I really, really enjoyed having Richard here this year. I could not have fathomed how weird it would be to not be visiting his family in Belfast. I miss them, and for that I love their son and brother all the more. Since getting married, I have become eighty times happier and we've been more full of family and love than ever before. I've also somehow become at least twice as scatterbrained, messy, and unorganized. I've also gained fifteen plus pounds since the summer. That's painful. I don't doubt I can change that, but it's scary how quickly you can fall into a poor routine of work, play, and eating. My elderly dad is seeing some serious health problems. Making twice the money just means twice the bills for us, though we can't complain.
No, no complaints. In our current state of affairs, I am so happy.
I like to write down my Christmas exchanges somewhere, because I always have a tough time remembering months later. (What does that say about our culture? Not sure, but it's not particularly good.) So with that, I'll conclude this sporadic update.
For Richard, I bought a Gerber folding knife (which I ended up keeping, and he kept the gorgeous but large Horseman's Emerson knife he ordered for me, haha,) a soft grey bath robe, a handful of Transformers and Star Wars accessories for the new truck, some deerskin gloves and a Carhartt beanie, and to top it off, I woke him up by dumping Hopalong on our bed dressed in a Yoda costume. Which was epically cute, despite not fitting and my mom's dog, Rembrandt, desperately wanting to eat off Yoda's useless, floppy arms. He also got a motorized Lego AT-AT model (the Star Wars walking thing? idunfreakinknow..) and seemingly lots of pajamas. We also sort of consider his recent Tony Lamas a Christmas gift in extension. They're awesome, and at least well on their way to being broken in.
I received a pair of roughout chinks from my parents, plus pajamas and slippers shaped like cowboy boots! So cute. Richard bought me a fabulous Emerson blade which we decided was better for him (but the thought was awesome; it's considered "The" horseman's tool) in the long run. Still awesome. He got me the Waldemar Cookbook which I've wanted for awhile, and a card to get Hopalong DNA tested so we can figure out what makes up our fabulous best-friend mutt! Plus a little Blackaloosa (a black appaloosa.. don't ask, it went well with the Barak-Arama vanilla-scented air freshener he added)
Richard's family sent a darling compact and makeup bag and lots of our favorite Burt's Bees products. (I thought British people didn't get Burt's Bees but I guess they are pretty global. Hah.) He got a box of his favorite chocolate bars from home as well and a comedy DVD you probably wouldn't on any shelf in an American Target. I got a journal as well, and we both received a pair of beautiful, tiny silver spoons from Eve. We're a bit tore up that the present we designed and expedited to them is apparently being delivered in four days.. Richard is calling up the company (photobox.co.uk) tomorrow and raising hell. I felt awful that we didn't have something under their tree.
We also got a little money and books from my grandma. (Picked out by us, yay-- The Man With an Iron Heart for him and The Omnivore's Dilemma for me) My aunt and uncle got us a small handheld digital video recorder, good for short little clips.. I get the feeling we'll be taking LOTS of shots of Pax doing cute things. And we inherited like eight pounds of Starbucks Christmas coffee beans or something ridiculous since my family isn't completely partial to flavored coffees. I love them. So that was lucky.
I am not sure what we're going to do with the money. If we split it, there'd be enough for him to get a decent flat screen and for me to maybe find a used Wintec like the one I want.. But we could also just pay off a lot of bills.. hmm. Decisions. ;) Oh and I definitely need to invest in a horse soccer ball..
It's nice to be sitting here, typing and listening to my husband very busily crashing through his trough of several thousand Lego parts. It's a different Christmas, but it's a good one.
