Category Archives: Holidays

Christmas in january?

January 21, 2013

Christmas was a bit hectic for my family this year and since we couldn’t all be together we decided to make it as special as we could. I busted my butt to have all my gifts in the mail to arrive by Christmas but my family was a little bit slower and the gifts weren’t scheduled to arrive until the second week of January. That is when I had planned my trip to Austin so the gifts sat around for yet another week.

Finally when I returned I fit them all in by the tree (that I kept up for this very purpose) and set up a skype date with my sister and then my mom and her husband. We tried to skype all together but figured out we couldn’t so we chatted all at the same time and I would bet Walker was glad he wasn’t home yet.

It was a lot of fun! We all took turns opening gifts and exclaiming about them (I may share a few later this week). We even got a group Christmas picture! I love my family and I’m glad we waited until we could all “be together”. It was quite special.

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-All the presents by the tree (even some for Walker!)DSC_1215 DSC_1216

-Skype date with my sister.DSC_1223

-My annual Elvis calendar. My sister buys it every year and my mom claims the gift. It’s quite funny. I can always spot it by the tree.IMG_1107

-Group photo! This was take 4 or 5-so funny!

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Today is Elvis’s birthday

January 8, 2013

Today would be Elvis’s 78th birthday today! I celebrate every year for 3 reasons:

1. We share the same birthday month

2. Elvis’s birthday is exactly 2 weeks after Christmas and 1 week after my birthday

3. I have been in love with Elvis since before I can remember (I think it was passed down from my mom’s mom-these kinds of things are in our genes I’m convinced)

elvis

If you can appreciate the impact Elvis has had on music history do yourself a favor and play your favorite Elvis song or laugh along with one of his many cheesy (great in my option) movies! Happy birthday Elvis!

New year’s traditions

January 4, 2013

I have quite a few traditions on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day (well early morning anyhow). I think I always took it pretty seriously because 1-that’s just how I am and 2-my birthday is the 1st and maybe I was trying to lay the groundwork for a good birthday. Over the year certain things have changed and it’s always hard for me but I’ve held onto a few.

1. Sometime on New Year’s Eve I find a quite place alone and pull out my resolutions from that year and see what I’ve accomplished. Some I remember and some are a pleasant surprise. I did pretty good this year. Then I pull out a new sheet of paper and think of some resolutions for the next year. I try not to take it too seriously but I do add a couple of larger goals to give myself a push during the year.

2. This year Walker and I stayed in and had a New Year’s throwback party just the 2 of us. By throwback I mean how I used to celebrate with my family when I was younger. I made a few of my favorite foods (cream cheese with crab and cocktail sauce, spinach dip, veggies and dip, olives and other tasty treats). We also played games and had mini dance parties to pass the time.

3. Trying to make sure everything is perfect can sometimes put me in a bit of a bad mood. Walker called me out on it and lightened the mood by photographing my sillyness.

4. At midnight I try to take a picture while toasting, saying happy New Year, blowing a noise maker, getting a smooth, and making sure someone says happy birthday (ha). This year we were sort of confused because of the time difference. At 9pm pt we celebrated Michigan New Year.

5. Since it was midnight in Michigan I got a few calls from my family members wishing me a happy birthday.

6. An hour later we celebrated the New Year in Texas.

7.Finally at our midnight we celebrated New Year’s! Woo!

7. The final tradition is to stay up until 1:22 am (my official birthday time) and take a picture, light my candles, happy birthday gets sung, I open up my gifts, and then finally we can all head to bed. This year though we both fell asleep about 10 minutes before 1:22 and when I woke up at 1:47 I was pretty upset. The candles did get lit and happy birthday was nearly sung but I was a bit too tired to enjoy it. I did open my gift before deciding what I really needed was some sleep and that I could enjoy the rest of my birthday once I woke up.

8. This year I didn’t plan anything for the day (except for dinner). I did what I wanted as it came and Walker and I had a great time mostly relaxing!