Woweeezowweee, I can’t believe that the new year is almost here, and I only managed to post twice before now in the month of December. We are still alive! We’ve been crazy busy, but in a good way. Finishing up the semester always feels like it rolls right into the holidays without much time for a breather, and with family visits, home projects, and all the rest in between, this last month has really flown by with lots of happy times. Matt and I each put two more grad classes behind us and are now a 1.5 years (Matt) and 1 year (me) away from our Masters Degrees. Woo hoo! Will life go back to normal after that?

In early Decemeber, David and Kristy flew home from Alaska to visit until Christmas Eve. We got to see them a bunch of times, and Kristy even came up to Delaware for the day with us ladies for the annual Christmas tea. A few nights before Christmas, we had the whole family over for dinner. We exchanged gifts, ate sweet-potato-chicken chili for dinner, and played Bananagrams (best game ever). Oh, and we all ate lots of cookies and drank chocolate falvored wine. Kristy and I came up with the idea that maybe we should line the rims of our wine glasses with Nutella. Kind of like the same idea as a salt rim for a margarita. Though we didn’t actually execute our plan, I still think we were onto something brilliant that night.

cookies, fudge, and bananagrams!
   

our stockings
   

please note the awesome tuxedo shirt that Kristy is wearing while playing Quordy so quickly that her fingers are blurry.

Well this is just awesome. If we had a window AC unit, I would copy this idea in a second.

It’s hard to believe that Thanksgiving has come and gone and the holiday season is truly upon us. How did this happen already? I think I am starting to understand those people that just leave the Christmas lights up all year round… seems like it’s always time for them again. But anyways, I’ll save the redneck tendencies for another blog post.

We started our long weekend enjoying a full thanksgiving dinner together with both sets of our parents, our sisters, brothers, and aunts, uncles, and cousins. It was the last Thanksgiving celebration at Ivory Road before my parents finally finish packing up and selling the house for their big move. So hard to believe. I wish that the Alaskans could have made it home, but they were busy enjoying their moose meat! And they’ll be home in almost a week, so we can wait until then. We did the usual football watching, nibbling on homemade chex mix, napping on and off, and then went for a good, long walk before dinner in the unseasonably warm weather. The best part of the day was all the story-telling. The worst part was the lack of table-cloth and napkins that had already been packed up — way to go, Mom.

On Friday, we made the drive up to Delaware to spend some more time relaxing, eating, trimming the Steenhoek Christmas tree, and doing a little bit of shopping. I guess we’ve been making that drive for about 5 or 6 years now, and though I normally hate being on the road in holiday traffic, there is still something comforting about settling into the car together for 2 hours and making our way up 95. Usually we are pretty quiet as far as conversation, just Matt silently putting up with my singing along to every country song on the radio. I keep waiting for the year when he finally snaps and tells me his ear drums just can’t take it any longer. But until then, it’s just enjoying the miles going by while Bowser naps in the lap of whoever gets the passenger seat. This year, as I was belting out the Keith Urban, I was also mentally making a list of all the things I am thankful for: It goes without saying that our family and friends would be the top of that list. We are so lucky to have families nearby that we see often, and friends that we’ve known for decades, but also lots of new ones that we’ve met while living in DC. I would also add to that list our cuddly Bowser-dog (currently snoring away in the corner), who brings a smile and a slobber to my face without fail every single morning. Also on my thankful list is a house that we are working on making a home, a new business venture starting out well, bicycles to ride, lots of trips and travels both past and coming up, giant marshmellows on sweet potatoes… and… I could go on, and on. I’m thankful to have so many things to put on my list.

On Saturday, I did my bit supporting a small business in Newark with a $3 purchase. I can’t tell you what the gift is, but I will say it involves tacos and is for a very dedicated reader of this blog. Also, Matt purchased a lemonade from the local coffee shop for $1.50… so for a grand total spent of $4.50, TAKE THAT Black Friday. In the afternoon, we drove back to Maryland in time for my 10-year High School Reunion at Circle-D Farm. It was an interesting night, catching up with some old friends and trying to gauge just how much everyone has changed. Lots of new spouses, babies, jobs… Amazing how fast that time went by and suddenly we’re all almost 30 years old.

Today, Sunday, the last day of a four-day weekend is always tough. We did a fair bit of “yard”work cleaning up the leaves around our front and back this morning. We took out the Christmas boxes, and strung up red lights around the front yard. I promised that I wouldn’t turn them on until Decemeber 1st, and that I just wanted to put them up while it was so warm and beautiful out today, but I lied, and they are on tonight. Our neighbor stopped by to see what we were up to while Matt was up on the ladder, saying he was “sizing up the competition” — I can’t wait for his light display to go up now and start turning our street into a lovely Christmas wonderland. Ahhh..

This afternoon, we continued putting off schoolwork by taking a bike ride down to Gravelly Point, stopping first at Paul to pick up some treats. Matt had purchased a picnic basket awhile back at a flea market for $10, and it fit PERFECTLY into the front of his bike rack, so I made him promise me a real picnic sometime soon, and he delivered. We had croque-monsieurs and macaroons while we watched the sun set and the planes roll in overhead to Reagan National Airport. Probably more planes than ususal at the end of a travel-heavy weekend. It was pretty much the perfect end to a perfect weekend. Thanks for reading this, I hope you had a happy thanksgiving!

Hope everyone had a great Halloween!! While Matt was at class last night, my mom and I had dinner here and waited for trick-or-treaters to come. In the end, we had about 8 total — a few dinosaurs and an Indian, some witches, and some teenagers without costumes. Not exactly the hoards I was hoping for, but oh well. Guess I will be eating the leftover candy until Thanksgiving!

Speaking of which, it’s hard to believe that November is here. Out with the pumpkins, in with the Christmas trees!! Here we go…

Last night was the 25th running of the High Heel Race down 17th St in Dupont Circle. It happens every year on the Tuesday before Halloween, and it’s always one of my favorite nights of the year. It seems to get more and more crowded each year that we go, and this one was no exception, especially because the weather was actually nice last night. Perfect for watching divas parade around in heels! There were lots of amazing Black Swan costumes this year, and a group dressed as the Royal family/wedding, but my personal favorite was the cast of Drop Dead Gorgeous in their pageant costumes, including someone as Denise Richards with her Mount Rushmore look.

Me, Jill, and Matt, like nearly everyone else there, watched from a few rows back from the front, craning our necks for some glimpses of the lovely ladies. It’s always hard to get a good view unless you get there early. But my friend Riles took it upon herself to carry a 6 foot ladder over to watch the race from above the crowd, and she was nice enough to share her video with me, so check it out.