We wish you a merry Christmas!

I pulled the carafe out of the coffee-maker this morning to pour that first, hot, ever-so-good cup, and I noticed the carafe was significantly heavier than usual. Dangit. I forgot to empty the leftover from yesterday morning! Sean usually has atleast a couple cups of java, but he didn't yesterday for whatever reason. I need my coffee to jumpstart my morning, I can't want to wait to brew a new pot again. So I poured a cup of the 1 day old+fresh-brew mix and just hoped it wouldn't make me sick. It can't, can it? Well, I'm on serving #2 and so far so good.

I shook my head at my forgetfulness. It's been a wild week- purchasing and wrapping gifts for those forgotten family members (you know, like the new inlaws that I've never had to buy for before!?), grocery shopping, BAKING baking baking, checking my univeristy's website obsessively for my semester grades (which turned out to be all A's, fyi :)... Ahh, it's the week before Christmas! Then it got me thinking. I'm going crazy now? What about last Christmas?? I was finishing up last-minute details for my wedding (buying, stuffing, and decorating favor boxes, bridal party gifts, program details, convincing Sean he still wanted to marry me, etc..), I had JUST taken my bridal portraits since my dress had JUST come in and was scared to death that the editing and printing might not be completed by go-time, I was finishing up another straight-A semester (oops, is this bragging? Sorry, school is the only thing I claim to be really good at, haha :), and I was still doing the normal Christmas stuff of buying, wrapping, and giving gifts. Now that was a wild week. I pulled out my bridal portrait cd and started looking through the pictures. It was a pretty chilly December day when I took all of the pictures, but you can't tell. I was so excited- just a big ball of nerves, and somehow that kept me warm! Here are a few of my favorites...

((sigh)) I loved my dress. I kind of want to go put it on again and twirl around for fun... and to just see if it still fits a whole year later... But I can't- I just sold it. I had thought I may do it from the very beginning, but never gave any serious thought after the wedding- just threw the dress in the spare closet. Then my dear friend Carolyn showed me wedding pictures that were sent to her by the girl that bought her dress. The girl was so appreciative and looked beautiful- it was awesome. So it was the little push I needed- why hold on to something I'm never going to use again? To show my potential future daughter in hopes that she might want to wear it on her big day? Well, I saw my mom's dress, even tried it on, but I didn't wear it. It just seemed like a sentimental, emotional woman kind of thing to keep it tucked away in the back of the closet when someone else could benefit from it. I made my decision and casually mentioned my intentions of listing my dress online at school one day. Low and behold, one of the girls in my class is planning her wedding, loved the pictures she had seen of my dress, and asked if she could try it on. I let her take it home the next day for a private fitting with her family, and it "fit like a glove" and had her mom and sister crying she said. It was a done deal. I'm really happy to help someone I know get a great dress at a lower price- I'm all about the bargains. But what makes it even more special is that this young woman is the younger sister of a friend from highschool that just recently passed away. It's a good feeling- way better than the one I'd get by glancing at it occasionally in the back of my closet.

I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas!