased an apple and a pumpkin pie. The apple pie, in particular, was the best I’ve ever had—no joke!

#22: After eating as much as I did, I am thankful for my Xbox Kinect because we had some fun burning some calories while playing Just Dance 3. Don’t knock it until you rock it, because it is harder than it looks! You don’t think it will be that difficult, but then a couple songs in you definitely start to break a sweat! Just Dance 4 just came out, anyone get it yet?

#23: After all the hype in prepping for the holiday and then the excitement /exhaustion of the day, some nice R&R was definitely deserved and needed. I am thankful for those much needed days of resting and relaxing with Bryan & Tiger watching episodes of Parenthood.

#24: In addition to the holiday weekend, we also attended my 10 year high school reunion. I must admit…I was nervous. I was nervous all day in fact. I didn’t know what it would be like. Would people be off in their cliques and ignore everyone else there? Would it feel like high school all over again, and not in a good way? I knew most of the people that I was really close to weren’t going to be there, so that high school fear of “not knowing anyone” came rushing back. The only difference is that I had my best friend by my side, my hubby. So despite my reservations, I put on my big girl pants and went. I am happy to say that I actually had a really great time! I got to see people I haven’t seen in forever, laugh with old friends about random silliness, and even talk to people that I was just acquaintances with. Either way I’m thankful that I had the opportunity to go. I’m thankful for the people you are able to pick up where you left off when you do see them. Lastly, I'm thankful that mostly everyone, whether we were great friends or merely acquaintances, was really nice and as excited as I was to see everyone!

#25: I’m thankful for the advent tree at church. Bryan and I have always wanted to give to kids for Christmas that wouldn’t otherwise have one. My church, like most churches, has an advent tree with hundreds of opportunities to give gifts to those in need. We are so grateful to be in the position to do this and for the opportunity!

#26: We are so thankful for our home! For all of the obvious reasons, we are blessed to have a home that is safe and warm. We are also so blessed to have a home where we can host family and friends! I thought of this as I was finding layers of clothes to wear to work because the heat never seems to work in my classroom. I have to layer up my sweaters and sometimes wear gloves, boots, and my coat while I teach, or sit with a blanket while at my desk. It is THAT cold. This makes me soooo thankful to have a warm roof over my head!

10 days worth of thankfulness...so you know it's good!

Okay, okay...I know..I'm so far behind! I really have been thinking everyday about my 30 days of thankfulness though! It's simply been a busy week and I just haven't taken the time to publish my blog. So, I have below days 7-17 AND pictures! Without further or do, here are 10 more days of thankfulness.

#7: weddings. I'm a sucker for love and there's nothing more fun or beautiful than two people who love each other committing themselves before God to join in marriage. This past weekend we went to Bryan's cousin Monica's wedding to Mark. It was beautiful!

Bryan and I at the wedding

 #8: Time with loved ones. The family wedding last weekend was just a reminder that time with loved ones is so precious and I'm so thankful for those moments with the people I love.

A couple of my loved ones: my two sister-in-laws

 #9: My parents who are willing to babysit Tiger. I love my dog very much, but anyone who has a pet knows that being able to travel can definitely be hindered when you have a pet. So I'm so grateful that my parents are so willing to help us out in order to allow us to still travel. They're the best!

#10: My niece Abigail. Abigail is so wonderful and smart! Last weekend we were able to spend time with our nieces and each of them are so beautiful and special each in their own ways. Abby is sensitive, creative, and intuitive. She is a girly girl who loves to play with her Polly pockets and beg me to play with my makeup whenever I'm putting it on, lol. She is such a wonderful helper too. She helps me get dressed, put on my earrings, and brush my hair. I love listening to her sing songs and tell me stories about school and her friends. I learned quite a valuable lesson from Abby this past weekend, "Don't covet, be content!" When she first told me this, I was like "what?! do you know what that means?" Sure enough, she most certainly did and I was quite impressed. Little did she know, it was a lesson that I totally needed to be reminded of in that moment. If only these little girls knew how much they impact my life :)

