What Do the Holidays Mean to You?

Sometimes, I wish I could turn back the clock and be a kid again during the holidays. Christmas meant Santa, which always equaled presents. I remember waiting in anticipation of the Toys R Us book or the big Sears catalog to come home and mark off all the presents we hoped to open on Christmas morning. You'd write a letter to Santa, with all the gifts you wanted, explaining you were a good boy or girl and why you deserved such big gifts. You'd wait in anticipation for weeks for a letter back. The night before Christmas, you'd set out your cookies and milk for Santa to eat; we always put carrots out for the reindeer too. Sometimes, you'd sleep and stare at the ceiling, waiting to hear the hooves of reindeer on the roof or a HoHoHo from Santa. But the best part of all was Christmas morning; the smell of my mom putting cinnamon buns in the oven and making hot chocolate; my dad getting the video camera ready and Sarah and I waiting to run down the stairs...I remember lots of bags filled with wrapping paper, mom and dad fighting as to who should open their presents first and oh how good those cinnamon buns were and how sticky my fingers would be after eating 2 or 3.
When you are a kid at Christmas, you don't worry about who to buy for, how much to spend or who's house to go first so you don't insult the other side of the family. The innocence of the holiday is lost as you grow up...
Today, the holidays for me isn't about presents; it's about being with family and friends. Over the past few holidays, I've looked back and sometimes thought of how childish it seemed that all you wanted was the best of the best on Christmas day to go brag about at school. And a Christmas list...I really can't even tell you the last time I sat down to write a Christmas list. My mom asked me this past weekend what I wanted and I really can't think of one thing I really want; it's sad but true.
The things I want you can't buy; they are the things that I believe, we as human beings need in our everyday lives; friendship, love, health, a sense of family....it's a time to reflect on all the good things you have and realize how life precious is. This year has been an absolute blessing and I wouldn't change on bit of it. ...
The holidays are a reminder that life is short and you should cherish every moment you have in the one that you've got; no matter how bad it seems. It's not about presents but being around the people that mean the most to you; that you hold dear to your heart....
The holidays are about traditions...every Christmas, my mom has gotten Sarah and I ornaments that are significant to something that happened within the past year. I now have 25 of them to now hang on my Christmas tree. It's a present I always cherise opening on Christmas morning; I hope to continue the tradition with my own family. This year is really the first year I will not be at my parents house on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day, but most importantly Christmas morning. I know I could kick and scream and Matt would go to NY, but it's time for me to be a grown up and wake up to my husband on Christmas morning in our first home. But I can promise you, I will be making cinnamon buns and hot chocolate!

So before you let the holidays get to you, I hope you can remember the innocence of the holiday season that used to be and reflect on what you are truly grateful for! Ok now I'm tearing up....

Toys for Tots...

Just realized I didn't post this. Thanksgiving weekend, Matt and I assisted in hosting a Christmas party to benefit Toys for Tots with our best friends, Kristin and Patrick. The party was a complete success with two boxes stuffed with toys. It was a great night with lots of drinks and food, which is always positive in our books. I've included some pictures from the night: Kristin and I making a build a box gingerbread house as well as Matt and Patrick at the beginning of the night : )

Summer in December

In a weekend, I officially changed my name on my license/passport, bought a dining room table and a grill!

Yes, it has taken me almost 6 months to change the name on my license and passport, but I am under a time crunch to get it done since Matt and I leave for St. Lucia on New Years Day. I take after my mom...I am a procrastinator. So I am officially a Le******. It's not an easy adjustment; I was never the girl who signed her name everyday looking at how my new name would look. And I don't have my PT license changed yet, so I cannot legally sign my notes @ work. So I still have a little bit of my pre-marriage name attended to me! I hated my last name when I was in school for all the obnixous knocks on it but for some reason, it's hard to move onto another name. You feel like you are losing part of your identity. Most of all, you realize that you are now an adult and more adult things are on the way. For example....

Since we've moved into the house, we've been looking for a dining room table so it has been approximately 6 weeks. Our kitchen is not an eat in kitchen, so we needed a table we could use everyday that would distress well. We have been to almost every furniture store you can name and finally settled on 2 tables @ Crate and Barrel. Both of them are mango wood, so they are ego friendly, which was huge for me. One table, the Cabria, had the planks horizontal with removable leaf to expand the table to 82 inches long from 60 inches long. The second table, Basque, an antique farmhouse style, has vertical planks with a honeybrown finish but does not have a leaf and sits @ 82 inches long. For the past 3 weeks,Matt and I have been back and forth 4-5 x looking @ both tables. We have taped in out on the floor and surrounded it with folding chairs. And we've had multiple opinions...

And the decision was......the antique farmhouse style table! Though we were concerned about the size of the table, it is truly a spectacular piece of furniture. It is all wood with a lacquer finish; the beauty of this table will be enhanced by the beating it takes over the years. Delivery is scheduled for Saturday. I promise to take pictures when it gets here!

As our Saturday went on, we took our weekly trip to Lowes to get some Christmas decorations! Well, instead of walking out with Christmas decorations, we bought a grill. To be more precise, it is a Char Briol Quantum commercial grade infraded grill! It is the mother of all grills I've ever seen and it's hard to resist when all Matt has ever wanted was a big grill. It retails for $1,000 and we bought it for $350, thanks to my clipping of coupons! Matt is a kid in a candy store right as I've watched him put it together. As it grew in size, his eyes grew wider and this silly smile came across his face. It really was the one thing he said he wanted when we got a house, so his dream has officially been fulfilled. He's also said on multiple occasions that he would like an LCD TV, but I put the squash on that...it was the grill or the TV : ) Technology is a guy thing, something I may never understand, but to me, we have a good size TV and as my father would say, "If its not broke, don't fix it!" Then this morning, we woke up to approximately an inch of snow on the ground. To my dismay, it is officially winter : ( Matt had a flag football game @ 9 AM so we both bundled up and braved the weather. I don't like missing his games; for one, he traveled the entire east coast when I played soccer in college. In all the road games, I believe he only missed one over a 4 year period. My other reason for always going is my own personal list of injuries. For those of you who don't know, I've broken my left arm 3 times. The last time was the worst; I was playing in a summer league soccer game, a game that none of my parents were suppose to be at. Luckily, for me, my mom was able to get out of work early and take me. Not even 20 minutes into the game, I went down with the 3rd broken arm. In the back of my mind, I always remember that I was suppose to be there by myself so I always make sure I'm at Matt's game, god for bid something did happen. Plus, on multiple occasions, I have served as the athletic trainer to tape guys up or assess an injury. Anyway, Matt's team won the game and it was cold; my toes started to burn with pain they were so cold! So another busy weekend in the books!