It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Normally, I'm not one to put up Christmas before Thanksgiving has occurred. However, since Brad's mom was in town and ready to help me I gave in. I had only one ornament that I could put on a tree so essentially we needed to go find everything including the actually tree. I think we did pretty well. We drove all over town though, including three trips to Target (one in the morning, one for more lights, and one more to exchange light with white cords for lights with green cords.) I think I probably wore Janet out with all of our shopping. We did manage to get a real tree home by strapping it to Brad's Dodge Stratus. Somehow putting a Christmas tree on the dome of my little VW bug didn't seem safe. Once we got it home and set into the stand we were all so exhausted and hungry. After a trip to Macaroni Grill and more shopping we were ready to attempt decorating. Put on some Christmas music and Janet and I were all geared up to decorate. So, we got to work with our red and silver glass balls, silver snowflakes, and glass icicles. We even got Brad to put on a few ornaments. I must say that it looks really good. All I have left to find is a silver star for the top.

I haven't had a real tree in probably over seven years or longer and I must say that I am really enjoying it. I love the smell of the needles and the way I can smell it when I wake up in the morning or walk into our place. We'll just have to see if I can keep it alive for the entire Christmas season.




Thanksgiving was awesome. We were in charge of pies, stuffing, and drinks. We made two pumpkin pies and a pecan pie. Umm! Alissa did such a fabulous job with everything else. Delicious turkey, roasted butternut squash, mashed potatoes, and amazing rolls. Everything was so good! It was fun to spend the day with Brad's family and to coo over baby Ella. She's getting so big and is just adorable.

This break has been perfect for Brad and me. We have hung out with family, gone shopping for Christmas, played games, decorated, and ate really well. We even have got some homework done. It's been nice to not be stressed by school and just relax. I must say that I am jealous of my family being in Hawaii right now and leaving us home. I did make them promise to bring us something back home since they left us here. Even though we missed the beaches and luaus, it has been really nice just to be home and to relax. Plus, it's made me really excited for Christmas.

Another Men's Chorus Concert

This weekend my family got to come to hear Brad sing for the first time. It was a lot of fun to go out together. We went to Goodwood BBQ for dinner. Brad ordered a hamburger and requested it medium rare. A few minutes later the manager stopped by our table to tell Brad that, "Sir, I just want to make you aware that there are certain risks associated with eating undercooked meat." Brad waited until the guy was sufficiently far enough away to laugh.

The Men's Chorus is always highly entertaining and they didn't fail to deliver. They did a lot of my favorites and added some new ones that I'm absolutely wild about. They performed the same piece they did for Homecoming with clanging bottles and banging sticks which is so much fun. I wish the archival CD for the first half of the year came out at Christmas instead of waiting till the end of the year. I guess I'll just have to be patient or have Brad sing them to me.

Side note to our weekend: I think it is so funny to look at how my family of blondies now represents almost every color in the hair color continuum. Adrianne just dyed her hair brown, my mom highlights hers to be blonde, and Malinda likes to turn her hair red. Now if I just dye my hair black we'll have all the colors covered.

Pack Rats

We've been overrun! This weekend we have had a crazy infestation of Pack Rats! Actually, we had over a bunch of the Packer cousins for French pancakes, not to be mistaken with crepes. They are deliciously thin pancakes, served with sausage and maple syrup. YUM! This is only my second time having French pancakes (which is actually unusual that I've had them so much because they are a specialty generally reserved for Christmas) but I'm in love with them. We five timesed the recipe which makes a lot of batter but we had a lot of Packers over to help us take them down though. We had cousins Matt and Vanessa Johnston, Vanessa's sister Allie, cousins Katie and Melissa Packer, Melissa's friend David, Aaron, Aaron's girlfriend Kendra and the two of us. We ate to our heart's content and watched the CES broadcast. It was nice to meet some more of the Packer cousins and put names to faces. It was also nice to see Matt and Vanessa again since the last time we got together with them was at the last CES fireside two months ago. All together a very fun and delectable evening.