Bringing in the New Year

So I figured I should make one last post for 2009, to say goodbye, since you know, we've become good friends over the past 364 days, and I don't want to be a jerk and ignore 2009 while I have a party to welcome 2010.

I really don't like New Year's resolutions. I have pretty much always disliked them in fact. When we were little we would have to go into my parents room alone and make resolutions with them, and I hated it. Even if I could think of something, I wanted to make plans all on my own, ok? What if I like getting really excited about a new idea or a new goal and then I don't ever do anything about it? Maybe I don't like the new year shoving in my face all of the things I didn't complete while I am trying to party the night away. Maybe that's how I roll. Actually, that's not really how I roll... for the most part.

I told Hal I was making a New Year's resolution for him. So here is Hal's New Year resolution...
Wear my nightgaurd every night.

He grinds his teeth like a mad man and it drives me nuts, in fact, it wakes me up sometimes because he's grinding so hard. He said instead we should save up and have him do this therapy while you're asleep thing to cure him of it. He said it worked for his little brother. Question, how does anyone know, his little brother sleeps alone...So I told him he should make a resolution in the meantime so he doesn't destroy his teeth, and especially since we just paid a butt load to fix up my teeth from all the years I didn't go to the dentist. But now I am good and take care of my teeth, since they cost so much, so I just want Hal to jump on the bandwagon too. Geeze Hal, why can't you just be a follower sometimes?

So maybe there are some things I want to work on in the next year, but since I hate making resolutions...let's call them something else. Let's call them good ideas if you do these things in 2010, but not the end of the world if you don't do them. Good title, no?

-Actually use the expensive running shoes that I got on mega sale

-Take the boys to the rec center since the pass was bought for us to take them

-Learn to sew on my new sewing machine

-Make dinner almost every night

-Make healthy meals

-Hal is a touch person, so I will try and remember that and give him the attention he needs, in his love language, not mine.

-This is one I am already working on: Letting it go. I have already seen such an improvement in mine and Hal's relationship from not sweating the small stuff.

-For those of you who don't know I have a little bit of an OCD problem, mainly dealing with organization in my head, so I am going to try and be more flexible, and not freak out or freeze up when my organizational plan doesn't work out. (this one will be my hardest, so that's why I said try:) )

-Finish working out our budget, get the cash envelope system working, and STICK TO IT!

-Find a new full time job

Alright, I think those are all of the things that I may or may not accomplish in the next year.
Can you believe another decade is already gone? We are having games at my dad's house tonight, so he doesn't have to be alone. Last year was our first New Years together and we both fell asleep watching 30 Rock. Lame sauce. I won't fall asleep this year!

Where was I in 1999? Let see, I was 12 and we had just moved to Utah from Washington and I had made a few friends because *dork alert* we all loved Sailor Moon. Pretty sure that is the year that I became friends with Heather, man, weird to think we have been friends for 10 years now. It was nice since I had just left all of my close friends back in Washington 2 months earlier...on a side note, I am so excited, because for the first time in 10 years I will actually live in the same state as my childhood bestie, and I get to meet her husband and little baby boy when they move to Utah County next month....

Life was full of big changes for me 10 years ago, I was in middle school with a bunch of people who didn't use their Ts and I didn't know anything about the area (my teacher asked if I had ever seen the Rocky Mountains and when I said ummmm no, he told me to look out the window. Ouch. Man, 7th grade Utah Studies with Mr. Otto was hard). I have also undergone a lot more changes within the last year from graduating and hitting the job market and my husband getting further along in school, but I'd say it's been a pretty fantastic year.

I hope you all have a fantastic night finishing out 2009, and enjoy ringing in the New Year, and the New Decade. So, farewell 2009, you've been good, and bad, but probably mostly good, so if you were a person you probably would have gotten a Christmas present from Santa, but you're not so instead, you get to be looked back on fondly.