 #11: Olivia, my niece. Olivia has a huge personality packed into a tiny little body and it is a hilarious one. For quite awhile, Olivia was a baby girl of very few words and lots of stares that penetrated to your soul, lol. As she's growing, her personality is blooming and it brings joy to my heart. She is so sweet and SUCH a cuddlebug. She's always freely giving me hugs, kisses, and snuggling in my lap. I always tell her she's my little monkey, because she has no fear and is constantly climbing, wanting to be thrown high, wanting to jump from unstable objects- you name it! lol. So being the fun aunt I am, I obviously let her climb up and over my back to be hung upside down and then swooped up. Or to stand on my shoulders so she can touch the ceiling etc. I suppose I'm her personal jungle gym, but I don't mind :). She, like Abigail, also loves to help me with makeup and brushing my hair. I just love my girly nieces.

  #12: my youngest niece, Emily. Emily is adorable and so kissable with her little cheeks. She is SUCH a happy baby! She can get passed, passed, and passed...person to person and she just looks, plays, and freely accepts the hugs and kisses. This past weekend her room was right next to ours and Bryan and I had turned in first and I think we may have caused her to wake up as we were entering our room, so obviously she started crying. So I picked her up, calmed her down, and then went to put her back down. She wasn't having it, so she started crying again. So I picked her up again and just snuggled with her as she sucked on her two middle fingers until she was sleepy again. I love those little moments I get to spend with each of my nieces.

 #13: Sarah. As if you couldn't tell, I ADORE little kids. I love seeing children grow, learn, and develop their personalities. It may sound cliche, but they seriously fill my heart with so much joy. Sarah is my cousin, she's the daughter of my aunt Lori and she is so full of energy and happiness! She loves to run and play all day long. She gives the BEST hugs. She will jump into your lap and literally give you these BIG SQUEEZES with all of her strength. They're the best. Then she'll pull away and say, "I just love you!" How could that not melt your heart?! I'm convinced that Sarah is musically gifted, because if you set anything to music she absorbs it like a sponge! She knows SO many songs! So the other day I taught her one of my favorites and she kept making me sing it over and over again while she danced. Then I saw her a few days later, and she not only remembered the song, but knew the words! It's now a great bribery, "Sarah, put on your shoes" (resistance) "I'll sing you the Hosanna song..." (she willingly gives me her feet and sings with me).

#14: Scottie Jr. is my newest cousin. He is Sarah's little brother and he is one happy baby too. He just smiles and is so expressive. He LOVES hearing his name. You say his name and talk to him and he smiles and coos like crazy. It's adorable. The only time he cries is when he's real hungry; such a typical boy haha.

 #15: Landon my little cousin, who is quickly becoming not so little anymore! Landon is the son of my cousin Shelly. I have such a soft spot in my heart for Landon as I've watched him grow from a little baby with the cutest dimples in the world, to a growing boy who is all of a sudden more technologically advanced then I am and he's in the 3rd grade. He is sweet, sensitive, strong, smart, and most importantly, is a young boy who knows Jesus. I just know he is and will continue to be a shining light of his generation.

#16: My parents always supporting my extracurricular activities. My parents were always at all of my sporting events where I cheered, choir concerts, dance competitions...you name it. Now, even though I'm an advisor of those activities and not performing, they still come to show their support whether I'm on stage or back stage. Even though I would know they loved me regardless if they came, it still means a lot to me that they do come and demonstrate their support!

#17: Friends who hold me responsible. (Thanks, Lauren!) The last week was crazy busy...out of town weddings, helping out family, dress rehearsals at work, parent-teacher conferences and a funeral..., but even though this is all true, my friend knows that I committed to this: 30 days of thanks and I am so thankful for way more than 30 days worth, so I need to follow through! Lauren obviously noticed that she hadn't read anything from me in quite a few days, and I'm glad that she called me out and said, "What happened to 30 days of thankfulness?!?!" lol. Thanks for the nudge Lauren :)