14 posts tagged “holiday”
Hope everyone had a happy New Year! We went to Betsy & Richards for their 3rd annual party and had a great time, as always. Looking forward to good things in 2009, although I have had bad luck with the odd-numbered years in the past. Both 2005 and 2007 left a lot to be desired, while 2004, 2006, and 2008 were all great years for us. I plan on breaking that pattern this year.
I was pleased when Richard got the fire pit going and they passed out pieces of paper for people to write down the things they wanted to leave behind in 2008 and throw into the fire, and I really couldn't think of anything non-political to write. Last year was a completely different story. I had fun tossing a "Screw You AAA!" message into the fire. But this year, Tadd and I have both had decent jobs and things have been good.
Plans coming up...Our office is closed tomorrow, so I am enjoying a four day weekend. Tadd has to work tomorrow, so after vacuuming up the living room in the aftermath of removing the Christmas decorations, and writing out Christmas thank you cards, I may go to the movies by myself. Not sure yet. Saturday night, my cousin Brianna is spending the night at our place, and then Sunday, Tadd and I are taking her to Epcot. It's our one last hurrah before she goes back to Massachusetts and we go back to work post-holidays. I believe Sunday is also the last day that Disney has their holiday celebrations going on, so we'll get to see Illuminations with the extra Holiday fireworks! I'm excited for Brianna to see that, because they really are spectacular and we haven't gotten a chance to see them so far this year.
Next Friday, we are meeting a bunch of friends at Rising Star at Universal Citywalk for Tadd's 28th birthday. That's the kareoke place where they have a live band and backup singers. SOOOO much fun! Even though I refuse to actually participate...I just like to watch everyone else make fools out of themselves! It will be even more fun when it is Tadd and all of our friends doing the singing.
Getting ready to head over to my parents house for a family Christmas Eve get together. My cousin Brianna is in town from Boston. I haven't seen her in two years, so I'm excited to get over there. Anyways, hope everyone has a very happy happy holiday weekend! And with that I will leave you with two of my favorite pics from the Very Merry Christmas Party at the Magic Kingdom...From the only ride we rode that night; the teacups!
Five day weekend ahead for me. I took Monday off as one of my end-of-year "use it or lose it" vacation days. And just in time because, although this was a short week, I feel like I did enough work in 2.5 work days to equal about 2 weeks worth of work. This is the busiest time of the year for the benefits administration industry...lots of companies have their open enrollment periods in December and January, plus the end of the month is usually hell anyways, PLUS this was a short month. Ugh.
We had friends over last night for drinks, pumpkin cheesecake, and Wii games. Only a few people were able to make it due to either working late, being out of town, or having guests in from out of town, but that's ok. We had a nice time regardless and it was a good excuse to clean my house from top to bottom in preparation for Christmas decorations.
Right now I'm starting to make broccoli casserole to bring to my parents house. It's my first time making it, so I hope it's good. The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade is on. Pretty soon I will be making cinnamon rolls and using them to bribe my husband out of bed (he's still snoring away). As usual, we're going over to my parents' house for Thanksgiving dinner with my grandparents and aunt & uncle. Then tomorrow is the traditional mother-daughter shopping excursion. We're going to Target and I'm hoping to get one of the $89.99 digital cameras. We need a new camera desperately and you just can't beat that price for a decent point-and-shoot. Saturday I plan to start decorating...we'll probably put the tree up that day. I can't wait! I just LOVE this time of year.
Anyways, hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving.
No big Easter celebration for us this year. My father is just now getting over the flu, so everyone just stayed home to keep from spreading sick germs. So this is the first major holiday for Tadd and I to spend on our own. With the short notice change of plans, we just got takeout Boston Market (rotisserie chicken, mashed potatoes, green beans, etc...it was actually REALLY good).
Also, the Easter Bunny came this morning! Our baskets before...
And after...
Tadd got a baseball notebook and matching pen, a Reese's chocolate peanut butter Reester Bunny, Peeps, Russel Stover marshmallow eggs, Reese's Pieces, and an MLB game for XBox 360. I got Enchanted and West Side Story on DVD, and a bag each of lemon creme kisses, orange creme kisses, and Reese's peanut butter eggs (can you tell we love Reese's?). There are also a ton of pastel Easter M&Ms in those plastic eggs. I'm definitely bringing a ton of chocolate with me into work with me tomorrow. I need my coworkers to help me get rid of all of this candy!
Things are much better at work. For most of the week, my boss actually took over a good portion of the work I just don't have time for anymore. He, the case managers, and I are picking up each other's slack to keep things going as smoothly as possible and having daily status meetings to keep everyone on the same page. We're still behind, but at least I don't feel like it's totally my fault or that there will never be an end to the frantic pace. And, most importantly, my boss's boss and pretty much everyone else involved is in total agreement that the current distribution of work just isn't working. In a month or two they are going to hire a part-timer, most likely a college student, to help out. I still am insanely busy, but there seems to be a light at the end of the tunnel, so I'm happy again.