2 Years

Two years ago today this happened. Two years ago today I met Hal. I don't think I have ever really talked on here about how we met and in a second you're going to be rolling your eyes. Hal and I met...gasp...at the singles ward. If you're not from the Utah area, just know meeting at the singles ward is kind of cliche. We met at the ward Christmas/holidays party as it was in-between the holidays. I went with my friend Monica and we dressed up all fancy. Hal came up to us and introduced himself and said we were the prettiest girls there. Hal had been home from his mission in the Dominican Republic for 16 days and he was freezing. It's very warm in the DR year round and he came back to very cold snow.

It was his first outing since being home and I remember he was wearing a suit with a sweater vest(There's something wonderful about a sweater vest) and he was introducing himself to everyone like returned missionaries do. He came up to my friend and I and said we were the most beautiful girls at the party. After he walked away I couldn't even remember his name. We sat down at a table with our friends and Hal came and sat down next to me. I learned later he had originally sat down with people he knew from high school and actually even left his suit coat over there, but felt like getting to know new people so he came and happened to sit down next to me. He danced with me that night after dinner.

That night was also a single adults' party at the Rec Center, so a bunch of us went over there after the dinner. Since Hal was so recently back in the US and had barely left the house, he didn't have a car, so of course I offered him a ride. We went to his house so he could change. I met his little brother Dane that night. He probably thought I was such a weirdo standing in the doorway in a prom dress. Hal also had to come with me to my house to change. Our kitchen was torn apart and our fridge and dinning room table were in the living room because our kitchen floor was being re-done. I left him on the landing, but by the time I came back upstairs he was in the living room talking with my whole family. When I had gone downstairs I told another sister to come back up with my and meet the guy I had with me because he was "beautiful."

I took a ton of pictures while we ice skated that night, but ended up losing every single one of them.

Let me tell you something about newly returned missionaries. They're very awkward. They haven't touched a girl in 2 years. They haven't socially interacted with anyone other than other 19 year old missionaries, or people who they are teaching about the church. They are removed from the internet and all forms of pop culture. So needless to say, they're a bit awkward, especially around girls.

We went ice skating until 2 a.m. and I only fell four times. The first time I took Hal down with me, and he was nice enough to protect me from hurting myself. By the end  of the night he "accidentally" made me fall by pushing me down. But I guess that is evened out by the last time when I fell flat out and someone skating backwards almost ran into me, but he stopped them. He was so sly that night he even held my hand. How many returned missionaries do you know who do that 16 days after they get back? Guess it was fate...

Our group of friends were big huggers, and we always say goodbye with hugs, so I made him give me a hug when I dropped him off. That's the rule of my car, and it just so happened to work in my favor that night.

We tried to go ice skating tonight to celebrate, but a hockey game was about to start when we got there. Boo, so we are watching paper heart instead, this better be good. I was real bummed we couldn't go ice skating.

So to go along with this I will post the pictures I have been waiting to post for this reason. At the end of November Meagan wanted to celebrate her birthday by ice skating outside. We went to the amazingly awesome Gallivan Center to ice skate outside. It was so much fun. Finally, someone was worse than me, Dane seriously was racing a 5 year old girl around the rink and lost. I didn't even fall once this time. I'm practically a pro now.
And here is me demonstrating my pro skills. I skate like this all around the rink. Ha, that would be awesome if I could.
Isn't this the best picture in the entire world? Meagan and I left to get my camera and then we were sitting next to each other and apparently we both put one of the other's ice skate on. We only noticed because I saw the numbers on the back of her skates when I was behind her. I made Hal take a picture...but I'm sure it looked like Hal was taking a picture of our butts because we were bent over holding up our pants so you could see our skates.

Merry Christmas And good news

*Note: I wrote this post over 3 days so sorry if some of the timing is off.*

It's time to get pretty darn excited...'cause I received my very first blogging award!! I am so excited. Bleh, I was in a bad mood yesterday and then I read Selma's sweet comment and headed over to her blog to discover that someone actually likes reading this thing enough to give me an award for my ramblings. It really did help brighten my day, and put me in a much better mood. Thank you so much Selma, from Crazy Little World Of Mine!

