Christmas "wrap" up

This Christmas turned out to be a little unexpected. The forecasters predicted a little rain Christmas Eve...a cold front...a chance of snow to the North...but they did not predict our little Christmas Eve "blizzard." I only say blizzard because that's what they're calling it due to our 50 mph winds. Measured in my back yard after all was said and done was about 3 inches of snow.

We thought it would be a quick snowfall, turning to sleet, so Caitlin and I ran outside to play a little. Robert was pretty unexcited since he grew up around snow. By Christmas Eve evening, everything was iced and the roads were pretty dangerous. Robert's brother ended up at our house, unable to get to his mom's. Justin couldn't make it down 377 to his parent's house in Granbury and ended up at our house too. There was no room in our Inn on Christmas Eve. We made the best of it and watched a movie.



Christmas morning was a little different this year. A white Christmas! But as per usual, everything was paralyzed so we got off to a late start. It was handy having Calvin and Justin there to set up my new TV. I'm very excited to have two great flat screens so I can watch movies in my room when the guys are over. Robert is now officially up with technology with his new iPhone.

My step-brother is visiting from culinary school in New York and cooked us a gourmet Christmas meal. So delicious. Then I had Christmas at the Paclebs that evening. It's always a lot of fun visiting with all of Robert's aunts. We were definitely blessed with gifts this year. I'm very disappointed that I didn't take my camera out at all after our little blizzard or during our Christmas. I feel like everything was pretty rushed this year.

On Saturday my mom and I went to Target and Babies'R'Us and loaded up on clothing and other items for the new addition to our family. Candice and Ken not only had a baby girl in September, but they also adopted their nephew who was born two weeks before their baby was. They officially got him Christmas Eve...what an awesome Christmas present. Mom and I went over to see baby Evan and give him an impromptu baby shower. He is adorable and has a little 'fro going. He is definitely a happy boy because he smiled all afternoon. Except when we were snapping pictures! It was really precious to see his new sister Victoria reaching out for him so soon.

And today was Christmas at my Grandma's. She is the most amazing cook and I always enjoy her creations. I also love seeing my cousins...they're hilarious and so much fun to be around.

Robert has come down with whatever crud I had and Ashleigh and Justin have. Poor guy is asleep on the floor right now. Tonight we started putting together the wedding favors. I can't wait to finish them this week. I need a little craft to keep my sanity in check.

In less than two weeks we'll be Mr. & Mrs.!

That's the way the cookie crumbles...

Last week was super busy with holiday parties and wedding work. We had our final meeting with our minister and ironed out all of the details. I felt so much better after that and I’m really excited to get to the big day!

Friday night we celebrated Shawn’s 26th birthday with a family dinner at Mac’s. His sister Candice brought baby Victoria and Robert had fun feeding her. We’re all really excited because in addition to newborn Victoria, they are adopting their newborn nephew and it should be finalized this week. What an amazing Christmas gift! I cannot wait to shower the new baby boy with goodies.

Robert feeding baby Victoria.

Saturday was a crazy day as we prepared for our First Annual Christmas Cookie Party. I baked four different cookies, three of which came from Martha Stewart’s Cookies book: lacy nut, dulce de leche and orange cardamom Madeleines. The third came from Southern Living: chai tea sugar cookie with egg nog icing. They all turned out to be delicious. I think my favorite was the chai tea and the most difficult to make were the lacy nut. Martha is a little over ambitious with her cookies I think.

Courtney with Santa Molly.

Cookies galore!

Chai tea, peanut butter kisses, no bake
chocolate oatmeal, chow chow and lacy nut!

Orange cardamom madeleines, Russian tea cakes,
NY Times chocolate chip, dulce de leche and gingerbread.

This was also Courtney's going away party. Her job is taking her to New York City after our wedding (how sweet of her was it to negotiate that?!). Elisha and I put together a bag of essentials for living in the city.

Courtney and her "Mary Poppins" messenger bag.

The guys showing us how to rock out.

Everyone came dressed to the nines in their tackiest Christmas outfits. We had prizes – the best cookie was the New York Times chocolate chip and Kevin got the nutcracker trophy. Our nutcracker likes wine just like us.

The best dressed was given to Calvin for his red, belly baring turtle neck and green cardigan combination. He received a tacky apron with pinup Christmas girls on it.

I wish I had more pictures but we honestly forgot and the ones we did get were crazy blurry because of the wine involved.

And what blog post would be complete without a funny picture of Jack and Molly. My Molly, you have grown.

The passing

The holidays are always a celebratory time of year. A time with family, friends and sparkly, shiny decorations and gifts.

But sometimes we forget those who are going through a tough time or for whom the holidays are a time of remembrance of a loved one who has passed.

I have a co-worker who is dealing with the imminent passing of her husband. He is in hospice and she has been out for a few months taking care of him. We’re so blessed to work for a company that realizes your first priority is family and will give you the time you need, paid, and fellow employees who will supply you with everything else you need, including emotional support. You don’t find many large corporations willing to do that these days.

