Home Alone

So, Adrian is in Hawaii for business this week and I'm home by myself. Although I miss him very much while he's away, I've come to cope with being alone. There are certain things you can do while the hubby is away, such as: shop after work without worrying about the time, take a long bath and read for an hour or longer without feeling guilty, watch what I want to watch on TV, and of course wrap all the Christmas presents!

 If anyone knows me for more than one year, they will quickly come to realize how excited I get around Christmas. I LOVE to wrap Christmas presents! I enjoy every little detail about it: buying the paper, choosing the right ribbon to match, and picking out special ornaments and trinkets to attach to each package. It takes me a long time to wrap all my gifts, and I realize most people don't even notice, but it brings me great joy and satisfaction to give a nicely wrapped gift. My grandmother would always go out of her way to make our presents look so beautiful and unique, that I began to do it myself when I was a teenager. Now it's the thing I enjoy the most....well, I guess not as much as I enjoy watching people open their gift, but it's a close second! 

Here is the first one I did so far. You can't really see much, but it all matches from the paper to the ribbon, branch, and name tag. 

I figured I would get as much done as I can each night before Adrian returns, this way we can spend the weekend time together and the gifts can be finished and under the tree. 

Christmas is here!

Well, at our house anyway. Adrian and I finished decorating the inside and the outside for Christmas. I love getting out all the decorations and remembering when I bought them or who had given them to me.  I bought an ornament for Adrian every year we've been together and it's always fun to look at them and remember where we were in our relationship during that time. I need to buy a wedding one for this year. My favorite new thing this year is the nutcracker on our fireplace mantel. I don't know why, but I love the look of the nutcracker. I also bought the huge book on our mantel this year. It's "The Night Before Christmas," and I would like to have Adrian read it aloud on Christmas Eve and have that be a new holiday tradition. 

 My oldest and fondest memory is the Nativity that used to be my

 grandmother's. She always had it displayed on a table in the formal dining room, but I like to have it under the tree. I know I'm not a very religious person, but I love the story behind it as well as the fact that it is

 something from my grandma. I hope I can keep it in good shape so that I can pass it along to my children one day. Although it is not the nicest Nativity scene I've ever seen, but there is something special about having one passed down. 

Adrian was brave enough again this year to go out on the roof to put up our inflatable snowmen. We were debating whether or not to put lights on the second story, but I still think it would be too dangerous. Adrian would have to hang off the side of the top and staple the lights on in order to do it. I'd rather have him safe then to slide off and break a leg, or worse. We have the big, old school bulbs on our house. Those are my favorite lights. I don't care much for the icicles. 

Here is our huge 9 foot tree. Yes, it is fake, but I like the fact that it doesn't come with bugs and that I don't have to remember to water it! Also, it always makes me sad to see all of the Christmas trees thrown out on the curb after Christmas. This year I decided to decorate it with red poinsettias, red berries, an angel, and all the ornaments we had. Last year we had a Winter Wonderland theme tree with a huge red and white bow on top that also cascaded down the sides, snowy and icicle branches, and only red, white, and silver ornaments. I think it's a lot of fun to change the theme of the tree. I don't know if I could keep up with a new theme each year. Not only is it pricey to buy all of the new things, but also to store everything is a pain. I think I'll switch between last year's tree and this one for now. 

All that is left to do is to wrap up all the gifts I bought and place them under the tree. 

My First Post

Hello everyone!

This is my very first blog post and I owe it all to Lindsey, who told me for a long time to get off Myspace and Facebook and start blogging. I didn't quite understand the difference until just recently. A few weeks ago, Adrian and I finished our backyard and I was so excited and wanted to share the news with everyone, so I uploaded some photos on my Facebook. Within a few minutes, my post was not even on the posting page as there were so many posts added afterwards that it moved mine to the very bottom. Posts from people saying they had finished a load of laundry or some request for a heart charm. I noticed that many of the posts on Facebook were nothing I was interested in reading, and that blogs were more personal and to the point without any egg collections, farm animal collections, or Mafia War invites. So, here I am, sharing my little story, and looking at some nice blog templates. This one will do for now until I can manage to find the time and the patience to upload a better one.