These are the award rules: Copy the award image in your post. Then, list 10 things that make you happy, try to do at least one of them today, and tag 10 bloggers that brighten your day. For those 10 bloggers who get the award, you must link back to my blog!Yay, I am so excited, and want to say thank you to my sweet readers/friends.

I used to do e-mail chains back and forth of little surveys like this all the time back in middle school. Really, it was only between three of us, but we were awesome, and maybe that's why I know so much about Heather to this day. So maybe if I channel that time of my life I can do it again. Alright, just kidding, I still do them on a semi-regular basis on facebook. Shh, it's a secret.

Drumroll please.....And we're off.

1.Hal/Family/Hal / Familia



















Alright, I know it's cliche and you might want to puke right now, but honestly, who isn't thankful for their spouse above all else? Ok, well maybe if your spouse is abusive or cheating or something then maybe you wouldn't be, but I lucked out and Hal isn't either of those. I honestly have the greatest family ever, Hal and I were so blessed that both of us blended so well into our in-law families, and it has made for one great big amazing family. To me family is so special and I am so glad that my family is so close and that we are able to be there for each other. Plus, I laugh the hardest when I am with my familia.

2. My Friends/Mis amigos/bloggy friendlies
Most of my closest friends I have had since high school or even before that. It's kind of amazing that we have stayed friends this long and that we see each other on a regular basis. Wouldn't it just brighten your day when you look down at your phone and it says "smelly" is calling and has a picture of you and your friends basically playing dress up? Well, it does mine. Plus, I am pretty sure I was literally fed by two different friends within the last week. And yes, in case you were wondering, I did make them to the airplane noises while they fed me. Hal may or may not have been a little weirded out when I told him the entire time we were talking on the phone Heather was feeding me yogurt. What? we're close.

3. Animals/Animales
Do you think I can come up with the Spanish names for all of them? Hmm, maybe not on my own, but that's why I have a living human Spanish dictionary named Hal. I am a huge animal person, and they make me so happy. Isn't it comforting to have someone greeting you at the door and is happy to see you while you husband is busy being a crazy school head? Seriously, animals are always happy, and they are so silly. Speaking of animals, look what we had at our house for a day.
Hal made us send it to his parents because the kitty was a little high maintenance, and after a bloody finger in the middle of the night and no sleep he said it had to go. Don't worry, it wasn't ours. Although, shh, I secretly wanted to keep it. It's my sister's Christmas present to her kids. Oh man, they're going to be so stinking excited on Christmas morning. As you can see Ebony, our kitty really likes other cats, that's why she is hiding under the chair and may or may not have hissed and growled and stalked and generally made the most annoying noises ever at the baby kitty. She's real genteel. I left her eyes alone in the picture, because that's probably how she really felt at the time.

4. Blogging/Blog
I like to blog. You know how sometimes you have emotional breakdowns because you need an outlet to ramble on about nothingness? Well, that's what this is to me. I like to blog and share pictures and a funny story here and there. And what I love even more are comments. Can't a sweet comment or a new follower just brighten up your day? Well, it does mine. It's great to see my blog go and become more exposed. When I first started out it was a blog for wedding ideas and no one ever commented and it was a lame sauce blog, but as I have graduated and had a lot more free time it has grown. It's like my own little baby, haha, not really, but you get the idea.
5. Accents/ Acentos
This is kind of funny, but someone with a cool accent automatically becomes cool. Especially when it's Scottish. They don't even have to be talking to me, but if I hear it, usually it makes me smile and feel happy inside.

