Christmas Round-Up

A quick review from some of my favorite (captured) moments this Christmas season.  Thankfully Jesse had the week off for Christmas too, so we went to Luverne to start the Christmas rounds. It was a busy time, going from house to house to visit different parts of our families, but I love spending time with everyone. It doesn't happen that often.

I got coal for Christmas!! And Jesse's stocking for packed full. :( 

Not really.  Jesse and I only did stockings this year, which was fun to see what little goodies we would pull out next.

Moseley Christmas

SO glad we got to see ALL of these faces, especially Ethan and Amy from California.

Yay, my parents got new towels for Christmas! :)

Hatcher Christmas. There were lots of surprises and a little danger...

...and cuteness. Just look at that face!

Wilson Christmas

Budraitis Christmas
(I promise Matt was there, just behind the camera!)

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

New York Vacation - Day 5

It was kindly brought to my attention that I haven't gotten around to posting the last day of our trip. (Which means I have at least one reader! :)  )
We didn't have much time for any major sight seeing before our flight out of NY, so we split up for breakfast and a little exploring. It was nice to have the morning just me and Jesse. Vacationing with others is often more fun, but it's good to have a little time to ourselves too.  The last morning was perfect for this since there was no plans or no where to be except the airport later.  Jesse found an aquarium shop to visit, so we walked in it's direction to find breakfast first. We found a little nook in the wall place called the Fiat Cafe. I had french toast with a deliciously foamy latte and Jesse had egg's benedict with smoked salmon. 

I had said that I would include a list of our top favorite things, but to be honest everything was amazing! I'm glad we did, ate, and drank every single thing. So I made a map on Pinterest (because you can do that now) of everything we did (which has pretty much been included in these posts) is on there. View it HERE. Maybe you can use it one day to plan your own trip. New York is definitely worth seeing once in your life - if you have the chance, take it!

Catch the beginning post of this trip, starting with Day One. 

A thrill of Hope

It's the time of year that we can get wrapped up in gift-giving and receiving, and cooking and cleaning for family to get together. But none of that has to do with the true meaning of Christmas. Christmas began in the middle of the night thousands of years ago when an amazing thing happened. A simple, normal woman gave birth to a baby boy, that was the most special baby boy there could ever be - Jesus- a Savior for all. He would walk this earth for only a short time before he became the ultimate sacrifice to save each of us from our ugly sin. That's why I love this song. No matter where I am, I love to stop and listen to these beautiful words, and take in the emphasis of each word as I try to imagine what that night was like.

O Holy Night

O holy night, the stars are brightly shining;

It is the night of the dear Savoir's birth.

Long lay the world in sin and error pining,

Till He appeared and the soul felt its worth.

A thrill of HOPE, the weary soul rejoices,

for yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.

Fall.... on your knees,

Oh hear the angel voices!

O night...

DIVINE...

O night, when Christ was born!

O night!

O holy night,

O night divine!

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas...

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care...  I just realized I could truthfully say that this year. Jesse and I finally both have stockings, and we have a chimney!

I decorated the mantel with Christmas trimmings, instead of a tree again this year. We decided that there's not much room for a tree, and we aren't even there for Christmas anyway, so a tree is not necessary.  Well, really... Jesse has talked me out of a tree for two years in a row for those reasons. I relent at the beginning, but then see his logic and agree. So I made the most of decorating the mantel, reusing a lot of last years decor.

The frame (thrift store), you remember from the fall mantel; the large snowflake and the tinsel were from Christmas 2 years ago in Auburn (when we had a tree); the garland was from last year ("borrowed" from my mother-in-law); I found the stocking hangers this year at Goodwill (they were from Target; I has almost purchased them last year but Jesse had no stocking); Jesse's stocking came from Target this year (a Christmas miracle he found one he liked... I didn't know men could be so picky about a hanging sock), along with the twinkle lights we added to the garland. The ornaments were from last year's Christmas mantel decor, as well as the metal Christmas trees (a yard sale find). The hanging bags are part of an advent set (with a book) made and written by a couple of people in our church.  We had hoped to read the daily message for advent each day, but I'll be honest and confess that we only made it through a few days. I shouldn't be too busy to focus on Jesus each day of December, but that happened. We hope to complete it next year.

I loved being able to pull different pieces together I already have to create something completely different from last year. 

Merry Christmas everyone!

High Five for Friday

I started this post thinking Thursday was Friday, and I was behind schedule, but instead I was a day ahead! Then i forgot to click publish. Oh well.

