Christmas time is here...and gone again

I can't believe Christmas is already over. Like most, the season seemed to rush by in the midst of work, giving finals, grading, buying gifts, decorating the house, etc. At least I can say that I truly enjoyed myself this Christmas holiday and had so much to look forward to. (I know...improper English, but this is my blog...:)) For the first time, I decorated my table with my new-from-last-Christmas tableware. I love the look of white! I didn't want any red/green, which is incredibly difficult NOT to find, since my kitchen in red/white/black.This is also the second year I put up the smaller tree in the dining room. I love this tree! It totally reminds me of something my good friend Hayley would do. What do you think Hayley? :)

Of course, my "real" tree in the living room is full of anything and everything Disney. I'm afraid I scared Joon just a bit with my Christmas-y decor since neither he or his family have celebrated Christmas since they were kids. (I asked him about that, and he didn't really have an answer. They just don't make a big deal about it. Christmas is just another day to them. Well, I have news for him...) He did have fun putting together my new tree. He spent almost 3 hours (HOURS!) getting the tree out of the box and arranging each limb so it would look perfect. He said this tree business was an art form, and he wanted to get it right. Apparently, I've been just slapping my tree together for years now.

Before school let out for break, the teachers met at Diamond Bowl, a little funky modern bowling alley in downtown Independence for the annual Christmas party. Guess what? I WON a basket!! Each house donated items to be gathered for 5 or 6 different baskets, and if you wanted a chance to win one of the baskets, you bought tickets. (The money goes to our Benevolence Fund at school, which helps our homeless and needy kids.) I put in $20, and I WON! This is the basket--I figured there was about $150 worth of stuff. Not too shabby!

Let's see...2 bags of Twizzlers, 4 soup bowls, 1 soup mix, 1 brownie mix, 1 cupcake mix, 1 large tin of hot chocolate plus the cutest little whisk, a cookbook that will never get used, an Andrea Bocelli Christmas CD, 4 free movie tickets (I only can find 2 now for some reason.), 4 handmade coasters, 2 nice reed diffusers, the Apples to Apples game, 2 bottles of wine (1 white, 1 red), a giant bottle of Begium beer, and a gift set of Irish creme/2 small glasses. I made the soup last night, and it was delicious!

Joon and I had our Christmas the weekend before and exchanged gifts because he couldn't wait until Christmas. I think someone's Grinch-y heart is growing...

He gave me a 320 GB external hard drive for my laptop. I had asked for this b/c I don't want to use my laptop's drive for all my music and pictures. He also gave me a pair of gloves and a very nice dress coat. He received some cologne, the new Call of Duty game, and an electric razor. He really likes the game--he's playing it right now!

Soze loves her new much-needed big dog bed. It actually matches the rest of the living room decor and is so soft! Maybe now she won't spend so much time on the couch, but I wouldn't bet on it. She enjoys laying next to me too much!

Joon drove down with me on Wednesday to surprise my mother at her retirement party (another blog another day), so he was able to finally meet my family. They all loved him, as I knew they would. On the very first day at my mom's house, Joon came across this picture of me hanging on her wall, and he fell in love! He thought I was just the cutest little thing at 3-years-old, and I couldn't disagree.

Grandma spoiled her granddog, and Soze literally eats it all up...

One surprise that I had in store for Mom was a shadowbox of her baby clothes. After my grandmother passed away in February, Mom found several of her baby dresses. She knew she wanted to keep them, but she wasn't sure how to display or preserve them. I think I surprised her with this one!

My brother Cliff and his son Adam...it seems like just a few years ago that I found Adam sitting in his crib, diaperless, with poop smeared all over himself and flung on all the furniture in the room. Remember that one Mom?

One present that I actually asked for...don't laugh...was a Snuggie. My house gets cold, and I refuse to turn up the heat anymore than I absolutely have to. A Snuggie could be my solution! So here we are, my sister-in-law, Terri and me--Snuggie Sisters! :)

I know that even though I have such a good time with my family since I only see them all once a year, the time comes to say goodbye and come back home. This is what Joon and I returned home to--about 8 inches of snow! We couldn't even get in the driveway, and I didn't have a shovel! Joon borrowed one from my neighbor to get started, and I drove to both Home Depot and Sears in search of a much-needed snow shovel. Sears came to the rescue, and when I got back to the house, Joon was in shovel mode.

It has snowed about 2 more inches since this, but at least the main roads seem pretty clear. Joon and I were supposed to visit my stepfamily down in Memphis, but with the snow and ice, and even Memphis's bad weather, we decided to stay in and go sometime either this spring or summer. I can't wait for them to meet him, and I know they will love him just as much as the rest of my family does.

I've been working on catching up on my scrapbooks the past 2-3 days, and I hope to have some pics up on another post. Instead of being 2 years behind, now I'm only 7 months behind!