6. Thursday Nights/ Jueves Nochesvia

Thursday nights used to be awesome for another reason. I used to be so good and I would go to the gym for yoga class with Monica every week. Then life got crazy and we have gotten out of the habit, but Thursday nights are still awesome. Thursdays my brother in law, Dane comes over and makes dinner and we all watch NBC Thursday nights. How can you go wrong with Community, The Office, and 30 Rock. Seriously, 3 of my favorite shows. Well, Parks and Recreation is how you can go wrong, but sometimes we get a good laugh out of it. Yummy dinner I didn't have to make, and good TV, that brightens my day.

7. Hot Showers/ Regadera Caliente

via

I am going to have to agree with Selma on this one, hot showers are the best. I'm not a bath person, but I could live in a hot shower. This is weird, but don't knock it until you try it. Hal used to think it was weird until I made him try it and now he does it to. It would work especially if you don't like baths. Sit in the shower. I'm serious. The feeling of the hot water on your back feels so amazing. It's the best way to start your day or end your night, or on the weekends I usually shower in the middle of the day so I can take really long ones. Oh man, now I really want to take a long hot shower, and I mean long, I seriously would take hour long showers if I could.

8. Being Silly/ Tonto
I just down right love it when people say silly things. Little kids are so silly, and it seems like adults have a harder time being silly, so I love it when it happens. Here is a good silly story. I had called Hal to complain about something so he could make me feel better, but he couldn't talk very long so her sent me this text message:

"On the second day of Christmas for my true love I send to you, a punch in the face to *****"

I bleeped out the name so no one would know who I was talking about. Actually, the person probably doesn't ever read this, but I don't want to hurt someone's feelings while I'm talking about things that brighten my day. But for real, how can you not laugh when a 2 1/2 year old says "story of my life"?

Here is another good silly story for you: The other night we were at the dinner table with Hal's family and there were 7 of us there eating the most delicious stuffed french toast ever. Hal asked me if I had taken my pill with my meal. (I take digestive enzymes to keep my tummy healthy and from hurting lots) So hal got up to get me my pill because I have this amazing medicine pouch thing that holds lots of stuff. He comes back to the table commenting on something someone said and tries to hand me my pill. I just started laughing and said "hun, wrong pill" He looked down...yup, he had my birth control in his hand, about to punch one out. That made for some nice dinner conversation that probably made Dane, the only unmarried one rather red.

9. Socks/ Calcetines

via

Alright, I will admit it to the public...I love socks. I have a wee bit of a problem with bare feet. Alright alright, I'll come clean. I have a phobia of bare feet. Bleh. So thus my obsession with socks makes sense, right? I love finding amazingly cute socks for cheap. Seriously, some awesome poka dotted to argyle socks for $1 at Target is the best deal ever. I love that people give me socks for my birthday and Christmas. Actually, I could use some of those this year, so socks for Christmas, that would brighten my day.

10. Giving/ Dar
It's something that I love about this time of year, and maybe it's why I love birthdays so much. I love finding a present that I just know someone will totally love because it's so 'them'. Doesn't it feel good to just give and not really expect anything in return. I actually got a little stressed for a second about Christmas and buying lots of presents because I forgot that we will be getting things in return. Hal and I got a name off of the angel tree at church. It's from a ward here in Utah that our bishop knows of the bishop of and apparently the entire ward is struggling so it was really nice to help out someone in need. We got a 15 year old girl who needed pants. It's hard buying for someone you don't know, but I like buying presents that people really need. I didn't want to buy trendy pants that she may hate, so I looked for just some darker nice looking jeans that would last her a while. I really hope she likes them and I really hope that it helps. Also, I love wrapping presents, so I made her present real pretty so she would like it. That's what the picture is above.

I apologize if my Spanish is wrong, I remembered some of it from the 3 years I took in High School that did nothing for me, but if it's wrong then freetranslation.com failed me as I couldn't get a hold of my husband.

And moving right along to my 10 bloggers that brighten my day, but I'm only going to do 5, because 10 is an awful lot of work, and some have already received this award.

Heather @ Did you know you're sorta beautiful
Mara @ M Loves M
Elizabeth @ E Tells Tales
Emily @ Emily Elizabeth Someone
Lindy @ Letting You In

Congratulations ladies! Enjoy!

