Christmas, Boxing Day & New Years!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all our wonderful friends and family! I just got back this week from a nice long trip up to Canada and it was so nice to see everyone there! Phil and I had a wonderful first Christmas together. Right after I flew into Ontario, Phil picked me up and took me driving around to see all the beautiful Christmas lights. We spent Christmas Eve alone at home, sharing gifts and watching the Tabernacle Choir Christmas Broadcast. Phil gave me some very thoughtful gifts, the best of which was the YELLOW Kitchenaide I've wanted for years! You are the best baby! Love you soooo much! Christmas Day we headed over to Nicole's to spend Christmas with the girls. They got a lot of fun stuff...must have been very good this year! I got some great stuff from them too....LOVE the Lego Harry Potter game! I've had my eye on that for awhile! Boxing Day we attended church then headed off to the family Boxing Day party! I've been looking at pictures of the annual "stairs" photos on Phil's Facebook for a year now and it was nice to be a part of it this time around! (nice and squishy that is haha) The dinner was so yummy and Phil and I had a good time playing Settlers with Serena and Ron while the girls rocked out in the living room with karaoke! Monday Phil and I had a day to ourselves and we worked on getting more of the house clean and in order, mostly working on the kitchen so I could spend the evening breaking in the Kitchenaide with a batch of coconut chocolate cookie sticks! Tuesday it was off to pick up the girls and we took them to the science center. They had a pretty cool exhibit about mythical creatures that I loved. We had a lot of fun, but boy was it a freezing day! The rest of the week was lost in the wonderful bliss of laziness that I so desperately needed! Work, especially in December, had been so crazy and stressful, having a few days to just veg in jamies with my family was so much fun. We had MarioKart battles and played Guitar Hero, watched movies and slept in every day....Heaven I tell you! Haha On Friday we headed off to Watertown with Chloe and Abrianna to spend New Years weekend with my brother James and his family. We rang in the New Year with banging pots and pans and fancy glasses of gingerale. Other highlights of the weekend were playing Settlers, James teaching Phil to toss pizza like a pro, a wonderful church meeting on Sunday and getting to spend time with my sweet niece and nephews. The kids all get along great and that makes me so happy!



Sunday was the sad, dreaded and emotional goodbye. I know everyone around me was probably sick to death of me bursting into tears. I get so sad and low when I know the departure time is upon us. I just hate so much being apart from everyone and coming back to CT where I feel so very alone...and of course, being away from Phil is especially difficult. But I know its only temporary so since my return I've tried to be really positive. I have a couple job leads in Ontario and if those don't pan out, James and Martha have generously offered to have me camp out at their home for a few months until immigration is finished so that Phil and I can be a lot closer to each other. After a lot of contemplation of this offer I've decided it will be best for us so I'll be headed that way in just a couple months if the Canada job prospects don't turn out. Say some prayers for us! We really really can not wait for this long distance stuff to be over! Thanks to all the friends and family that made this such a fun holiday season and a very big and special thanks with all my love to my wonderful Phil who made our first Christmas together so perfect. XOXOXOXOXOXOX