Break

So what did I do during the rest of break? Most of it came after Christmas (Edinboro now has a "winter" semester in between semesters, so they've now pushed most of break to be after Christmas).

I had YW on Wednesday nights.

I stayed up late and slept in.

I tried to clean my room (nice try). It's back to being disastrous. Back to the drawing board.

I did succeed in purging/organizing the clothes in my closet.

And I think this new closet system just might work (miracle of miracles!).

I was a hermit and stayed home a lot (I wasn't too bummed about that).

I took naps. Heaven.

I watched movies. And The Office.

I had a recurrence of my nasty itchy rash from woodshop from my contaminated coats- once I got them cleaned/washed I was much better after a couple of GoldBond Medicated weeks.

I did some crafty things too, I'll show those another time.

I did get to have a few social outings. I went to Cleveland with my sister right after Christmas to an Institute New Year's activity (even though New Year's was days later). We tried out the GPS for the first time (it's amazing!) and I had fun seeing my friends.

Me and Anne:

{Sidenote: Anne just got married this month to a really nice guy the temple and she's my age! Way to go Anne! It gives me hope.}

Things were fun until I sat next to a girl and she asked if I was a chaperon. Thanks, thanks a lot!

Um no honey, but now I'm going to make sure that no one asks you to dance!

Adding insult to injury was the fact that all the "adults" there were senior couple missionaries!

Laura and I stayed in a hotel so I didn't have to drive and get us home way late. We went out to Ihop the next morning, it's been years since I went to one. It was good to have some bonding time with my sister.

It was fun to see people who were home for Christmas, like the two couples I helped do the pre-reception for, aka The Four. I was counting the days til I go to see my girls Rene and Ame!

It was really nice to see Dennis & Ame and Rene & Mike. When it was time to leave I was sad and they were all "You get lonely out here, don't you?" and the answer to that is Yes. Most of my friends out here live far away and I only see them at conferences. Or they leave and go to school out West.

Ame, me and Rene:

{Sidenote: Why do I have a sword in my head?}

My last hurrah before starting school again was to attend the YSA conference in Pittsburgh. Normally my stake does the conference in January but we've now been reassigned to do a conference this July in Palmyra in conjunction with Pageant. I think it will turn out ok, but it's a tough assignment to plan something that's not even in our stake! And it involves camping in tents! Lots of logistics to figure out.

I was a bit apprehensive about my choice to go since there weren't many people Friday evening and once again it was the dreaded GTKYG. Those are against my religion! But thankfully things got better and it turned out to be way fun.

The theme was about cultivating our talents. Saturday was breakfast and classes. I attended one on the gifts of the Spirit, it was good. Also attended one on budgeting/finance that didn't tell me anything new, but was a good reminder. Sigh!

And then I had a rare Bad Girl Moment and I ditched the conference with some friends. We went out to lunch at Cheesecake Factory (yum!) and I also found myself at Goodwill helping my friend Mitch find a tie (he'd forgotten one.) We didn't feel like going back right away and drove around Pitt. We went to the zoo...just not inside since it was closed. After driving around a bunch more (thank heavens for GPS to get us back!) and exploring this big tower called the Cathedral of Learning, we got back in time to watch a talent show. Fun to watch, though I'm not sure if naughty dancing was really appropriate.

We had dinner and a couple of speakers about talents and then a pretty good dance, and by far the best one that Pittsburgh has ever had at a conference. They're cursed, I swear!

Sunday was breakfast and Sacrament meeting and saying goodbyes in the parking lot. It was a great weekend.

Bad Girls at the Cheesecake Factory:

The Cathedral of Learning:

 Inside it looked like Harry Potter!

 Scary elevator ride- the view from the top:

 Dinner looked like a wedding reception- was that a subliminal message?

 With Ivan and Jason, my York Boyz:

Very fun conference. Pleasantly surprised, cause at first it looked like it was gonna stink!

In other news, I went sledding on Martin Luther King Day, it was awesome. I also happened to read the "I Have A Dream" speech in it's entirety for the first time that weekend, it's an amazing and inspiring work. Read it if you haven't for a while.

And then the ax fell and I started school. More on that later.

Stay tuned!

Christmas

Well, pardon my French, but we kinda half assed Christmas this year. We had a nice day and all, but we didn’t do everything we usually do. It just seemed like everything was out to thwart us:


-I didn’t get out of school til Dec 17th and had been really busy the two weeks before that with school (not even any time to window shop!).

-Dad got shots in his knees two days before Christmas.

-Mom is still recuperating with her leg.

-Laura was away housesitting the week before Christmas (leaving me to do most stuff around the house).

-The branch Christmas dinner got postponed a week, (and Mom planned a fancier party then Corry usually has) which meant that we were worrying about it for two weeks, not just one.

We just didn’t have the energy or time for some stuff. We usually get a regular sized tree, but this year we got a fairly small tree. We didn’t have the energy to wrestle with the living room furniture to make room for a bigger tree. I kinda missed having a bigger tree but I will admit it was so much easier to get in and out of the car and house and set up!

We cleaned house and decorated, but not to the extent of past years. There were some favorites that didn’t get put out. And I’ll fully admit that we cleaned/decorated pretty much only in the areas that would show in pictures.

I found myself shopping for some presents on the 23rd. Usually I do shopping earlier but was so swamped with final projects. The tree didn’t make it in the house until a few days before Christmas. And since Dad is in charge of the lights and he didn’t do them til the 24th, the tree didn’t get decorated til then! And not a ton of ornaments, either. I was wrapping presents at midnight.