Oh, and since this will probably be my last post before Christmas, I wanted to wish all of you a

Very Very Merry Christmas.

I hope all of your Santa dreams come true.
Oh, and don't forget the true meaning of Christmas. It's gotten harder it seems. I saw this on a store sign and thought it was really cool, so I will share it with you.

The reason for the season
The Son

Oh Christmas Tree Oh Christmas Tree

I was so into the Christmas spirit, but for some reason it has kind of faded away recently. So hopefully this post will help me get back into it.

It's probably because this week just might be lame sauce. Hal is taking a class inbetween the semesters. Weird, right? It's actually really cool because the class normally is 4 hours long, one day a week for the entire semester. Hal's class is 6 hours a day M-F for a week and a half. He rearranged his finals because the class started today, which is technically finals week and goes until next Wednesday. And best of all, the class is 4 credit hours. How sweet is that for Hal's school? How un-sweet is that for me who will be home alone M-F until 10 for a week and a half? It's pretty lame. So...if you want to hang out this week while I'm bored, let me know.

Last weekend we went and got our Christmas tree. We found a really cute one that was pretty full and we completly overpaid for it. Reminder: next year, don't go to J&L Nursery. He-Sam came over after we got back from my work Christmas party to help us get the tree up and decorated. At my work party I got a bubble gum bank "because santa heard I had a student in my house" haha, Hal and Dane have enjoyed the gum.

Hal is a jerk and wouldn't let me get an angel when we were at the store last month. Bah humbug. Actually, they were kind of spendy, so maybe we'll get one after Christmas for mega cheap. Hopefully they won't just have ugly ones left.

Do you like this top picture? I told Hal to smile, because he always makes weird faces in pictures, and this is what he did. He is such a dork face, and I love it lots. See that red star thing on the tree? It's a santa in the shape of a star that I made when I was really little and Hal actually got it to stay on top of the tree and told me it's our star. So here Hal actually smiled nice, which was nice. Now you may be asking why I marked my green onions on this picture. I marked them because I have something amazing to share with you. During this recession I understand everyone is worried about money, and I am just trying to do my share by giving ideas to those who come across my blog. Actually, not really, I just think it is coolio and wanted to share. (Remember coolio, the singer?)

Dane, my brother in law/chef shared this with me. I don't use green onions very often so it sucks to use them up and then need them in another recipe. When I was over at my in-laws I noticed they had a cup of water with green onions in it in the window. I was curious, and what I learned will blow your mind. If you cut up your green onions, just the green part, not the white part and leave the roots at the bottom of the shallot, the white part and put them in a cup of water and put it in a window the green onions will REGROW. How unbelieveable is that? If you don't use them the green onion will start to die off, but I just chopped off the green part again and they are already starting to regrow. How economical is that? I'm not really that economical, I just think it is really cool.

Here we go, this picture looks a little more like the Christmas spirit. You don't think it's overkill do you? I think it's just about right, right? Actually, we don't really have any Christmas decorations because Hal hates storing decorations in our tiny apartment. Luckily, he said we can have more decorations when we have a house. Maybe this will work out, we won't buy the decorations and save that money and use it in the future to buy a house. Haha, just kidding. Hal probably uses it on ice cream.

He actually stomped his foot at me in Wal-Mart when I said "Dave Ramsey said it's not in the budget" when I told him no ice cream. If any of you have done Dave Ramsey you will understand that reference. Hal's parents have taught the class and we actually won the kit when he came to town last year. Hal's parents bought us tickets so we could learn the money handling skills and start our marriage off right.

Part way through his seminar he pointed to our section and said "Is anyone in this section getting married in the next year?" We happened to be the only ones, so we had to stand up and say our names and our wedding date in front of hundreds of people. They gave us the whole kit for free. The next day at work one of the lawyers asked if that was me at the seminar. So we decied since we got it for free we might as well do the course. We are just doing it with Hal's parents, but this month is the first month we are on a for real budget, and it's proving to be real hard to keep track of everything. That may be because I never finished setting up the cash envelopes...I mean, just kidding Judy.

