Christmas 2014

This year was an all-out boycott against Christmas.

Really, I've never felt more like a Scrooge in my entire life.

It was all for good reason you see.

We're making a trip in March to see my most favoritest nephew ever get baptized.

After much discussion and deliberation (flights ain't cheap!), we decided to forego Christmas this year.

We didn't even put up the tree.

This part was pretty unfortunate in retrospect.

I think it would have felt a lot more like Christmas had the tree been up.

But I just didn't trust that this little lady would leave the tree alone.

The absolute LAST thing I wanted to deal with was a destroyed Christmas tree among other things.

Also, starting a new job + finishing school doesn't lend itself well to preparing for Christmas.

Honestly, it was a minor miracle that I even sent out Christmas cards.

Trying to figure out what to get Dan just about sent me over the edge.
All these things combined led to the decision to boycott Christmas this year.
At least the presents aspect of it.

It was one of the most low-key and relaxed Christmases I have ever had, and probably will ever have in my life.
Aside from wishing I had put the tree up, I don't regret for a second the decision to boycott presents.
There was no stress as far as trying to get presents for Dan.
No anxiety the night before over said presents.
I was actually able to sleep the night before.
Minor miracle.

The only real stress was sending out Christmas cards, and Christmas goodies.
And making sure I didn't forget anyone.
In case I forgot you:
Merry Christmas!

This year for our neighbors Dan wanted to make homemade peach jam and Hawaiian sweet bread.
Since Dan was working like a fiend right before Christmas (all those good sales on cars are difficult to pass up!), it was left up to me to make the bread.
I have never made this bread before in my life.
Dan's dad makes it perfectly!
Needless to say, I had a pretty high standard to live up to.
Thankfully, everything turned out just fine.
Total bragging, but I received several compliments on that bread.

My sister had her baby two days before Christmas, so my family was here.
We went to my grandparents, opened a few family presents, and just relaxed.

The low "key-ness" actually gave me an opportunity to reflect on the most important things at Christmas.
Family. Faith. Friends.
The presents are nice.
The tree is nice.
But it's not important.
I looked at my little nativity sitting in the window many many times through December.
I actually never took it down from last year.
It helped me remember that Christmas is about Christ, and the ones we love most.
I count myself blessed to have my little Ruby and my sweet Dan to hold each night.

I'll be home for Christmas

Arizona is the most beautiful sight in the world after being away for almost a year. Especially if you're leaving the treacherous winter land for 70 degrees and warm sunshine. We left Christmas Eve after Dan got off work and headed for the homeland. Funny thing about traveling on Christmas Eve...everything closes around 7 or 8 pm. Even Burger King. No joke.

Lucky for us we pulled into St. George just in time to grab some food at Wal-Mart (Burger King was closed...ridiculous). There was literally a million people in that Wal-Mart. Holy cow last minute shoppers. We grabbed some fried chicken and a few lunchables, wolfed it down in the car, and got the heck out of dodge. We pulled into Phoenix around 1:30 in the morning.

We spent Christmas morning with my family, opened up presents, all that fun stuff. Dan got me an adorable watch (rose gold!! Go Dan!!!!), a Red purse, and a red coat!! Red was a big highlight this Christmas. It was so fun. Big highlight for Dan was the Oregon duck's shirt and a nice scarf. We also got a bunch of food storage stuff from both sets of parents and stuff for our emergency kits!! It's kind of funny that as you get older, practical gifts like food storage and emergency preparedness are super exciting gifts.

We drove down to Sierra Vista later in the afternoon and surprised Dan's parents (they thought we were not going to be there for a few more hours). It was really fun to spend some time in SV with family. We haven't seen Dan's parents in over a year and a half. Long time! We got to see some friends while we were there (Haymore's, Fenn's, Barkdull's) and also went to Thatcher for a day.

Pulling into that one horse town, I almost missed it. My heart aches for those simple and insanely fun times we had in Thatcher. It brings everything right back for me. Passing the movie theater where we had our "second" first date, the temple where we got engaged and I took out my endowments, and passing the college where we fell in love. Alright not that mushy, but you get the picture. I haven't been back to Thatcher since I drove away right before I got married.

Big highlight of the trip: PIMA BURRITOS!!! Oh my goodness. It's love in a tortilla. I'm drooling right now thinking about it.

We also went shooting, and I'm proud to say I've still got it! That's right. I can still shoot a clay pigeon with a shot gun. Hollah!!

And now here come's the photo dump!

"I'll be home for Christmas...if only in my dreams."

Christmas Eve

It's been quite the eventful evening. Not really, but we've done a few things around the Haban home today. First of all, Dan was supposed to get off of work at 12 today, but due to some lovely shop lifters at Kmart, he actually didn't make it home till 2. That was a little bit of a bummer, but it was totally fine because he's usually not home till 5 or 6, especially this week. So I got to spend the entire afternoon with him!

