Our Christmas

We had a wonderful Christmas Eve & Christmas Day! We were able to spend the holiday with both of our families, and we are so grateful that we are able to do so! We missed our siblings and nephews & nieces who live out of town, but we were able to talk to all of them, so we were happy about that!! Here are a couple of pictures from the day!


-One of Nate & I's traditions that we started the first year we were married was to do dollar store stocking stuffers! Every year we go to the dollar store, pick out the most outrageous things we can find, and giggle our heads off as we open them up - either on Christmas Eve or Christmas morning! We have a great time! Notice Nate's awesome orange work gloves and my purple "diamond" bling!
-Nate's mom surprised Nate & his brothers (and his sister in Texas) with these awesome shirts (they say "Mom Loves ME Best")!
- Every year Joe & Ollie take Sam to the dollar store to let him pick out presents for everyone! He puts a lot of thought into the gifts and they are often very funny! This year, I got a plastic bug pack (because it has a picture of a snake on the packaging), Nate got a toy donkey (Sam didn't say why - I'll say it's because Nate is stubborn), Tom got a toy pool table (because the real one in the basement just isn't up to par), and Carl & Lynnette each got a Cross. Sam was very excited to give them to Nate's parents because now they have something to put on their night stands... he is a little too young to know why we don't use crosses in our religion, but his reasoning for the gift was very sweet!
- Another tradition that we do with Nate's family is "Christmas Crackers". They found these gems when they lived in England. We open them up with Christmas "Breakfast" and wear these hats for as long as we can stand them!
- For Christmas this year Santa brought Nate & I some clothes, I got a new fuzzy pink robe (which I LOVE) and slippers and Nate got some Hickory Farms snacks and some racquetball gear!
- We headed out to my parents house to spend the afternoon (until we got too nervous to stay any later because of the storm), but had a great time hanging out and playing games! Blake brought his new puppy for us to meet, and she is adorable!


Here are Rascal, Ellie & Stout on Christmas Day! What can I say, the pets in our family are pretty cute too!!


This adorable ornament was made by our nephew Scout and now hangs on the bulletin board in our room! Thanks Scoutie!

So there is our Christmas in a nutshell! We are so grateful for this time of year and that we get to celebrate the true meaning of life and the Gospel. We are grateful for the safety that we have been blessed with, for the time that we were able to spend with our families, and for the time that we were able to spend with one another - we know that there are many people in this world who aren't as fortunate and we truly are grateful for all that we have.

Christmas Mad Libs

Nate & I were out shopping the other day and picked up some Christmas Theme Mad Libs! They are quite entertaining & I thought I'd share a few with you!

"Selecting A Tree"

No Christmas season can be really gigantic unless you have a stinky tree in your Harry Potter Closet. If you live in a city, you will see many vacant blankets filled with hundreds of reindeer for sale. If you live in the country, you can get your own couch right out of the forest. Go out with a picture frame and an Adam Brody, and when you see a rusty tree you like, dig it up and plant it in a caroler. Then you can use it for 1724 years. To make sure your tree is fresh, shake the branches and see if socks fall off onto the fridge. And make sure the tree is very orange. Nothing looks worse than a mauve tree. Just follow these directions and you can have a perfect beautiful Rascal in your front room for weeks. Remember, poems and Mad Libs are made by fools like Nate, but only Clarissa can make a tree.

"What to get People for Christmas"

One of the rancid things about Christmas is being able to pick out slippery presents to give your kids and relatives. But it's a problem because you don't want to give someone a mountain when they really wanted Flem. Here are some slimy gift ideas. I bet your mother would like a new electric goat she could use to swing her vegetables or clean the nose in the water closet. If your father likes to cough, he could use a new set of balls (totally not on purpose - but funny). Or alabaster all wool socks while he is skiing. If you want to get Clarissa a present, she needs sports leggings designed by Jennifer Garner. And Bob needs some clocks to keep his elbow warm. But no matter what you give, remember it is the hot poker behind the gift that counts.

Well, there you have a couple samples of things that will be making us giggle over this wonderful weekend!! Have a Merry Christmas everyone!!

