Happy Holidays

I'm sorry it's been so long since I've written. Life happens - Tom and I have often said things like, after college, things will slow down. Or after our wedding, things will slow down. Or after we move into the house, after we get settled, when Daisy grows up a little bit... the list goes on and on. I'm beginning to believe everyone who keeps telling me life doesn't slow down. That's okay - I think that's the way I like it. As my uncle says, you can sleep when you're dead. This was my motto in college, and I must say that I've fallen off the wagon a little bit with it lately. I've just been so tired for some reason! But, I have decided to start anew - no matter what time I go to bed, I'm going to get up at 7 every day except Saturday! There's just so many things I want to do that I don't have time for so I'm going to make time. I see this as another step in my adulthood, and I'm going to embrace it. For those of you who don't know me very well, I'm a very mind over matter kind of person. When I was in middle school, my allergies got really bad - almost to the point of surgery. Thankfully, we were able to avoid that (after seeing a string of doctors, taking a slew of medicine, and having 2 CT scans). However, I was told I would have to take allergy medicine for the rest of my life - every day. At 13, I just couldn't fathom taking a pill EVERY day for the REST of my life! I mean, that seemed completely absurd. So I quit taking them and haven't looked back. Before you start thinking I'm too much of a whacko, at the ripe old age of 26 (twice what I was when I started putting this philosophy into place), I have realized that some things you just can't will yourself to get over. I have problem feet. They've always been hard to fit in terms of finding shoes, but as I get older, I have find them more and more unwieldy. This, I have tried to ignore for some time, but I admit publicly to you today - I have a problem. After seeing a podiatrist who recommended surgery as soon as I could, I have put away my love for high heels and have started ridding my closet of them in favor of comfort and lifelong health (I kind of want to be able to walk when I'm 50... and 80 for that matter!). Who has time for a recovery period of 4-8 weeks?! I certainly don't so I will bow to his recommedations to prolong what he sees is the inevitable.

Now, for the fun stuff! I've been doing some cooking and a lot of decorating since I last wrote. Enjoy!

 This is a ham and broccoli quiche I made from a recipe I found on foodnetwork.com. I love that site! I had some broccoli leftover from a shower that I needed to do something with (same as the broccoli cheese soup from last post). As you can see, it was pretty good - it didn't last very long :-)

 Tom and I hosted Thanksgiving at our house this year. His parents came to stay with us, and we had 8 people eat Thanksgiving lunch. Tom and I cooked the turkey on our new grill - it was delicious, but it had to cook 12 hours so poor Tom stayed up most of the night basting and adding coals every few hours. What a wonderful husband I have!

 We enjoyed decorating our house for the first time for Thanksgiving.

 Mom and I found most of these things for our table at Kohl's - that store has the best sales!

Here's our bird - finally done! It was delicious - we were so impressed with how well it turned out!

 Here's Tom's parents. We had quite a spread of food, as you can see - turkey, ham, dressing, sweet potato casserole, asparragus casserole, spaghetti and cheese, gravy, rolls. My mom came over and helped us cook everything. It was neat to see how it's all done and participate more than I ever have.

The cold stuff table - cranberry jelly, whole cranberries, cranberry relish, pickled peaches, lime jello delight, and homemade mayonaise. It was a feast for sure! We have so much to be thankul for...

 These beautiful leaf placemats are from our Rehearsal Dinner. LOVE them.

 We've really enjoyed decorating for Christmas - we've been looking forward to that since we moved in in June.

 This is our little Auburn ornament tree that sits in our Auburn room - can you tell we're Auburn fans?

 Tom and I tried to go cut our own Christmas tree this year like my family used to do when I was younger. Apparently, Christmas trees don't grow in the wild like I thought, but we had a good time walking around in the woods. We supported our local economy by buying this one the next day. It's so pretty without anything on it... every year my dad says he wants to just have the tree the way it is. Maybe we'll do that some day.

Here is it decorated in all it's glory! It smells so wonderful, too. Daisy's not quite sure what to make of it, but right now, I'm just glad she hasn't eaten any ornaments or pulled it over! I hope each of you has a wonderful Christmas with your families - don't forget the reason we celebrate. God sent his only son, Jesus, to die for us and save us from our sins. Christmas is about love and family and faith - hard to remember sometimes when you're speeding to get to the stores for the killer sales - but very important. Merry Christmas!