I talked to her today and felt her pain of knowing she could lose her husband and best friend of 25 years at any time. During the time of year when people come together and celebrate, she is alone in a hospice wing dealing with impending death. It made my heart hurt for her and so many others going through something similar. Through it all she has had a positive attitude and one of generosity. She came out to a service project we did and has asked that instead of sending flowers and cards that we give the money to a charity that will help someone when he does pass.

It reminded me of a few years ago when my grandfather was dying of cancer. He fought hard to be around for Christmas and passed away shortly into the New Year. It was so tough for our family but we all had each other to provide comfort. But not everyone has a family to support them.

During this time of year, when we tend to get wrapped up in gift giving and celebrations, take a moment to remember the ones you have lost or to comfort someone living through the pain of losing someone. The greatest gift you can give is your unselfish love to another.

Grandpa Karl
Christmas 2007

It's the holiday season...

The busy holiday season has begun. This year it’s even busier because of our upcoming wedding in just about three weeks. Can you believe it? I can’t. It feels like just yesterday we were engaged. I can’t believe that was nearly a year ago.

This year we decided to put lights on the house. Not really the smartest thing to do with all of our upcoming tasks but since there have been more homes built near us, we don’t want to be the scrooge of the street. I made two wreaths to go on our front windows. I think it turned out pretty good. We decided to add more lights to our yard each year. I have fond memories when I was little of driving around looking at Christmas lights. I wish people still decorated like they used to. I’ve noticed that the more we put up, the more our neighbors put up. So perhaps our holiday cheer will spread next year.

Two weeks ago, Elisha had a 30th birthday party for Kevin. The theme was “Kevin conquers old age.” She made a gold medal cake (which is also appropriate because of his athleticism…Mr. Iron Man) and since we were in charge of games, we brought a trophy piñata. Our piñata was not filled with candy though…little bottles of liquor made everyone happy.

Being the creative person she is, Elisha made “geezer” food (applesauce shots, prunes, etc) and “whippersnapper” food (all of Kevin’s favorites in appetizer form). The liquor was even old man themed – grandpa’s coffee was pretty darn good!





My favorite part of the night was when Kevin was hitting the piñata with a cane and it exploded everywhere. He then went over the neighbor’s yard and was bent over with the cane in the dark looking for the little bottles. He looked like such an old man.






Unfortunately, Mark hasn’t sent me any of the “people” pictures so those will have to wait!

This past weekend was a very special one. Robert graduated with his Masters in Public Administration from the University of Texas at Arlington’s School of Urban and Public Affairs. He has worked on his degree full time for the past two years while working full time. I’m really proud of him and I know it was a very happy night for him as well.





Saturday night I took him for a night at the Fort Worth Omni, dinner at Bob’s Steak and Chop House and gelato. Definitely a great night (aside from the lack of sleep due to holiday revelers). We probably won’t be staying at the Omni again…back to the Worthington for us! You just can’t beat the Worthington’s location downtown.





Sunday was a really busy day filled with brunch, visiting my dad and grandma, helping Robert’s mom pick her wedding attire, seeing New Moon with Courtney and dinner with the Burys (and Courtney) at Taverna. It was definitely a late night…we shut everything down.

This week is already incredibly busy. A lot of final things must be done this week for the wedding (including payments – that will give you a heart attack!), everyone at work is sprinting before vacation sets in and I’m not nearly done with Christmas presents. Oh, and we’re having our little cookie party this weekend and Shawn’s birthday!

I’m so thankful that even though this has been a very busy time, we’re still able to stop every once and a while and enjoy our time with friends and family.

It’s the Holiday Season

Santa was very good to us this year. We awoke on Christmas to find lots of toys under the tree…a new Xbox 360 with all of the trimmings, AppleTV, an ipod touch, a GPS, a Bluetooth headset for my Blackberry, lots of spa gift certificates, etc. But the best part was being with family over the holidays. The anniversary of Grandpa’s passing is creeping up and there were a lot of little things that reminded me of him. The biggest thing was our tree, which used to be Grandpa’s Christmas tree. We put it up and decorated it with a lot of love. We also put out all of his nutcrackers and plan on collecting more from Germany in his honor. He is very missed.

Now we’re looking ahead to 2009 and saying goodbye to a wonderful year. It started out a little bumpy but got better and better. A year in which I visit Florida 5 times can’t be that bad. Robert and I both moved up in the working world to great companies and we brought home our wonderful new puppy Jack.

As his personality continues to develop, he becomes more and more a part of our family. It was hard for Molly to accept another dog in the house but now they are getting along famously. Jack is very cuddly – he melts in your arms and really shows true love for us. He has his puppy moments – like pulling out one of my pencil bushes from the garden and dragging it around the yard like a big stick – but they are all a part of learning and growing. He’s lucky I’m super patient.




Robert and I have set some big goals for 2009. By the end of the year he will be walking across that stage and will officially have his Masters on time!

So long, 2008!