Have yourself a Merry Little Christmas

Thanks to Skype, we did get to see our family in sweet Tennessee this Christmas! Mom, Dad and "Aunt Gee Gee" were present for Christmas eve story time before bed, and got to see the kids open presents and look through the loot from Santa as soon as they woke up! We even got to have "breakfast at Granny's"! I cooked the traditional grits, sausage, biscuits, eggs, bacon, and red-eye gravy like we have every year at Granny's house and my sis had her computer over there. We got to see all the family and I know it just made Christmas this year. It's amazing how something like that can make such a difference in making the holidays a little less bitter and a little more sweet.

We all got spoiled rotten with gifts and the house is littered with cookie crumbs and wrapping paper and dirty dishes. It's wonderful!

I'm sad that Christmas has come to an end, but it's comforting to know that our blessings have not. Even though the lights will have to come off the porch, and the decorations off the tree, and the family will fly back to Texas, and the glittered snowflakes and bulbs will go back into their respective storage boxes hoping not to shatter or shed before next Christmas--there are three beautiful blue-eyed boys in my life that are not going anywhere, anytime soon. Jason doesn't have to fly back overseas after the new year. We will have opportunities this next year to visit with family and travel. The snow will eventually melt. We will eventually get our new orders and move on to the next big step in our lives together. There is so much to look forward to and plan for and wait for and even to just surprise us.

Merry Christmas ya'll!! Hope ya'll had a good one!

Tis the season

This will be my first Christmas where we won't be travelling back home. It was our decision for many reasons, and though I am happy about it, it's hard not to feel a sense of loss. With the holidays fast approaching (10 days, say what?) it's becoming more and more real that I won't be seeing my Tennessee family, or getting a break from the snow, unwrapping presents on the hardwood floor under a cedar tree cut down from mom's flowerbed, eating deep-fried turkey, Christmas and New Years breakfast at Granny's, taking pictures by Daddy's redneck lit-reindeer, wearing matching pajamas with my thister, eating too many cookies out of a santa cookie jar, wanting to kill my parents' neurotic dog who barks into my window at 2 am because she thought she saw lightning and wants to "chase" the storm, the list goes on and on.

With all that said, I have a lot to be grateful for and excited about. My Texas family (Jason's folks') are travelling up here to spend Christmas with us. I'm super excited about the boys getting to wake up on Christmas morning in their own beds, open presents under their own tree, and just to share all their joy! They will be rotten for sure, when Santa, and Grand-Clause(s) come. We get to start and carry on our own family Christmas traditions. But there will be quite a few old ones that we'll keep, too, like...

1. A REAL tree. But it's not the traditional cedar we've always had. All they have up here is pine. Actually, I just keep calling it pine. I think it's some kind of fir. But you know what I'm talking about.

2. Hot chocolate on the stovetop. No boxed mixes for me. I want hershey's cocoa, milk, vanilla, salt and sugar. I've even whipped the whip cream. By hand. Without a mixer. I'll have a right forearm like Popeye by New Years.

3. Christmas and New Year's breakfast, like Granny's. Complete with grits, sausage, eggs, and biscuits.

4. Waking up at an ungawdly hour before the sun has even come up on Christmas. Well, maybe.

5. Matching pajamas. Somehow, I will make it happen.

6. Listening to "Merry Christmas from the Family" by Robert Earl Keen. And I'm totally going to make champagne punch and homemade eggnog (but for the record, that's not an old family tradition).

7. Swearing while putting up the Christmas decorations, lights, cooking Christmas dinner, decorating the gingerbread house, and assembling toys, etc on Christmas morning. I call it, "Christmas language".

8. Cookies, cookies, and more cookies

9. A Christmas afternoon nap.

10. Watching "It's a Wonderful Life" on Christmas Eve.

So, we'll be in Tennessee in our hearts, and maybe we can virtually travel to see everyone via skype.

Be Proud

Often I find myself caught up in self-criticsms and beating myself up over every little thing. I shouldn't have eaten so much of this. I should have done better on my exams. I'm not running fast enough. I didn't get that seam straight enough.
Some days nothing I do is good enough.

Well, for the next 15 minutes things are different. Sometimes acknowlegement of your accomplisments and a little self-praise is just what the doctor ordered!
So here's my list, I'm proud of myself for:
1. Making all of Riley's baby food. It's cheaper, I know what's going into his food, I can personalize his portions, and it was one of my resolutions that I've kept!
2. Still breastfeeding. I stopped nursing James at 6 months, for several reasons and regretted it. Riley's almost 7 mos old and still has not had a bottle of formula yet!
3. Sticking with school. My grades aren't ideal, but I'm not quitting and that counts for something, right?
4. Working out, running again, and sticking with it. Another resolution there!
5. Committing the next 30 days (starting in 10 minutes) to going vegan, and putting my foot down when people (ahem..Daddy..) try to convince me to change my mind.
6. Saving money. I've been setting some aside while Jay's been deployed, so we can put it toward a family vacation when he gets home!
7. Holding down the fort while Jason's been gone. Dealing with a two-year old, a baby, a dog, pottytraining, school, and living with my parents as a 22 year old married-single mom? I'd say that's a pretty big accomplishment right there!

So what are your accomplishments? Goals? Go ahead and make your own list. It'll make you feel good!

Take pride in yourself.

Now I'm off to sneak in one more bite of ice cream before TVA [totally vegan april] begins in 3 minutes!!
'Night ya'll!

Shame on me

for being so lazy this past year. In my defense, I've been a little busy.
I'm going to sum it up:
1. Lots of summer activities to make up for staying inside during such a cold winter, including but not limited to: farmer's markets, brother-in-law's wedding, Annual Army Air show, visit from friends, trip to the carnival, sister's visit complete with Meryl Streep movie and cake to celebrate her birthday, visits from in laws from West Texas and Albany, New York respectively, visit from my family, some gardening, sewing, cleaning, lots of grilling out with friends, new neighbors, trips to the lake/beach area on post, trips to the park, and lots of eating.
2. Had a baby. Riley was born September 10, only 6 [miserable] days past his due date. But we were oh so happy to meet him!
3. Hubby's first deployment. I won't lie--it has sucked sucked sucked! But we're almost at the halfway mark now!
4. After the month from hell (everything that could go wrong, went wrong as soon as he left) me and the kids packed up and moved back to Tennessee with my parents. We're here til I finish this semester's classes and then it's back to NY!
5. Hubby's had a 2 week leave in December and got to spend Christmas and New Year's with us. It was everything I could have hoped for and then some! We had a blast.
6. We all flew down to Texas and spent New Years with the In-laws. Had a fantastic New Year's party complete with lots of champagne, celebration, long talks with the family, great food, cookies!!, got all dressed up, and at the end of the night found some sweatpants! [I'm not explaining].
7. Jason's family gave us a fantastic date night while we were down there visiting before he had to take off again. We got all dressed up, went out to eat at Chili's, saw Sherlock Holmes, and spent the night at a nice, new hotel in the area. We had a great time and it was nice to get to just focus on each other for awhile, sans kids.
8. Started classes on campus for the spring! Taking Anatomy and Physiology which is kicking my butt.
9. Started pottytraining 'Thing One', which is going [pleasantly] surprisingly well!
10. Flew up to New York during my spring break week to pick up the dog and fly her down here. The lady who was keeping her was closing her boarding business before we'd be back up there and that was my only opportunity to get her, so off I went. She is very happy to be back with her family, eating all the people food she can stand--even if she is being chased, sat on, and generally tortured by James.

I think that's about it?