Not much on the agenda so far this weekend. I want to go shopping for some spring/summer tops and I want to go to the movies at some point. There was some talk of dyeing eggs, but I'm not 100% sure on that. I can't decide if it's pointless and silly or just something festive and fun to do. I know Tadd wants to. We had so much fun carving pumpkins for Halloween, so this is kind of in that vein.
Last Saturday, Tadd, Bet, and I went over to my parents house and we had our live draft for Fantasy Baseball. We also bid on behalf of my cousin Kerry. It was actually a lot of fun! I can't wait for the season to start. I'm sad that I didn't get my #1 pick, Josh Beckett (my dad ended up getting to go first and snatched him up in the very first round...I guess great minds think alike!). And then Tadd picked my #2 pick, Jonathan Papelbon, in the 2nd pick of the 1st round. And THEN Kerry got Jacoby Ellsbury (my 3rd pick)! I knew we'd all be fighting over the Red Sox players. But the H-Bombs did get Dice-K and a bunch of Red Sox relief pitchers, as well as Kevin Youkilis, so I'm happy.
Ok, back to watching Alice In Wonderland!
This weekend will be nice. We are celebrating Valentines Day a little early. Back in October, Tadd got reservations for the California Grill (at the very top of the Contemporary Resort, overlooking Magic Kingdom) for tomorrow night. He timed the reservations with the fireworks, and we're going to arrive early to try to get window seats. To make a weekend out of it, I went on Priceline and got an inexpensive hotel reservation at Gaylord Palms Resort, which is incidentally the same resort where we spent our first anniversary. I'm not sure what the plan is aside from dinner, but I think we may end up at Animal Kingdom on Sunday. We're also thinking about going to one of the parks after dinner...possibly Epcot, or maybe Downtown Disney if we get out of the restaurant too late to go to the parks. Should be fun.
We are not only celebrating Valentine's Day, but also the 5 year anniversary of Tadd proposing to me, and the fact that we both have new jobs.
Gotta get back to work. More later.
In about 30 minutes, I'm going to start getting ready for Betsy & Richard's NYE party. If it's anything like last year's party, it's going to be a great time. A lot of my closest friends will be there...Ryan, Manny, Stephanie, Rick, etc. Poor Bet is stuck working tonight, so he can't make it, but it looks like everyone else will be there.
Whatever your plans are tonight, I hope you have a wonderful time kissing 2007 goodbye. I know I will!
Happy New Year!
Christmas day itself was nice. I tried to allow myself to just enjoy it and forget about all our problems for the day, and I think I accomplished that.
Even before all the work crap happened, Tadd and I already weren't planning on buying much for each other this year, because we considered our WDW season passes our big gift to each other when we bought them back in September.
We woke up pretty early and immediately exchanged gifts with each other.
MY GIFTS TO TADD:
- Super Mario Galaxy for the Wii
- a silver ring for his right hand
- a "3rd eye" head lamp/flashlight thing for when he works on our cars
- Family Guy Volume 4 DVD
- a subscription to Maxim
- stocking stuffers: a Red Sox key chain, Hershey mint truffle kisses, lip balm, a 6-way screwdriver, and a cheezy kung fu DVD I found in the dollar section at Target.
MY GIFTS FROM TADD:
- a retro Epcot Center 25th Anniversary t-shirt
- a pink laptop cover
- pink fuzzy slippers
- a folding book light
- 8-color lip gloss compact from Victoria's Secret
We also opened gifts from his family at that time. We got a rubber spatula, a cookbook from my mother-in-law's women's club, and a Hamilton Beach ice cream maker. I also got the movie Hairspray on DVD from them, and Tadd got a few other gifts too (the new Harry Potter movie on DVD and a few other things I can't recall). Then we opened the big gift. Tadd's uncles decided to be extra-generous this year. They sent him the limited edition Halo X-Box 360 game system and a copy of Halo 3!!! Tadd was nearly beside himself with joy. The system itself is $400, so we were floored at their spontaneous generosity. I guess they heard about our hardships and wanted to cheer Tadd up. We will be sending them a big thank you, along with an invitation to come visit us if they are ever in need of a vacation.
The kitties also got tons of toys from both sets of "grandparents". We probably spent a good 20 minutes just watching them go nuts over all their new stuff. They got catnip mice, suede mice, colorful plastic spring toys, catnip-filled fringe-covered balls, and squishy fabric rings with feathers attached to them. So much fun! At one point, Logan was so overwhelmed and hopped up on catnip, that he just rolled onto his back under the Christmas tree, surrounded by toys, and just randomly batted at one after another. It was adorable.
