Joyeux Noël

For us, December has been the most bustling month of the whole year. We both finished up busy semesters. This was my last one at BYU! The day after finals ended, Russ and I moved into my Nana's basement. That was a hectic and exhausting experience. Russell did all the moving and I did all the cleaning.

This is the Allenbach Christmas party that was held in the basement three days after we moved in. Russ and I helped Nana put up Christmas decorations and set up tables and chairs. She says we are a blessing to her. I think she is a blessing to us. Living with her is so great. She's so easy to be around and kind and accommodating and Russ and I are happy and comfortable there.

Since school got out, we've both been working full-time. We're exhausted and don't sleep in very much, but we're grateful for the extra money.

We went sledding with my best friend Melissa and her family up at Tibble Fork. She has a really sweet niece and a hilarious nephew that were so fun to sled down the hill with.

Let's talk about the Navidad! We had a beautiful Christmas with the Lee family in Logan.

Brian and Mary-Jane came home from Texas and joined us for a formal dinner on Christmas Eve, complete with Christmas crackers and crowns and prizes and what-have-you.

Auntie Carol also came up and made us all chuckle with her crown-turned-Batman mask.

We braved the bleak Logan winter night and went out caroling. We delivered these adorable Santa Pants filled with peppermint popcorn.

We had a shepherds' meal late Christmas Eve. This is a Lee tradition that I was excited to be a part of this year. It was so fun! We dressed like shepherds and watched a Nativity movie while eating unleavened bread and drinking sparkling cider out of wooden flasks.

Diane made us all matching jammies to wear on the special night. She's awesome.

Christmas morning was so fun. Russ and I unknowingly bought each other the same jacket.

The day after Christmas, we drove down to see my family and their favorite Christmas gift...a puppy named Sammy.

He's the cutest thing I have ever seen. I am not a dog person in the slightest and yet I find myself baby-talking him and cooing when he hops around and pounces on stuffed animals. See how close I am holding him to my face? What am I doing? Who have I become? How can you resist a face like that? Do you think I can complete this paragraph in questions? Do you dispute that I have just accomplished that feat?

Everybody is obsessed with this dog. He even received a green and blue argyle sweater for Christmas. Can we say favorite child?

We had a wonderful Christmas and we're now enjoying the rest of our winter break before Russell goes back to school and I start molding 15-year-old skulls of mush into sculptures of the Eiffel Tower. Or die trying.

Too Good To Be True

I promised myself I'd be on a social networking hiatus during this busy time of final papers and tests, but I absolutely can't resist posting this jewel from the Best of Police Beat:

"November 25, 2005: An unknown person used a washable wipe marker to write obscenities such as 'poo-poo' and 'poo' on a black Denali parked in Heritage Halls."

This is the funniest thing that I have read. Ever. Ever.

My Thoughts Right Now

Yesterday, a girl sitting by me in class asked to borrow a pencil. I searched through my bag and found my one and only mechanical pencil that I keep when I need to take a test. At the end of the period, I turned back to her and she had all her stuff packed up and was about to leave when I asked her for my pencil back. Awkward, but it is my only one. She reluctantly handed it back to me and I stuffed it in my bag, mad that I felt stupid about asking for my own pencil back. I pulled it out again today to use it on a test for my flexibility class. No matter how many times I clicked and clicked, no lead would come out. I took a closer look and discovered that the entire top of my precious mechanical pencil had been chewed and was now mangled and busted. Definitely not ideal.

Know what else is not ideal? Walking outside to find that your car, which has up to this point been nothing but a total lemon and a thorn in your side and needing expensive replacements far too often, has rolled down the driveway and crashed into the neighbor's tree.

Sometimes, while I'm walking around campus, I'll remember something funny and I'll start smiling uncontrollably. Today I thought about an apple that I saw at my family's house. It was on the counter and it had three tiny chipmunk bites taken out of it. Katie looked at it and said, "Mom, this is what happens when you give Emma a whole apple to eat."

Why hasn't it snowed? What is going on? I can't even listen to Christmas music because it feels like September. It's definitely cold enough in the mornings, but then the afternoons are just sunny. It's the first week of December and Timp is bare and still conquerable. I feel weird.

Moving is not a fun experience, but it is a good opportunity to get rid of some crap you've been holding onto for years. I am a very sentimental person and I have kept every birthday card anyone has ever given me. I just can't throw them away. It was only when I moved to BYU as a freshman that I finally found the wherewithal to chuck all my old notes from junior high that were folded in crazy ways and had "For Your Eyes Only!!" written on the front in pink glitter pen. Russell can't believe all the weird things I have kept and stashed away - little horse keychains, my old retainer, twelve best friend necklaces that Melissa has the other half to (as if just one necklace wouldn't have made a clear enough statement), magazine cutouts of Heath Ledger that I taped to my locker in tenth grade, a stack of burned CDs with songs from cool artists like Jewel and Matchbox 20, old bookmarks that I made in Young Womens...making this list is making me feel quite lame. It's also, however, filling me with some wonderful memories.

I got to ride my uncle's horse when we went to his house for Thanksgiving. It made me remember how much I want to have a horse of my own someday. I think Russell is okay with this dream. I think he will also be okay with being the official pooper scooper.