We also like to go to the mall as a family and do some shopping and out to dinner at Cracker Barrel, but that didn’t happen either. And what we did do for Christmas exhausted me cause it was pretty much just me digging out the Christmas stuff and decorating.

I like to be very crafty at Christmas and that didn't happen either. I did manage a smidge of time to make ornaments for my YW by swirling paint in the value colors inside a clear glass ornament. Then I wrote their name and the year with a white paint pen. I felt like the Winter Warlock from Santa Claus is Coming to Town when he only has a bit of magic left in his fingers. I also felt old- wasn't it just a few years ago that my YW leaders were giving me homemade ornaments?

But that being said, we did the important things. We watched our favorite Christmas movies together leading up to Christmas. On Christmas Eve, I picked up Laura from the place she was housesitting (she had cable tv and the internet, the brat! She didn’t want to come home!) and we had dinner together and put up stockings and read the Bible verses about Christ’s birth. We put out cookies for “Santa” too. And then Laura went back to the other house.

Christmas morning came late- someone had to go get Laura. Instead of coming to the tree from the bedroom, Laura and I walked to the tree from the front door after I'd fetched her. We did walk in the house accompanied by our family's music tradition (a Nat King Cole mix tape done by Grandma years ago). I joked that our relatives that live on the West coast were going to be done opening presents before we even started! We had fun opening presents and had our traditional cinnamon rolls for breakfast. Then came stockings and we had fun playing with our new stuff.

That afternoon we all bundled up and walked with our three dogs way down the driveway and put out old apples and bread for the deer and critters. Since we moved out here, we like to do that at night on Christmas Eve, but this year we did it during the day. We like to be charitable to the animals around here- they are God’s creations and the winters here are hard for them. It wasn’t long before the deer and critters found their present.

Christmas dinner was lasagna- nothing will top the Christmas lasagna I had as a missionary (it had perchuto in it!) but we came close with three different kinds- classic, spinach and a version with salami in it. I like the spinach one best. We also opened crackers, which is another tradition. You know, those paper tubes (that pop!) and you get a paper crown and a toy and a joke. And we got a homemade cheesecake for dessert! Lots of sugar that day!

In the end, Christmas is supposed to be about spending time with your family and celebrating the birth of our Savior, and we accomplished that. That’s the important part- the rest is just fun.

On to the pictures:

Hanging my stocking:

Christmas morning, had to get Laura- I wore my Gaga pants!

Keeping warm by the fire:

Wrapped Dad a tractors calendar in green duct tape with a red duct tape bow!

 Me and Dad

I gave Dad a train that goes on a track in your tree! Big hit.

 Mom and Dad

 Laura love jellybeans

The house with old sleds on the porch:

And at night (with the light-up geese I gave Mom!) :

The YW ornaments I did:

Feeding the deer on Christmas Day:

What was my favorite present? Marleen (my former missionary companion) calling me up on Christmas Eve to get my address. It's been years since I've heard her voice (though we do keep in touch electronically) so it was incredibly nice to chat and catch up. It's the simple things that are the best. Thanks dear!

What was your favorite thing this Christmas season?

Hope you all had a very Merry Christmas!

Pre-Christmas Fun

I know it’s late showing these pictures, but I managed to squeak in some fun in December even though I was super busy with ending this semester.

Mom and Pop weren’t up for it, but Laura and I went and had fun in Corry (our neighboring town) on their Christmas celebration night early in December. In past years, the branch dinner is on the same night so we’ve never gotten to participate until this year. The park is lit up all month, but only on this night do they set up the luminaries, which were lovely.

The little downtown area is open late, and I had fun wandering antique stores and the local quilt shop. And Laura and I got to ride in a wagon pulled by big draft horses! It was cold but fun. It was snowing big fat flakes for most of the night. The local radio station was playing Christmas music outside, everything was very merry. Laura and I often butt heads, so it was good to have some bonding time.

Later in the month, our YSA group had an outing to Kirtland to see the lights and nativities at the church’s visitor’s center. We had 5 YSA and two of our advisor couples attend and we had a fun time. I had heard last year that the visitors center did this, but wasn’t able to go. I’m glad I got to go this year; it was a lot of fun to see the lights and all the amazing nativities. Two of the people that attended hadn't been to Kirtland before, so it was neat to be with them on the tour (gotta love sister missionaries!). One sister missionary was all interested in the camera strap cover that I'd made.
 

Large nativity statues outside (like the ones at the temples):

 In the little schoolhouse was a display of a whole bunch of nativities from all around the world, those were neat to see as well:

Can you believe that a teenager carved this from wood? It was amazing.

 I liked this copper tree with nativity stamps hanging off of it, I may need to make my own version someday:

This display of the Savior's life was neat:



There were hundreds of amazing ones, framed nativity Christmas cards, and upstairs there was a tall fake flocked tree with all white nativity ornaments on it, vey lovely. I may have to steal that idea.

Mom, being RS president, was in charge of the Christmas dinner. She opted for real tableclothes, plates, glasses and silverware, which meant some additional cleanup but looked nice. She made the greenery centerpieces using her silver bowl collection and stuck in some pinecones and glass ball ornaments that I owned. It was the first time the Corry branch had used real stuff for a dinner since we've been around and we got a lot of good feedback on it. I think it helped people feel special.

I designed my Christmas card in Photoshop and used my oranment painting from last year. Told you to act surprised! I got a good deal. Once again, not much is new with me on paper so I just wanted something to wish people Merry Christmas on.

I like how the back turned out:

December was busy as always, but fun!

Hope you had a good one too.