After our initial gift-opening session, I threw some cinnamon rolls in the oven for breakfast while we got ready to go. Then we ate, packed the car with gifts, and headed over to my parents' house for the rest of the festivities. When we got there, everyone (parents, grandparents, Ryan, Megan, and Megan's boyfriend Dale) was awake and waiting for us to arrive before they started passing out gifts.
GIFTS FROM THE FAMILY:
- tanzanite and diamond pendant (from parents)
- silver Isaac Mizrahi laptop tote bag (from parents)
- Yankee tarts and car jar (from parents)
- Bath & Body Works Temptations 3-in-1 shower gel and lotion in the Strawberry Mint scent (from parents)
- another ice cream maker (we ended up exchanging it for more Yankee Candle stuff, some kitchen utensils, and a new throw blanket for our living room sofa) (from parents)
- Ratatouille DVD (from parents)
- pink and black floral silk PJs (from parents)
- an extremely generous and incredibly unexpected check from my parents
- Alice In Wonderland DVD (from Megan)
- chocolate-colored fuzzy scarf (from grandparents)
- money (from grandparents)
- money (from other grandmother)
Tadd also got a DVD of all the Pixar short films, Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl on DVD, a comfy gray plaid bathrobe, Big Brain Academy for the Wii, a cocktail shaker with drink recipes on the sides, and a few other things. All in all, we were spoiled rotten by everyone. We had a wonderful time sitting around, laughing and watching each other open gifts.
The rest of the day was pretty low-key. We had the traditional dinner in the early afternoon and quickly realized we had made/bought way too much dessert (5 different pies for only 9 people!). By the end of the meal, we were all so stuffed! For the rest of the day, we hung out, watched TV, and tried out the new X-Box. Around 5pm, I realized I was really tired and could not wait to be at home relaxing in my new pjs, so we said our goodbyes and went home. We spent the evening watching some of our new movies and trying out the new video games.
Aside from job searching, job-applying, and job interviews, we were able to squeeze in a few holiday activities this month. The first weekend in December, we half-heartedly decorated the tree. It did help cheer me up a bit. We had originally wanted to buy a new tree (we use fakes), but with our new financial hardships, it just wasn't much of a priority anymore. So, for the first time in almost 30 years, my parents got themselves a brand new prelit tree and offered us their old one. It was so much fuller and prettier than our 5 year old $30 6-ft skinny Charlie Brown tree, so we took them up on it. This tree has been in use every year since my parents got married in 1978 and still looks great for its age!
On the 15th, we had our 6th annual Christmas party. I'd say it was a success. We did a mystery gift exchange this year instead of the usual gift free-for-all where we exchange with everyone. I think it worked out much better this way. People who wanted to participate could, people who didn't want to didn't feel obligated to, and it was less expensive and less awkward for just about everyone. Everyone seemed really pleased with the gifts they ended up with. I ended up with a $15 iTunes giftcard and Tadd ended up with a mojito giftbox (a handle of rum and a bottle of mojito mix). Everyone seemed to have a good time, although the party ended earlier than I expected it to.
And for some reason Vox isn't letting me upload anymore pics right now, so I guess I'll stop there for now... More later.
Ok, I am trying to catch up on the rest of what has been going on in my life...
My mother-in-law Peggy and brother-in-law Keith, as well as Peggy's boyfriend Brian came down to visit us for the week of Thanksgiving. They stayed from Tuesday to Tuesday. It was a nice distraction from what had happened with my job, and gave me a good emotional buffer zone before I really had to deal with it head-on. We all went to my parents house for Thanksgiving dinner, so we had a pretty large group. It was me, Tadd, Peggy, Keith, Brian, Ryan, my sister Megan, Megan's boyfriend Dale, my Aunt Pat & Uncle Ken, my parents, and Bet. I always love big gatherings for holidays, so that was nice.
My mom, Peggy, and I went shopping on Black Friday. Due to the circumstances, I wasn't able to buy much, but we had fun. Then, Saturday through Monday was spent at Disney. The five of us did Magic Kingdom Saturday (which was MUCH less crowded than I expected for Thanksgiving weekend...I credit the touringplans.com crowd calendar for suggesting going to MK that day over the other parks...I was skeptical, but their strategy worked!). This was the day we found out just how bad my 16 year old brother-in-law's fear of fast rides is. One ride on Thunder Mountain was enough to render him pale as a ghost and speechless. I felt kind of bad for him, because, really, that is probably the tamest "thrill rides" on property. So we stuck to rides like Haunted Mansion and Pirates of the Caribbean for most of the day. By the way, they really did a great job with the Christmas decorations this year. Everything looked great, especially the new icicle lights on the castle. It's really striking to see it in person. The picture doesn't do it much justice.
