merry christmas!

merry christmas! paul and i woke up this morning to a white blanket of snow and snow falling almost all day. it was wonderful. i wanted to get the monkey bread going so we could eat sooner than later. paul insisted that we open present first. so we did. i know why now because he got me a monkey bread pan. man it cooks a good monkey bread! it was delicious. we love the tradition of monkey bread and orange juice on christmas morning. we then headed over to dad and mom's to open the grandparent presents and then aunt becky's (which i must say is our highlight!). becky and scott made us candles from their bee's. they are beautiful...i want to burn mine a little and then put it in a jar to keep it forever. 

we went over to g. birrell's for lunch/dinner. we have cold cut sandwiches, chips & dips, veggies, and all kinds of treats. then we always play fox and geese in the back yard. cameron and austin brought some movies they had made. hilarious. we started fox and geese and then got side tracked to building forts and having a snowball fight. it was a lot of fun. 

we went back over to mom and dad's house to open presents (we open ours at night). we had a great time. we then went downstairs to play wii rock band and wii playground. paul and i are undefeated in dodgeball. it was a wonderful christmas. 

some things we learned about the holidays this year. eat a simple meal on christmas day, remember it is the small and simple things that make the season wonderful, get neighbor gifts, family cards and sister cards done and sent out the first on december. 

-ash

christmas eve

paul and i have the tradition of sleeping over at his mom's house the night before christmas eve, spending time with his brothers and sisters. usually the boys play basketball and the girls chat on the sidelines cheering them on. it is a lot of fun. paul's mom makes a ton of food. i mean a ton. there is no way we can eat it all. 

this year, it was just betty, paul, matthew, heidi and i. very quiet and peaceful. we played games, ate, the best part is that betty found some childhood pictures of paul. i have been waiting to see some for the last 6 years. i was so excited to finally have some. i will post some of my favorites later on. 

matthew and heidi taught us to play smash brothers, we played apples to apples and watched movies. it was a great time. 

we came home and headed to mom and dad's house to do the pj's and book tradition. mom also started a great tradition. about 1 month ago, she asked for pictures from 2007 that i had taken. she made a 40 minute slideshow of all the things we had done throughout the year. boy has the year passed by. we left mom and dad's and headed home to fall asleep before santa came. 

-ash

warmth...

okay, i must say that i am awful with this whole blogging thing. i had a great talk with mom about it yesterday, and i feel somewhat better about it. you see, i have some of mom's traits in me. one of them is dispersing my time. i either blog for 3 hours at a time, or not at all. i either scrapbook for 3 hours at a time, or not at all. i make dinner that takes 1.5 hours, or not at all...do you see where i am going with this? i can't seem to do a little here and there. it is all or nothing sometimes. plus, it gets really boring with just paul and i. we don't do a whole lot, just try to stay busy with work, eat and sleep. mom also said that i can take little pictures of what brings me joy, what i am working on, some of my favorite things and who i love most! so, i guess what i am trying to say is so sorry to becky and mom for having to look at the beef stick for the last 2 weeks. i will really try to be better with keeping my life balanced. (also i know becky wants to see what we are up to especially when she is back east). so here we go...

we live in a pretty darn old house. the windows and walls are drafty, and heat doesn't stay inside very well. our first winter in our home, we would go to bed at night and have a thin sheet of ice on our walls. i mean cold. then we decided we couldn't live this way (i couldn't live this way) and paul got a little space heater. i mean little. i would leave the house frozen, go to work and thaw out, come home and keep my coat and scarf on. we had a furnace, but it didn't do much and our bill was ridiculous. we finally got smart...we got our wood stove up to code and burnt wood last year. we turned off our gas and our home was nice and toasty! heaven!!! (sometimes too toasty) then this year, paul bought a load of coal. much smarter. it burns longer, more even...i am so glad we can keep even warmer this winter!

-ash

hickory farms tradition

one night during the month of december, paul and i get hickory farms and watch a movie. this is a tradition my family started when i was little. we used to watch national lampoons christmas vacation and have hickory farms on christmas eve. mom decided that wasn't a good tradition on christmas eve, so now they watch christmas vacation and have hickory farms on another night. paul and i watch polar express, have hickory farms and some sparkling soda. a great tradition that i hope we do with our kids. what would make the night better? if it were snowing outside. i love traditions...

-ash

decorations up!

i love this holiday season...i love the lights on the homes in my neighborhood, i love looking into the front window and see a christmas tree, i love seeing the last minute yard preparations for winter (because even now we still have fall weather), i love seeing kids in the yards in winter coats, i love turning on the radio to christmas music, i love the nativity scene, i love my ornaments given to me when i was little, i love baking with the smell of cinnamon in the background, i love christmas movies, i love our wood burning stove, i love snuggling, i love my moccasins, i love my snow capped mountains, i love my sweaters, i love christmas cards, i love the stormy clouds, i love being with loved ones, i love christmas carols, i love christmas, i love santa, i love snow flurries, i love hot chocolate...

i thought i would start my entry today with things that i love. i feel so good focusing on all the things i love...i am so blessed!

paul and i got our christmas tree on saturday night. i love getting our tree. we walk around and when we see "the one", there is no question. when we got home, we put the tree in water, i put our door garland up, paul put the house lights up, i put the lights on the tree with the ornaments, paul came in and said it was 11pm! wow, time flies when you are having fun. i love this time of year. our home looks all cozy and warm. i will put pictures up a little later. it's the most wonderful time of the year!

-ash