Ornaments

Andy and I have a tradition of exchanging ornaments every December 8 to celebrate our "kissaversary." Ok, ok, you can stop laughing now! It may seem silly, but it is just a fun little celebration and I think it is a great tradition. The ornaments we've given each other over the years are a great stamp in time and remind us of the memorable events of that year.



For instance, in 2004, Andy gave me an ornament that said "Will you marry me?" That of course, was the year we were engaged--in fact he orginially planned on proposing by giving me the ornament, but changed his mind when he decided to pop the question a week earlier--I didn't mind!!



Of course in 2005, the ornaments were geared around our wedding and the boat, in 2006, we commemorated our new home and our little Liddy!




Last night we exchanged our 2008 ornaments (I was in Tampa on Monday, thus the delay) and I am happy to announce that after six years of "Kissaversary" ornament exchanges, we now have our first official "Happy Kissaversary" ornament on the tree! Thanks Andy! **Muah!**

Happy Birthday Andy!

Andy's birthday was on Friday and we've now spent the entire weekend celebrating it! I tried out a new cake recipe that I was really excited about. A chocolate sour cream cake with chocolate sour cream icing. Sounds good right? Well, it was a disaster! I don't know if it's because I used light sour cream or because the butter was quite cold when I started creaming it with the sugar, or some other random reason I'm not aware of, but the cakes came out so light and airy that it was all I could do to keep them from falling apart! I actually had to throw one of the three layers away as it was not salvageable. But, fortunatley, Andy appreciated the effort, and so all was well.

Andy decided that he wanted to go to The Bone Fish for dinner and then we were going to attempt to catch a late showing of "Four Christmases." We didn't make it to the movie, but we did have a great dinner and they even brought Andy a birthday brownie with ice cream--thank goodness as I wasn't real excited about the cake I made being his only birthday dessert!

Part of the reason why we decided to skip the movie was that for Andy's birthday I got him the new version of American Idol for the Wii, and also a wireless microphone! Oh yeah, we had far more exciting things to do than to sit in a dark movie theater! We had fun entertaining each other and were up until after 1:00 a.m. singing away!

Yesterday, after watching the HOkies defeat BC to win the ACC Championship (Orange Bowl here we come!) we headed off to the Gribble's house for a joint birthday party. Andy's sister, Amy, just celebrated her birthday on Wednesday, so her family was there as well. Andy's folks made a great dinner and we finished the meal off with Momma Gribb's famous ice cream pies--mint chocolate chip for Amy, peanut butter chocolate for Andy. Yum!

The evening ended as you might expect...playing American Idol on the Wii! It was so fun to watch the boys singing, they are so funny how they know all the words to songs like "Glamorous" and "Apologize." It is crazy how quickly they are growing up!

It was a fantastic night and a great birthday weekend for Andy!

Happy birthday bub, I love ya!

Definitely not Scrooge's office!

I am very fortunate to work in an office that enjoys holiday decor as much as I do. We have poinsettias everywhere and plenty of trees to cheer everyone up as they head to the kitchen for another cup of coffee.

Of course, not to be outdone, I've also (as usual) added holiday flair to my own office. Pardon the messy desk, but you get the point! My Christmas tree has been with me since my freshman year in college. It is getting quite ragged, but I love its charm (and our history!) You'll notice two larger ornaments on the tree which are from my office's annual toy drive. I chose ornaments that ask for a purse and earrings for a 15 year old.

Lovin' the holidays!

Griswalds? Not quite...

Last night Andy and I finished up our outdoor lights, and while at one point (when we had gone through 500 lights and weren't finished) I started to think we were bordering on "National Lampoons Christmas Vacation" at further glance I realized we weren't even close!

But, I'm still happy with how it came out, clean, simple, and not overboard...who needs that kind of drama anyhow!? I've got enough drama with my lights inside the house!

Bring on the carolers! We are all set!

Trials and tribulations of pre-lit Christmas trees and garland...

Probably my favorite (non holiday) day of the year is the day I get to start my Christmas decorating. I love putting on my Christmas music and lighting my "Mistletoe" candle for the first time of the season. Pulling out all the boxes from under our stairs never seems like a chore (well, probably because Andy takes care of that part) and moving furniture around to accommodate our holiday decor is an activity I never mind to do.

