Monday 24 December 2012

It's Christmas at Site #6!

Hello friends! Work is crazy busy lately, so I'll try to make this quick. Hard to believe that Christmas is just 2 days away! But that's always the way it goes when I work "away". It never really feels like the holidays, and then all of a sudden it just sneaks up on you. Here's what's been happening since I arrived at Manning 3 weeks ago........

Jackie (one of my lovely roomies) and I, put up the Christmas tree about a week ago. It was always one of my favorite things to do when I was growing up! And even though it's not quite the same when you're an adult, and doing it on your own without your family, we still drank Egg Nog, and it was FUN and got us into the Christmas spirit.


Continuing the Site #6 tradition from last year, we threw a holiday/season kick-off party on Friday; Mayan themed, of course! A ton of people showed up; we danced, we drank, we talked, and we just generally had a really great time. Plus, I had the added bonus of one of my very dear besties, Sonja, being up for a visit. What an amazing night!


Over the past week, I have received a few gifts and cards from my darling parents, friends, and Aunt and Uncle; the cards I have opened, but the gifts I have managed to restrain myself from so I can have something to open on Christmas morning. I am so fortunate to have so many people in my life who care so much about me. For this, I am so grateful!


Although it doesn't really "feel" like Christmas, I've learned that sometimes, YOU have to make sure the "feeling" happens. So, I've put up the tree, along with decorating our kitchen windows with some really sweet decals I found at the dollar store.

 
I suppose living in a winter wonderland doesn't hurt the effort to make it feel like the holiday season. I am so grateful to wake up to this view everyday! I'm really trying to make time to do some Christmas baking today and tomorrow; I love baking, my roommates love to eat it, and it sure helps me feel festive! One of the staff houses is hosting a Christmas potluck, but unfortunately I am scheduled to work during the evening on Christmas Day, so I will be unable to attend. In the restaurant we are serving a traditional Christmas buffet, with Turkey and all the trimmings; it won't be as good as my Mom's, but I'll be happy if I can taste a little bit of turkey and stuffing and cranberries for Christmas.

It may not feel a lot like Christmas right now, but it sure did before I left the city! My fabulous sister, Amanda, was sweet, generous, and thoughtful enough, to throw a 2 person family Christmas on the first weekend of December. She put so much effort into it, and it showed; it was PERFECT! We ate a TON of delicious (completely non-traditional) food, drank a bunch of different delicious festive things (including Egg Nog), and watched some of our favorite Christmas movies. And we laughed!! We pretty much spent the entire time laughing and reminiscing. The next morning we opened presents, and then she cooked a big breakfast, just like when we were kids! Some of my fondest childhood memories are of Christmases spent surrounded by family, doing the things that were custom to us. Amanda really made it feel the way Christmas did back then. For this, I am SO thankful to her! Here are some photos I took of our very merry early Christmas:








This will likely be my last post until after Christmas. So Merry Christmas everybody! I hope this post finds you all in a happy, healthy, warm, safe place, with loved ones, thankful for all you have.

Thanks for reading. I am thankful for you! I love you!! MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

xx Mar

Sunday, December 23, 2012

1 comment:

  1. How fun to see where you live, looks like you've made everything "merry and bright"! Merry Christmas to you, my darling girl.
    Hugs, Mom

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