But before I get into all that let's talk about THANKSGIVING! We spent Thanksgiving with my family this year. We had a late dinner - as always at my house! (; - played some games, ate way too much jalapeno cheese ball, drank some sparkling cider, got some Christmas shopping done on Black Friday and had fun seeing my family!
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This will be our second Christmas together but our first as a married couple. Its been so much fun decorating the house together. We slowly started stocking up on lights so we were able to put Christmas lights on the house and around the yard. We also made a bunch of stuff for Rachel's craft fair the first weekend in December! Nathan sold his 3 porch swings and I sold some Santa Keys and hair clips and Christmas coasters...wish we would have sold some wreaths but it was still fun.
Growing up with a German Grandma we always celebrated St. Nicholas Day on December 5th so this year I dragged Nathan in on the tradition. For those of you who don't know about St. Nicholas Day the tradition is to leave your shoe outside your bedroom door and St. Nick leaves goodies for you! One year I tried leaving out a boot to get more goodies but it didn't exactly work out so this year we chose some stylish shoes aka our church shoes! haha
My mother-in-law gave us one of her old Christmas trees and it fits perfectly in our little home! We found the perfect ornaments and threw on a bunch of candy canes. We found what we thought was the perfect star but then realized it didn't light up so we have since gotten a silver star that does have lights in it. We had a dilemma of where to hang our stockings since we don't have a fireplace...or even a nice bookshelf to hang them from. So we decided on some wall decals and Command hooks but we ended up with something I absolutely LOVE! A month or two ago, we went yard sale-ing and found a cabinet door with glass in it - I thought it would be perfect to turn into a window frame picture frame (like the millions I've seen on Pinterest). As an after thought Nathan suggested we use my left over craft paint to paint it red, we then got some battery operated Christmas lights and voila! the most PERFECT stocking hanger!
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I was also excited to fill one of my hurricane jars with ornaments and found some scented, glittery pinecones to throw in too! The only thing that we were missing is a Nativity scene! And as much as I love all my other decorations I couldn't get over the missing Nativity. Luckily for us, another craft fair was going on around the same time and I got a small white figurine of Joseph, Mary and our Savior. <3
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In other news we are moving to Rexburg, Idaho 8 days after Christmas! It will be freezing and take me a while to get used to the cold cold cold weather but we are so excited! BYUI here we come! We are already registered for classes, paid our deposit for our adorable townhouse and have a giant stack of R&R boxes I have been collecting in our shed just waiting to be filled with all of our stuff!
I am so thankful for all the blessings I have received this year! I received my endowments in the Temple and married the most amazing man (also in the Temple). I'm thankful Nathan and I have both been able to work and have been accepted to BYUI. I'm thankful I have had the opportunity to teach the Sunbeams with Janelle (a cousin and good friend). And I'm so thankful for my newest friend Emily and her husband Ryan. They are one of our few couple friends. Emily is such a sweet girl, she is a loving wife and mother and a faithful member of the church and I'm so thankful I have found a friend in her. I'm thankful for the wonderful family I married into and for my own family. I'm thankful for the spiritual growth I've seen in my parents this year. And of course I am thankful for my Heavenly Father and my savior Jesus Christ. I'm thankful for the atonement and having the Church in my life.
Merry Christmas everyone!