P.S. there is a spider in the corner of the ceiling, and I don't know where our bug spray is so I am going to leave it alone and hope it dies and does not come any where near me, 'cause I might freak.

P.P.S. I really need an ugly Christmas sweater, real bad.

Dangerous

So we have a new tradition for the day after Thanksgiving! Man, apparently I need to be more timely about posting. This post is dangerous, well, not really. It just looks dangerous because it involved guns! And I don't mean guns as in muscles.

Here is the story, last thanksgiving we went up to Montana to visit Mike & Jessi and their new baby babe and the day after Thanksgiving we decided to go shooting. Hal had just gotten a new gun and wanted to shoot it. I'm not a huge gun fan, but my husband's family enjoys them, so I go and last year I shot a gun for the first time. I'd say it's probably good for someone to shoot a gun at least once in thei life and maybe know how to handle one in case of emergency.

Anywho, we were going to go shooting in the mountains behind Montana Tech. The roads up there are kid of scary and have these big dips in them. Well, we ran into one of those dips that was filled with water. It didn't look too deep, and when asked if we could make it through, Dane said "Of course, it's a Beauville." If you don't know what a Beauville van looks like, go look it up. Actually, Mike got a video of us in the Beauville after we got submerged in that awesome puddle to the point where the tailpipe was bubbling. Awesome. It has definitely made for a funny story. A van tried to pul us out and when they couldn't they gave a very muddy Mike a ride home to get his truck which luckily pulled us out.

Isn't that video awesome? I think so. The day after Thanksgiving after Hal got off work we decided to go shooting again up in the mountains above Bountiful. We also went shooting with Jessi's family which was so much fun. Mike and Jessi had both gotten new guns they hadn't shot yet, so we broke them in. Here is a video of me shooting Mike's new gun...I think it's a 380? Maybe a 357? I don't remember what Hal said, and all of the gun lingo gets mixed up in my head. Hal says I look like an assassin with my white gloves. Haha, for all he knows maybe I am. Secretly, but I guess this post would make that not so secret. Little guns with big bullets hurt real bad to shoot, as evidence by this video.

And what seems to be another tradition, that night we went out to Thai food. Jessi's dad went to Thailand on his mission so whenever they are in town we seem to go out to Thai food. Urgh, maybe I shouldn't be talking about this when I am mega hungry because I'm almost drooling on my keyboard at the thought of Sawadee. Yum-o.

The second part of this story is that after we went shooting this year we took a wrong turn on the way back down the mountain. We tried to turn down a little road...bad idea. The dirt was super soft and we couldn't back up. After much pushing and reversing, and an accidental moment in drive and lots of screaming and life flashing before eyes we got out!

Quite the accidental tradition, eh?

3 years

Today is the three year anniversary of my mother's death. Most of my siblings who live here in Utah got together at my dad's house, and we spent family time putting up this.

I decided to make this post from my dad's computer so I could find some pictures of my mom to post, so you all could see what a beautiful mother I have.

That sweet old lady in the chair? That's my grandmother, my mom's mom. She's the sauciest old lady you'll ever meet...pretty sure I made up the worst sauciest. Seriously, one time while I was visiting I was walking ahead of her and happened to display my uncoordinated abilities as I tripped on the sidewalk, from behind she yelled "Grace!"
Something interesting that we have noticed over the years is that it's hard to find a picture of my mom where she isn't surrounded by her family, by those she loved most. She was always serving and passing on her knowledge to those around her. I think that's kind of neat, to always surround yourself with those you love. In a lot of her pictures she is serving people or teaching people. I guess that's pretty the mark of a pretty selfless person when it even shows through in your pictures.