Let's look back at this week's high five:

1.  My finals were over on Wednesday! It was the biggest relief to be finished with another semester of school. This semester went by quickly, but was definitely more challenging to me, so it felt very rewarding to make it to the end successfully.

2.  I spent the next day cleaning our apartment. This is not usually a top moment of the week, but by the time the semester endI'll be having  cannot wait to clean in places that haven't seen a dust cloth in... I don't know...months? Jesse went off to work, and I even got up early to start the day off cleaning.

3.  I forgot to mention last Friday that we have had the pleasure of kitty-sitting for a friend for a little while.  Jesse and I are both cat-people at heart, and would love to have one of our own, but our dog Maggie inside our apartmeDescheneanty for now. But we've enjoyed having the kitty (her name is Maya) stay with us. She's pretty, and fluffy, and likes to roll over on her belly in front of you to remind you of how cute she is.

4.  I did the last of our Christmas shopping after my final exam on Wednesday, which I thoroughly enjoyed because I could finally feel like it was time to start celebrating Christmas.  I accidentally found a little something for myself while out, and couldn't pass up these adorable glasses pieces. :)  Aren't they perfect?!!

5.  We hosted a dinner-movie-&-hot-cocoa 'party' last night. Mainly because Jesse and I have never seen the movie Elf, and all of our friends were in disbelief and said it was a requirement that we watch it this year. I made Brunswick stew and cornbread for dinner, and had hot cocoa with toppings/add-ins, and I didn't take even one picture. :(  It was a fun night in with friends, and we both liked the movie. I never watched it because I'm not a big Will Ferrell fan, but it wasnt nearly as stupid-funny as I thought. And Zooey Deschanel is adorable.

Happy weekend! Ill be having Christmas with some of you soon! Yay!

New York Vacation - Day 4

We're almost through our vacation! I'm typing this as I'm taking breaks from studying for finals, and I'm already wishing I was on another vacation. Or just still there instead of stuck at my desk or in the library. But it's fun to "re-live."

If you need to catch up:  Day 1, Day 2, Day 3.

Day 4 - our last full day!
We started the morning on a Subway ride into Brooklyn so that we could walk the Brooklyn Bridge back into Manhattan. It was a beautiful day for this, and actually warm enough to take my hat off without freezing my ears at times. It was funny because there is a lane for pedestrians and a lane for bicyclists, but all the tourists were walking in both lanes at times, and bikers would come whizzing through ringing their bells for everyone to move out of their way. The walk was fun, and it is beautiful to see the city line along the water.

Not too far from the Manhattan side of the Brooklyn Bridge is China Town and Little Italy. China Town came up first, so we walked through there and ate lunch at a place Matt had heard of. It turned out that it had been featured with Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations on the Travel Channel.

Then Heidi and I did a little shopping, and tried some bubble tea (not my favorite).

Next came Little Italy. However, the two really just run together for a bit. So you have chinese restaurants and shops mixed in with Italian places. Not exactly what I expected, but there was plenty to look at all over each area. Little Italy was already decorated for Christmas.

(of course, we ate one of these...)

And then we stopped at a well-known cheesecake place - Eileen's Special Cheesecakes and got some to-go.

We went back home to rest our feet for a while, then headed out to Central Park. We had came across it before, but it was dark and we wanted to see it in better lighting (and safety).

Next up was more pizza for dinner, and then Top of the Rock. Thankfully Bouchon Bakery had another location near the Rockafeller Center, so we were able to try more macarons! They were amazing! My favorite dessert of the trip.

The city is even more beautiful at night! We had to kind of rush to see this though, because the next stop was Broadway and we didn't want to be late for our show! We split up from here. Heidi and Matt saw the Phantom and of the Opera, and Jesse and I saw Wicked.  Both shows were exceptional! I was so glad we got to see a play while there - it was high on my list of things to do. I would highly recommend Wicked - it was entertaining and funny, and the costumes were beautiful. I also enjoyed the fact that it is it's own story, and there is no movie you could watch prior to know what to expect. It was a brand new story line to us. Our seats were in the top mezzanine, which was perfectly fine for watching the show, but we took binoculars as well to see their facial expressions and details from the costumes and stage.

It was a late night after the shows were over, so we met back up and headed home.

Only a little time left the next day, so stay tuned for Day 5 and a list of our absolute favorite things of NYC!