It's the most wonderful time of the year...

I'm bummed that it doesn't really feel like Christmas yet.

I think it has to do with me being so busy

And sick.

Finally finishished this semester up and it's still sinking in.

The only grade posted so far is for my Statistics class.

I got an A :)

I don't want to work in retail for the rest of my life.

But for a college student, it really makes sense.

You're scheduled the most when you don't have school: Weekends, Holidays, and Summer.

Because of us, we make weekends and holiday shopping possible for other people. But tend to miss out on those events ourselves.

I find my heart bordering on bitterness and logical thankfulness. I don't feel thankful but I know that I should be. I have a job! And one that is scheduling me a lot right now! I have family that I get to spend the holidays with! (Even making two or three extra Christmases to celebrate!) We get to go to Utah and have a White Christmas (I'm hoping). Sure, I have a cold, but there are many many people with much worse sicknesses this time of year. I'm not in a hospital. We have food and an awesome apartment that we've been blessed with. And we're not freezing this year!

I just get bummed when I feel isolated by school and work. No time for friends because they work during the day and I work at night. And having to make time for Doug and I to hang out. He was nice enough to stay up till 2 in the morning so we could hang out for an hour (I got home at 1), even though he had to be up at 8:30 to go to work. I'm looking forward to Utah as a chance for us to be together for 5 days straight.

This is just for a season of our life. We're always going to be busy. And probably even get much busier. We are truly finding that it is the little things in life. Like watching Mythbusters at 1 in the morning, snuggling on the couch, with the Christmas tree lights on.

Psalm 46:10

I always laugh at how I think things will wind down. I find myself saying that I'll get to stuff "after the semester is over." Or "after things at work die down." Yet that never seems to be the case. There's always so much to do and it doesn't stop. It's at the point where if I do have free time I feel stressed out cause I feel like I should be doing something. Just sitting still for a minute or two is distressing and unnerving. But it shouldn't be like that. I need to learn how to be still. To make time to be still.

I haven't been making time to relax like my doctor told me to. There's too much to do! School. Homework. Work. Dishes. Make dinner. Do Laundry. Clean the apartment. Make time for friends and family. And importantly, make time for Doug. And life will only get more busy.

I like feeling busy because then that leads to feelings of accomplishment.

But I need to learn to be still.

Jolly Old St. Nicholas...

One of the traditions that I brought from my family was the celebration of St. Nick's day. Growing up we always got our stockings filled on the 6th of December because it was St. Nick's day. It was our recognition of the person who inspired Santa Claus, and Christmas was about Jesus' birth (although we still got presents from Santa on Christmas too). Plus it stretches out the gift giving.

So Doug and I have carried on that tradition into our home. We set spending limits (he tends to get very generous!) and keep it to simple stuff. Life saver boxes, Mike 'n Ikes, peppermint bark, blow pops, deck of cards, books, and gift cards were what we found in our stockings this year.

I must say that St. Nick's day was one of the tip offs to the game of Santa. Why did Santa come to our house twice? And only our house? None of my other friends got their stockings filled early. But I liked the tribute to the generous man who put coins and such in people's shoes at night (although I'm glad we use felt stockings instead of smelly shoes now).

Now to the true "reason for the season"!

Oh, the Holidays...

The holidays are finally here! Although it doesn't really feel like it...yet. School and work have kept me real busy. And Doug is as busy as ever! Retail really picks up during the holidays (duh) so I have a lot more hours of work and school is getting hectic with finals around the corner (12 and 13 days away). So we have been busy!

My extended family was in town for Thanksgiving. We had a blast finding time and hanging out with everyone. Reagan liked playing bubbles and chalk this time. As well as anything doing with choo choos :) We got to visit with aunts, uncles, and grandparents. And Devonna and Joe. Lots of good conversations and laughs all around. And don't forget the food! I love our Thanksgiving feasts and the leftovers. Doug...not so much of a fan of the food. So his plate was pretty bare and mine was overflowing. At least he'll still love me if all that food goes to my hips :)

This week we made time to put up the holiday decorations. Last year I promised pictures of our decorated apartment but it never happened...this year I made sure to take pictures! I love decorating for Christmas! Joe gave me a peppermint scented candle so I've been burning that to make it smell like Christmas.

Doug did our chalkboard for this season

We busted our our hot chocolate and holiday mugs (plus our apartment is a little chilly!)

And also this guy. Last year we missed a lot of holiday movies so we started early. Rudolph is always a classic!

This year we have end tables! And my parents gave us this nativity set last year from Israel that's carved our of Olive Wood. So we got to properly display it this year!

We put our holiday lanterns on our other end table. We were cracking up cause some of the stuff we unpacked, we didn't remember where we had gotten it the year before...like this basket. I love it, but can't remember where it came from...

Our penguin plate. And Target had the candy cane Hershey kisses right by the check out. And I was a sucker for grabbing them. But it was so worth it. They are really yummy!

Our newest addition of Christmas mugs. I'm a sucker for penguins. When I brought them home I showed Doug. And I told him that I got him a different type for him. He said, "Is it a snowman?" He knows me so well.

We put lights up on our "mantle" this year. We couldn't remember where we put them last year. Doug thought it was on the mantle, but I told him I remembered saying no last year...but since the paint is cheap we're not gonna be getting much of a deposit back anyways, so why not put some more holes in the wall? :) Oh, and Doug had left his hammer at youth group, so he hammered the nails in with a Zippo. haha. I love how resourceful he is!

Our potholders!

Towels. Go Target! They have the same ones this year. Gotta love cheap decorations!

Our "mantle" all lit up

Our tradition is that we get ornaments on our vacations as memories. That way everytime we put our ornaments up we can remember all of our great memories and vacations together. So far we have one from Kauai, Hume, Hershey Pennsylvania, and Disneyland. This year we went to South Carolina and Savannah, so we got ornaments while we were there. These are the two that we got! The one on the left is the state flag painted on a sand dollar. The one on the right is just clay.

Trimming the tree. Our tree is small but it fits our apartment perfect. It really just fits us :)

Our tree all lit up. Doug did an awesome job putting it up and making the branches stick out right, and putting the lights and garland on.

We've been playing Christmas music and I wrote our Christmas letter. I just have to assemble the cards, address them, and get our picture printed out. I love this season!