The last picture was taken just over three years ago, in-between Christmas and Thanksgiving we always make my grandmother's secret potato doughnut recipie. The picture is of my mother teaching my nephew Jefferson to roll out the dough. Kind of funny, her smile in it makes me want to laugh and cry at the same time.

I am so thankful to my mother and to the people around me who have supported me the last three years. I am so greatful that I have a great mother in law who can help out in those only a mother can do ways. I am grateful for my faith, and the strength of the spirit which allows me to feel her sometimes. It's really nice when you can see the blessings that come out of tragedies. If you look the miracles will always outweigh the sadness.

In the past three years I have learned to celebrate and be thankful for life instead of mourn the past, because I'm lucky to just be here. And really, I have had a day full of blessings, I got my Christmas bonus today, and it's double what I thought it was going to be, so thank you work. Also, Hal got into the accelerated winter class that he couldn't get into on Friday, which is awesome and will make his next semester a lot easier. So all in all, I'd say I'm a pretty lucky gal.

Christmas Music

Boo! Two nights ago my laptop got a mega virus on it. I wasn't even doing anything naughty, I swear. Hal and I were looking at apartments to find this one he randomly saw and really liked and he clicked on one....not even an outside link and it immediately downloaded a virus onto my computer. It liked to pretend it was anti-virus software to get you to download it and make your computer even worse, but I didn't fall for it, because I know I didn't have anti virus on my computer, so I knew it wasn't real.

How bad is that, I didn't have anti-virus so I knew something was wrong? Maybe pretty bad. So I called up my trusty computer guy, my brother in law, but by that time it wouldn't let me do anything, it would just say this file is infected, want to download? No! I don't want to download you, I want to download the anti-virus stuff he told me to get. Luckily he is amazing and last night he came to my dad's after work where we were having our meeting and he fixeded up my computer. Yay! I have to do another scan, so I am doing my post from my work computer, so no pictures, sad day. You'll just have to stay tuned for a funny picture post I have planned.

Anywho, I have started listening to Christmas music on Kosy and 100.3...those aren't the same, right? I get their titles and the station number mixed up. I don't like to do too many Christmasy things before Thanksgiving is over, because I don't want Thanksgiving to be overlooked. So the day after Thanksgiving as I was driving at 3:30 to pick up my little brother and my brother-in-law and head to Target I officially turned on the Christmas music.

We may even go get a tree this Saturday. I hate fake trees, I've had a real tree my whole life, and it's definitely something I want to carry on in my family, so last year we had a real tree and we will this year, as soon as we can find our tree stand, which Hal said he thinks he brought to my dad's to store with all of his decorations, 'cause that makes so much sense. I think we're going to be house/babysitting this weekend, and I thought it would be fun to take the boys with us to get a tree. Good idea, no?

Oh right, I got distracted, back to Christmas music. Does anyone else think it's weird that at the beginning of Frosty the Snowman it says "Happy Birthday" What in the world? Are they saying happy birthday to Frosty, or to any random person who is listening to the song, in case it might be their birthday. If it's to Frosty, the song says he will be back again someday, so maybe he had been made before, and it wasn't really his birthday. It truly is a conundrum. Just kidding, I just wanted to say that word.

I must be listening really closely to these songs because we were listening to We Need A Little Christmas the other day and I noticed it said this "Carols at the spinet" Again, What? I was confused because I thought it said carols up the spinet and that didn't make sense to me. Hal said they just needed a word to rhyme with minute, and I said it would say carols up the wazoo, because I like that word better; and I was pretty sure they made up the word spinet.

Apparently I was wrong though. I looked up the word spinet, and it is another name for a harpsichord. Yeah, try fitting that into a song. Alright fine, I will let the word spinet slip, but not Happy Birthday.

Maybe I should be a lyric editor for songs for a living? That seems like a promising career choice. I'll have to double check with Hal and see what he thinks.

I hope you all are enjoying your Christmas music, and are beginning to feel the holiday spirit!