Ho Ho Ho!

Hello!

I have missed you, friends.  How are you?  I'm going to bypass my excuses and get right to the update.  In chronological order, of course.

• The weekend after my last post I visited Keith's family in Arizona (I'm sort of in love with that state - if only it had snow, sigh).  His family is wonderful.  Hanging out with the bf's parents without the bf?  Could have been weird.  Fortunately, is was lovely.  It was important to Keith for us to spend time together and I'm so glad we did!

• Thanksgiving was lovely - my mom hosted a nice, low-key day.  I really don't know how we did holidays before my niece and nephew were in the picture!  It's so fun to have little ones around, especially little ones who go home at the end of the night.

• My mom and I did our third annual Black Friday shopping and while we were not the crazies who went straight from Thanksgiving dinner to the stores, we did begin at 3am.  No pushing or shoving, just pure adrenaline and Christmas cheer, y'all.

• That weekend was my nephew's second birthday.  Here's their Christmas pic.  The niece is as gorgeous as ever and I am crossing my fingers that the nephew really truly is becoming a redhead.  Also?  I think someone's slipping him growth hormones, because WHAT:

• The following weekend was my friend Zoe's wedding in Philadelphia and it was amazing.  It was at the Franklin Institute and they got married in a planetarium.  The reception was in a beautiful foyer with hugemongous ceilings and marble and pillars and just so much prettiness.  It was my first Jewish wedding and somewhere between the chuppah and Hava Nagila, I decided we should all convert because it was just so much fun, so rich in tradition and just so lovely.  The bride was stunning and oh man, can I please go back in time?  I can't believe how much I love (and miss!) these college gems:

• "My" navy one-shoulder dress was amazing.  Thanks to the other redhead in the photo above, I learned about Rent the Runway.  Since it was a black tie wedding and I have not worn a long dress since prom, I needed a nice dress but not one that would break the bank (my bank is already broken, haaaa).  I rented this dress for a fraction of the price, felt super glamorous for the night and then shipped it back a couple days later.  Although I clearly 1) do not get dressed up often enough, 2) am not girly enough, 3) am not fancy enough because someone asked who made my dress and I had no idea.  But now I know!  It was him!

• My Christmas package for Keith made it to Afghanistan in ONE WEEK, which is amazing.  Some fabulous friends and family (even people he's never met) have sent him holiday mail, which is so kind.  Keith should be home in +/- 4 months and that is great because I am about over this deployment business.  It is much, much harder on him - I can't imagine being so far from home during the holidays - away from all things merry and bright, not to mention friends and family and oh hey there, combat zone.  That said... I don't know how to say this without sounding selfish, annoying and complainy: this is harder than I thought it would be.  I'm not in Afghanistan, but this is still hard.  Is that terrible of me?  I'm so grateful for all the support I've received over the past 4+ months.

• I love this time of year so much - it makes my heart feel full and grateful and happy.  I miss Christmas music already and there's still plenty of time to listen to it!  The Amy Grant Christmas station on Pandora is amazing, which means my taste is pretty much in line with most 40-60 year old women.

• Speaking of middle-aged people... I will be 28 in last than 3 weeks.  WHAT.

I hope you are enjoying the holidays, my friends!!  Are you feeling the Christmas cheer??

Love,

Jen