I was reading this blog today, and I kind of love it...like a lot. I can't find the link to it right now (dang it!) but it was just talking about curvy, plus size women and that we should embrace it and pretty much tell Hollywood to shove it. It's always nice to hear someone batting for those of us that are so blessed in this world with curves.

Oh and because of said blog, I watched the first couple episodes of a new TV show called Huge. I'm still not sure how I feel about, but it is pretty funny.

So back to Christmas Eve, I've been absolutely pining to open just one present! I think it would kill the anticipation a little bit. I think this is the first year in quite awhile that I haven't the slightest idea what any of my presents are. Especially for the last couple of years, I was the one that was helping my mom wrap presents all night, and that went shopping with her for the presents, so I usually knew what at least one of my presents were, which definitely bides away that anticipation so I slept just fine Christmas Eve. This year, I'm not quite sure I'll be able to sleep! Seriously, I might just wait till midnight, and open them all at 12:01 am...then sleep.

Dan doesn't agree with my idea. He says we have to wait for Santa to come...dang it.

Google Earth says Santa is in Kalamazoo Michigan right now. I think I want to live there just for the name! How legit would that be the write on return addresses.

Anyway, back the festivities.

We, and when I say we I mean Dan, made cinnamon rolls tonight! He's just a champ cook. We'll get fat because of his cooking. It's delicious!

They look so yummy! And I have to wait till the morning for those too!! Ugh this is the pits! However, we do have lots of yummy treats that are sitting around our cute little home. Most especially, cake balls! Red Velvet cake balls!!

I made them on Friday right before the family party we went to. Needless to say, they're delicious. And I keep eating them. They should really say that it's around Christmas you'll gain weight, not Thanksgiving.

So I was too cheap to buy wrapping paper...mostly because there's so many other things I'd rather get than wrapping paper. Dan and I thought it would be pretty funny to just wrap our gifts in ads. We have gotten tons of them lately, so that's what I did.

See! But Dan came home today with a roll of wrapping paper that they gave him at work. So since we have the wrapping paper, I decided it would be pretty lame that they're not in pretty wrapping paper like the ones we've gotten from our parents. I don't want them to feel like the black sheep in the family. So I just wrapped them in wrapping paper....over the ads. Haha.

And here's our  tree! We like to hang our stockings on the tree...no big deal.

I love it. And I'm insanely excited for tomorrow.

Merry Christmas everyone!!

Today I'm grateful for...

The home teaching message for this month is by President Eyring, and it's called The Choice to Be Grateful. If you haven't read it, please do. You can read it here. I went home teaching with Dan on Sunday and I'm really grateful he asked me to.

It was a really eye opening article, especially around Christmas time. It talks about being grateful for your trials, and that a lot of times we have trials to remember the blessings we've been given. It made me very very grateful for the trials that Dan and I have. And it actually was perfect timing because I had just been thinking the day before about the trials we've been going through lately. I was just crying about it, mostly out of frustration because there's so many things we'd like to have, but that's just not what we need right now. The thought hit me that I need to be grateful. I'm supposed to be learning something from this and it will better prepare me for what's ahead. That thought led me to remember a blessing that Dan had given me before my finals, that I need to have faith in the Lord right now, and build my testimony and the strength of my faith in Him.

Anyway, our home teachers came over last night, and they challenged us to think of one thing every day that we're grateful for. So I took down our whiteboard, rearranged it, and made a place at the bottom so that Dan and I can write down every day something we're grateful for. I think it's easier to remember and recognize your blessings, especially amidst a trial, when you have to consciously think of something to be grateful for so you can write it down.

I think that has made the difference in our Christmas too. It's our first Christmas, and initially I was pretty disappointed that I wouldn't be able to get Dan all the things he wanted. I mean, it's just not practical to go into debt over it. And then on top of that, I have a million and a half things to get for nursing school. So Christmas this year is just school stuff for me, and I've got a few things up my sleeve for Dan. But mostly, it's just going to be the blessing to spend it with family. And I've never been more excited about it. Honestly, Christmas is the best when you're with family, and especially with little kids. They get so excited about it, and it just makes you happy.

On the subject of gratitude, I'm so extremely grateful for my Heavenly Father. He always provides a way for us to make it through each and every month. He loves us, and He wants to bless us. I absolutely love that, and I love being reminded how aware He is of us.

Grat-i-tude: n. the quality or feeling of being grateful or thankful.

Spread gratitude this Christmas.

Lights

Dan and I went with my aunt and uncle and their kids to see the Christmas lights at Temple Square yesterday. Aside from the fact that it was fahhhhhhreezing, it was actually pretty fun. We went to dinner at their house first, and Chef Jeff made these delish pork chops from the pig that Keaton killed. It was soooo good. Oh my goodness I could probably go on and on about how good all the food was.

Jeni boiled some water, and dished out the hot chocolate; we loaded up and headed out. Tanner and Britton came with Dan and I, and they entertained us the entire way! The radio was on playing Christmas music, and then randomly that rubber ducky song from Sesame Street came on. Tanner and Britton had no idea what Sesame Street was, so after that song was over, Tanner asked for just about every song if it was from Sesame Street too. It was pretty funny.

We parked by the courthouse, and road the trax to temple square. It was actually pretty fun, but it totally took off (pretty fast actually) and I was not prepared for that! Needless to say it was a pretty entertaining ride to the temple. We walked around, avoided the sister missionaries, and looked at all the lights....with the thousands of other people that were there. I'm a little disappointed we didn't take more pictures, but that's the way it generally goes. You bring the camera, and don't take pictures....story of my life. We did however take a couple right before we left. 

This picture makes me laugh because if you look really closely, you can see how red our noses are, and that we're both holding those hot pocket hand warmer things. I had been putting on my nose to warm it up, and everyone was making fun of me, but my nose wasn't freezing and their's were. Who's laughing now? Haha just kidding, but it really did work! I love being there though. And I love that we got a picture with the temple in the background. 

Great Sunday night, with family. Awesome. 

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

And finally feeling like Christmas too. I swear, school sucks it all right out of you. It was so nice to get up this morning, make some breakfast for Dan before he went to work, and then clean up the house. I got to run errands, hit up the gym, and come home without having to worry about homework, or any tests. AWESOME!

To top it all off, it started snowing this morning. Just lightly, but it was so wonderful! I think more is on its way, because the clouds are so low that you can barely see the Y on the mountain!

Anyway, I'm very much loving just being a wife again....at least for the next couple of weeks. It's so wonderful not having to play the student, then the wife (and more often than not, in that order). It's nice to just breathe again.

Hopefully my brain has enough time to rest....because come January, nursing school is going down! Definitely gonna rock that! So excited!!

I hope everyone's enjoying their holiday season!!

There's nothing quite like having your phone go off during a final to get your adrenaline going

Finals are over!!! I can't even begin to tell you how relieved I am that this semester is over. It has seriously kicked my butt.

Buttttt to stick with the topic, yes my phone was going off for the last 30 minutes of my test. After it happened the first time, I think I read the next question on my test 5 different times. I could not figure out what the heck it was saying or asking for that matter. I was so frazzled. Seriously, I probably should have walked out right there. I'm sure I would have gotten the same grade on the test.

Background: Yesterday I had set an alarm on my phone for 2:30 pm so I would wake up and get ready to pick Dan up from work and make it to my dr. appointment. Well....I forgot to disable the alarm for today. Yeah...sucks.

So back to the test: it was already an awful experience because it was in the JSB, and if any of you have ever had to take a test there, it's horrendous! You're sitting in these narrow sits with the small little desk that folds over halfway across your lap. So you end up hunching over your scantron, with your test in one hand, and a pencil in the other. Your back starts cramping because you're sitting in the crappiest position ever. Yeah not cool.

To top it off, the first 30 matching questions....yeah I wanted to die because I didn't remember any of the information. I think that has proved to be my greatest frustration this semester, because the tests for this class just never make sense! Buttttt...it's over. I got a 60% on the final, but it's over. And I didn't fail. So hopefully that won't take my grade to a C. I'd be pissed....but it's my fault. I didn't study.

So I'm eating pumpkin pie for comfort food. Don't judge.

Just a few things

I'm an epic failure at blogging. That much is entirely too obvious. But seriously for one, I don't really feel like there's too much to write about. I mean, our days are pretty routine and the only things that are special and stick out are things that I don't really feel like I have to words to explain.

Anyway, we're doing great. It legitimately snowed today. Thank goodness it didn't stick. But when I came home during Sunday school today, it was hitting me in the face and sticking to my jacket. Yeah not cool. Seriously I have 6 more days of school. And I would be oh so grateful if it didn't snow till after those 6 days are over, because who seriously wants to walk around campus in the snow? Not this girl.

So that being said, school is almost over. I'm so so so excited to be able to breathe...for 2.5 weeks and then school starts all over again. Yeah not much of a Christmas  break, but I'm hoping that it will be just enough to let my brain rest, before I put my nose to the grindstone with nursing school.

I'm so so grateful for the opportunity I had to see my family over Thanksgiving. It was so great to just spend the weekend with them and enjoy family time, and no school. I love that Thanksgiving starts of the entire holiday season, because there's not gifts or presents, just good food, family, and a million and a half reasons to be thankful.

I don't usually get too excited for Christmas until Christmas Eve, literally. It's a little pathetic. But there's something about this year. I really think it's because it's mine and Dan's first Christmas together. Seriously!! How cool is that! Oh man it's a stinkin pain trying to find something for him. I went shopping to get him something, and ended up finding the one thing for him, and 10 different things for me. Okay it was really only 2 things for me, and one thing for us together, and then a gift for him, but seriously he's a hard person to shop for! I don't know what he wants, and there's definitely nothing we need!

So if anyone has good suggestions, text me!!

Anyway, I'm definitely looking forward to Christmas with my love. It's gonna be probably my favorite Christmas yet.