Braving the Storm

It has been a very snowy weekend! One of Nate's managers, who isn't from around here, asked him on Friday why so many people go out when it snows... we thought it was kind of a silly question! Growing up here I never realized that people don't go out in the snow... we always just bundled up and drove slow... the only snow day I remember was on a Valentine's Day in High School (I'm sure there were a few more that I don't remember), but living where we live - when it snows it snows and life still goes on!! The joys of winter!!

More Reasons why we LOVE December!!!

One of our traditions on Christmas Morning (while we still live close to family), is to eat breakfast (or brunch) at Nate's parents house! Nate's mom makes "Gooey Rolls" that look quite similar to the above picture, and we have eggs, hashbrowns, bacon, juice, milk, egg nog - a lot of food and a lot of full bellies!!


Something about December screams good food! Hot soup, hot drinks, yummy treats!! Happy tastebuds all around!


This one is kind of a given, but it's really important to us! We love all of the family time that we get during the Holidays! We are so grateful for our families!!


We love getting cards and greetings from our loved ones and hearing what everyone is up to!

Merry Christmas to All!

Proving My Love

Dearest BFF Brittany,
As per our conversation earlier today, I do love you, but it turns out we don't have many pictures of just us... Sorry about the quality and silliness of this picture. I just wanted to publicly post that I do love you too and that I am indeed grateful for your friendship!! I'm sorry I couldn't find the picture of us in High School with our silk shirts... it would have been funny!
Love,
BFF Clar

Friday Flair... It's Back, Baby!

My Friday Flair feature took a little hiatus (wow, that's a big word for me), but now it's back! This week's flair doesn't really follow a certain theme...

Wait... It does...

It makes me happy!

Enjoy!


Does anyone else remember the morning after the first time they ate a lot of asparagus? I sure do!

This is one of the first Flair's that Nate sent me... Thoughtful isn't he?

This flair is in honor of the lovely Spiced Orange scent that is filling my nostrils at the moment!

Confession? I have a total Celebrity Crush on Adam Brody... yes... the kid from that show about the kids in Orange County (which I happen to like as well)... Don't know what it is, but I'd take him over Edward Cullen any day!

no clever title... just read on...

I'm pretty sure that this is the longest I've gone without blogging for months... well... since I took finals in the Spring anyway!

It has been a very crazy, stressful, sick, tired couple of weeks - but now it's over and I can focus on the true fun of December!! A break from school, relaxing and Christmas! I'm very much looking forward to the next three weeks! My goal is to empty my to-do list before Christmas so that I can spend the last week of my break chilling and gearing up for next Semester (brrr - I can already feel the cold wind as I imagine walking across campus in January.... brrr...)

What's on that list? Well - getting ready for Christmas (gifts, cards, treats, plans), updating my recipe book, watching a lot of LOST to gear up for the new season, spending some quality time with my man, getting started on Grocery Smarts - if anyone is willing to help me - I'll take it, and getting a little more organized in general! Not too big of a list - just enough to keep me from getting bored, I think!

Anyhow - that's it! Nothing too exciting has been going on around here!! What have ya'll been up to?

Some Reasons Why I LOVE December!!

One of my favorite things about December is wrapping gifts... I don't know why, but I get such a thrill out of surrounding myself with a pile of gifts and wrapping paper!!

I love, LOVE, love seeing the different Christmas Decorations that people have put up in their homes. People have such different tastes and it is exciting for me to get to know people a little better through their decorations!

This one's a given! December is the BEST movie season of all because you get to watch the classics! The Elf, The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, The Christmas Story... the list could go on and on...

Yumm... hot chocolate! Enough said!

These are just a few! Stay tuned throughout the month for more! (As if you have nothing better to do!)

If I Were a Child...

I'd ask for these Little People Toy Sets from Santa.

Done, Finito, Fin, NO MORE!

I just finished a Final Project that I have spent over 20 hours on in the last few days. It has been my part time job on top of school, work, being a wife, sleep... But alas, now it is done! Tomorrow afternoon I will hand it in and let it rest in the hands of my teacher... Anyway, I just needed to take a moment to feel accomplished! Now, I'm going to bed! Good night!