Its been awhile since my last post. The past two months have gone by in an instant, yet at the same time, have felt decades long.
Our first Christmas married was absolutely wonderful. Josh and I had decked out the entire house with Christmas decor...down to the soap dishes in the bathrooms, place mats on the table, and hand towels in the kitchen. Everywhere you looked there was something screaming "Its Christmas time!" Our tree was 9ft tall, and we strung lighted garland around all 4 walls in our living room...we really out did oursevles, lol. But 4 trips to the store, 3,000 lights, 115 ornaments, 5 rolls of ribbon, 2 dozen cinnamon candles, and countless dropping of little pine needles later...my house was filled with the smell of fresh pine and cinnamon, aglow with christmas lights and candles, lavished with beautiful ribbon, and ready for our first Christmas together. It really was so much fun. :-)
Due to my being on call for work, (thankfully I didn't get any hospital calls on Christmas day) we had to stay in Lakeland for the week of Christmas. So on Christmas morning, Josh and I woke up and decided to give Tele (our puppy) the toys that we had wrapped for him. It was so cute. My dog LOVES new toys. He had never got so many new toys at one time before, it overwhelmed him. He ran back and forth to each toy, bringing each thing to Josh or I to play fetch. It was really fun to see him get so excited. Then Josh and I gave each other our gifts. My darling husband had bought me a diamond necklace (the pendant is a circle) that I had wanted for a long time. I was thrilled, and have worn it everyday since. I then gave Josh the leather messenger bag/briefcase that I had found for him. He had been looking for one for a long time and I was so excited when I had found this one. It looks great and smells wonderful. He was super excited about it.
After presents, we made a big breakfast of homemade french toast with the thickest cut of maplewood smoked bacon I've ever seen, lol. It was almost like cooking up little steaks for breakfast. Since this was the first Christmas either of us had ever spent apart from family, we wanted to really make the day special. After breakfast we brought out blankets and pillows and settled on the living room floor to watch "A Christmas story" That movie has been a christmas tradition in both our families for years and one we definately want to keep :-) The rest of the day was spent watching movies, skyping with family, and taking a wonderful and rare, middle of the day nap and stayed in pajamas all day. Until we made turkey cutlets, green beans, and potato's for dinner. It was a such a relaxing and fun day. The next day we went and saw the Moscow Russian Nutcracker Ballet!! It was absolutely beautiful.
Though we both missed having family with us on Christmas day, having our first Christmas as newlyweds with just us ended up being very special. I'm glad it all worked out the way it did. :-)
For New Years, we drove up to Marianna to have Christmas with Josh's family. We stayed a week and got the chance to relax and enjoy family and dear friends. We also got to give Betty her birthday present that we had been keeping secret from her for two whole months, lol. Jay, Josh, and myself, had come up witht he idea to get Betty a little Yorkie puppy for her birthday. :-) She had been talking about wanting a puppy for a little while, so we found a breeder in Lakeland and we kept the puppy at our house the first two months to get it its puppy shots, and begin the training process. Tele LOVED having the puppy as a new playmate. She was only 2 pounds, and he was 60lbs, so she was about the size of his head! But much to our relief, he very quickly learned how to play gentle with her and they became fast friends.
So once we went up for New Years, we were able to surprise Betty with Penny :-) it was a lot of fun to give her to her. And Jay had princess heart shaped food and water bowls waiting for the new Princess Penny :-) along with little outfits, toys, and a new dog bed. Needless to say, Penny is being lavished with love and attention. :-)
Another surprise that occured was one for me regarding my job. In the space of a month in a half, my director, supervisor, and co-worker each left our department. All for seperate reasons, and were positive send offs, however, work has been CRAZY because of the sudden changes. My work load has nearly tripled, making for increcibly stressful weeks and very tired days, both mentally, emotionally, and physically. However, the new staff that have come abroad, are all super friendly and eager to learn their new responsibilites. I just hope I can survive until they all get the swing of things. Its been a rough couple of months. I'm pretty drained. But at there's job security right? :-)
Despite stressful work circumstances, life has still been stable and full of contentment. Each day thats been a struggle for me, there is Josh standing beside me telling me that someway, everything is going to work out. Telling me that he believes in me, telling me that I'm beautiful even when my hair is thrown in a pony tail and make up hastily applied because I'm running late. He's right there, starting and ending my day with a hug. I'm so thankful for the person he is and for how God is providing for us during this beginning season of our life.
2010 was an inspiring year for me, I can't wait to see what comes with 2011. :-)
