Thanksgiving in the rearview, Christmas on the horizon

All in all it was a great Thanksgiving. As you might already know, we had dinner at Amy's folks house and dessert at my family's place. I think we have officially survived our first married holiday. It was mostly painless in my opinion. The real test will be Christmas though. Thanksgiving is less of an issue I think because people are so wrapped up in being thankful. You tell them you won't be coming for Thanksgiving and they say, "Oh bumpkin, that's alright. I am just so thankful you are healthy this year and that you are still a part of my life. Go have a great Thanksgiving. Blessings child".

Christmas though... that's a whole different animal. That same conversation for Christmas looks like this:

Me: "Oh Auntie Regina, I forgot to tell you, I am very sorry but I think we will be spending this year's Christmas with Amy's family." (Notice the new, more tactful approach.)

Aunt Regina: "Oh... uh... well will you be at least stopping by? No? What do you mean it's too far to drive in one day? I know we gave you money for your wedding... can't you buy a faster car or a plane ticket or something? Ugh well... what am I supposed to do with this gift I bought you? HMMMMMM????? Ya that's right, I went through all this trouble of finding you that perfect gift and now... now you AREN'T EVEN SHOWING UP?! Well fine then... no seriously it's fine.... YES I'M ANGRY!!!... you probably didn't even get me anything anyways... psh... what a selfish little man you have grown up to be... after all I did for you when you were a baby...

Me: "Well I am sorry to disappoint you. See Amy's cat is very sick and it might be his last Christmas and..."

Regina: "No you know what, don't even bother coming next year. We won't be here. We're going to take the family Christmas underground and we're not telling you where it is.

Me: "Well you just kind of did. Won't it be underground?"

Regina: "No not literally underground... not like in a cave or a subway tunnel or a bomb shelter... I mean like... constantly moving and changing. Like one year it will be in a church... another year in a movie theatre... another year it will be at Wendy's. That kind of underground. Whatever. Just don't even bother.

Me: "Ok well... Merry Christmas."

Regina: "Ok sweetie. It's been nice talking to you. Hey you know, you can call sometime and we'd like to have you over for dinner. Love you sweetie... Merry Christmas. Just remember, Jesus is the reason for the season!

Me: "Thanks Aunt Regina. I knew you'd understand."

Christmas gift theme!?

We need your help!
Each year we have decided on a theme and a price range for the Christmas year we will give each other. Its been a very fun tradition and narrows things down for Christmas and lets us get creative. There are plenty of other times during the year that we just give random gifts to each other but at Christmas we like this little tradition that we have.
We want your ideas of what our theme should be this year! One year we decided on magazine subscriptions, one year we decided on something from a sporting goods store, one year it was pajamas (I botched a pair of homemade pj pants for him and ended up buying a pair for him)...anyways you get the picture..its pretty fun. Help us get creative!! I'd say diamonds, or cars...but I think that would be a little out of the newlywed price range. Have fun getting creative for us!

Our Family Motto (thanks to Matt)

1)ALWAYS BRING A BATHING SUIT AND 2)NOT IN THE FACE

Well, I thought I should mention that we have adopted the Voorman family motto...even though our names are just a tad different now! It all started on a trip up to Mammoth this last year... If I remember correctly, we were hoping to stop at the Hot Springs on our way home (not realizing that they had been closed off)...well I believe that someone in the family forgot their swimsuit and was going to have to improvise or not go in at all... so Matt shouts out- don't you know our family motto!? (ummm...no what is it!?)...he proceeds to remind us that our Voorman family motto is 'always bring a bathingsuit and not in the face'....two separate ideas, but very important to our family haha. Ever since we were little growing up we were always told to bring a bathing suit with us on trips...even if there seemed no way that we would be using it. This was as important to us as changing into new underwear each day. Well, the not in the face part is a very important concept as well it turns out... I mean, for instance...no one ever wants to get hit 'in the face'...
Anyways, thought I'd share with you our family motto. If you have one for your family..please share with us!

First Post!!

Well, this is Amy- my first time writing a blog ever...man am I trendy or what? You should know that I enjoy using smiley faces when I write like this :o)..I almost can't help it so bear with me! :)
Anyhow, I'm not sure how far back in time to write. We may post pictures with comments from our wedding and honeymoon and whatever...but I'll leave that to my tech guy husband!
You should know that I am completely in love with the Holiday season....decorations, pumpkin or peppermint coffee drinks, warm clothes and scarves, festive music, and anything else that even remotely relates to the holidays. When I was growing up I would decorate my bathroom mirror, bedroom closet, and bedroom windows with mini twinkle lights because I couldn't just leave the decorations to the main part of the house! I am already wondering where our twinkle lights will go in our new apartment...how about everywhere!?
Well, I have lots to say about our upcoming trip to Colorado this weekend, nursing school and 12 hr shifts for me, a new career for Adam, the Holidays, our apartment and cats, friends and family etc etc etc...so do us a favor and check us out everyonce in awhile! Comment away..we'd love to know you are reading! Love you all...