I have to admit, going into this decorating season, I was a tad nervous about our living room tree (yes, we have more than one tree!) This is our fourth year using it, and it is a pre-lit tree, something that has been fantastic the past three years. Plugging in the tree as we were setting it up, we realized that my worries came true, and about three sections of the lights were out. Andy did everything he could to fix the situation (from changing out bulbs and fuses, to shaking the heck out of the tree in hopes it would spark something) but alas, the lights refused to twinkle for us. So I had to resort to putting a few strands of lights over top, which actually doesn't look too bad and most of it is now in the back, so you can't really tell. Crisis one, diverted.

After our first tree debacle, we decided to change environments and so we headed out to Home Depot to pick up a few things and to also pick out our tree for the basement. Andy always had real trees, and while I'm a big fan of the "faux" trees, I must admit having the real thing in one room of the house is kind of nice. It is also fun tying the tree to the roof of the car! The other thing Andy likes about the real tree in the basement is it is the one place in the house where I'll allow colored lights (yes, I am my mother's daughter!)

By Saturday morning we had a lot of our decor up, and we'd even had our first meal on our Christmas Tree Spode china (Andy loves it, he just won't admit it.) However, as good as we were feeling about everything, we soon found ourselves confronted with crisis number two. A new section of our tree was out (and yes, I had already completed the decorations on it, ugh.) So Andy removed the ornaments in that particular section so I could add new lights, and heck if I wasn't finished adding the strand that the lights popped back on, which now made that section super bright. So, I removed the strand, replaced the ornaments, and crossed my fingers it would last all season. Crisis two, diverted.

Sunday brought rainy cold weather which kept us from completing our outdoor lights, but it did force us to finish up on the inside, including vacuuming and moving all our boxes back under the stairs. From the inside, our house looked ready for the festive weeks to come.

That is until I got home from work last night and that same section on the tree from Saturday was out again, and hasn't come back on. Crisis number three, still unsolved. However, I had to quickly move on to crisis number four which was a strand of garland in our kitchen that decided to go out, Andy was able to fix this one. Crisis four, diverted.

All in all, even with a section of our tree out, I can't complain. I love my house all year, but especially during the holidays. I'll just have to admire my tree from the side that isn't out...

A fantastic Thanksgiving

Andy, Liddy, and I headed up to Wintergreen last Tuesday to spend the holiday with my family. I've spent every Thanksgiving week at Wintergreen since I was born, and it is a great tradition! By Wednesday my whole family had arrived and were excited to spend some time away from home with each other.

A highlight was our Wednesday evening American Idol show down! Even my dad participated putting on an amazing performance of "Copacabana," dance moves and all! We all had a good laugh and are hoping that next time we can convince my mom to take the mike...we'll see!

One activitiy that Andy and I like to do during the winter is to walk the golf course on top of the mountain (they close it for the cold months). It is great excercise (which we needed!) and it gives Liddy a chance to run around.

However, most of you know that my all time favorite thing about Thanksgiving is the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade! I anxiously await this all year and just love how it kicks off the holiday season. I also enjoy being able to have it on in the background while I make my traditional Thanksgiving day chili that everyone enjoys for lunch.

My parents had invited my in-laws to come for dinner, so it was great to have them there. Felt good to know that both Andy and I got to share the holiday with our parents. They brought along some tasty pralines and saffron rolls (Dave knows those my new favorite!).

We had a great dinner, thanks to my mom! It is one of two meals a year that she is now in charge of since my dad has taken over the cooking responsibilities, and it was yummy! We were all good and stuffed and ready for another ten laps around the golf course!!

Happy (belated) Birthday Liddy!

Liddy turned 3 over the holiday, and in true Gribble fashion, we threw a little party for her. She was spoiled with new toys (none of which she actually needed), special blueberry "Liddy Cakes", and my parents were even there to help us serenade her with "Happy Birthday to you!" She probably has no idea what is going on, but I know she loved gobbling up her treat and she can't get enough of her new soccer ball and teddy bear.