St. Nicholas Day

(A Day Late)

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When my sister and I were growing up, our stockings hanging over the mantel would be empty on Christmas morning.  This is because we celebrated the stocking portion on 12.6.  We would hang our Christmas stockings on the outside of our bedroom doors before we went to sleep on 12.5.  In the morning, we would wake up to find them filled with an apple, an orange, some sort of nuts- usually walnuts, sweets, and usually a "stocking stuffer" item.  After reading up on St. Nicholas Day, I found out that European countries celebrate this holiday differently.  It seems that our celebration most closly resembles the German holiday (makes sense, my heritage is German).  I'm happy to say that we never found coal in our stockings :)

St. Nicholas Day

Moment Wonder Let Go Make

So, I took a short break from blogging this weekend.  Primarily because we were so busy (again)!  I decided to combine the last four #reverb10 topics into one post, and, without further adieu, here they are:

Day 3: Moment:  Pick one moment which you felt most alive this year.

Hmm, I don't think there was only one moment where I felt this way.  I think I feel most alive when I'm surrounded by my friends and family.  On nights when it's just my husband and I, and we're on the couch watching one of our shows.  My weekly visits with my papa and my in-laws.  Family get-togethers.  Meeting my girlfriends for drinks and .  When I get to see the people I love- the people who really make my life joyful.  These are the moments when I feel all my worry subside and I can just be.

Day 4:  Wonder. How did you cultivate a sense of wonder in your life this year?

Yet another hard question to answer.  I think just experiencing marriage for the first year has created wonder in my life.  Even though X and I have known each other for quite a while, marriage brings this whole new perspective to how we live day to day.  I try new things because of him and he tries new things because of me.  On the whole, we get to have many experiences we would not have had we not met. 

Day 5:  Let Go. What (or whom) did you let go of this year? Why? 

In a few weeks, we will be letting go of cable.  I grew up not having 1000+ useless channels, so I don' t think that it will be too hard for me to adapt; however, I think it will be a harder transition for X to make (we'll see).  The primary reason for deciding this was $$. It seemed like a waste to be spending $120 a month on cable when we only watch a handful of channels and shows.  I think it will be good for us not to have that "crutch" to lean on when we can't think of anything else to do.  I'm looking forward to spending more time crafting, reading, exercising, or just spending quality time with my husband and pups.

Day 6:  Make. What was the last thing you made? What materials did you use? Is there something you want to make, but you need to clear some time for it?

This weekend I worked on two big craft projects.  The first was an ornament for an ornament exchange.  I used glass, glue, glitter, fabric, Modpodge (for the first time!!), paper, & ribbon.  I really liked how it turned out in the end and I think I'll be posting a tutorial on here in the near future (maybe after the recipient receives it :) ). 

The second project I worked on was creating some holiday floral arrangements to take to the cemetery for my mom & my Oma.  Both projects were relatively simple.  For my Oma, I purchased a Christmas wreath from Michael's and hot-glued some red pine cones and a bow to it.

For my mom, I found a twig spray at Hobby Lobby and hot glued pine cones, greenery, red berry branches and an angel ornament to it.

In addition to these projects, I have a long list of items on my "to-make" list.  Who knows when I'll get around to actually doing them though...

* please excuse the horrible iPhone pics...

Moment Wonder Let Go Make

Writing

#Reverb, Day 2 – Writing. What do you do each day that doesn’t contribute to your writing — and can you eliminate it? (Author: Leo Babauta)

My initial response to this was work, since I spend most of my Tim there during the week. However, I know I could dedicate more time to writing when I get home from work. Sometimes I'm just tired, or don't want to look at a computer screen any longer, or just want to spend time with my friends or family. However, I need to write when I really want to- not as some regular scheduled activity. I know that will eventually lead to a "do I really have to?" attitude towards blogging. And really, as much as I love writing and blogging, spending time with my loves ones is always more important. So I don't think there is much I want to do to provide more time in my schedule for writing.

Writing

Reverb 2010

Remember yesterday, when I said I'm kind of relieved not to be blogging every day?  Um, yeah, well I've decided to participate in Reverb10, a daily reflection on the past year.  After reading other bloggers' responses to yesterdays questions, I spent so much time thinking about my own response that I figured I may as well blog about it too :)
Yesterday's Prompt was:  One Word (to describe 2010 and hope to describe 2011)

2010:

Milestones

My husband and I experienced many milestones during the past year.  X and I worked through our first year of marriage.  We took our first vacation as husband and wife.  We have experienced living together (just the two of us + pups) for the first time.  X started a new job at a new place in July and LOVES it.  It has been just the right amount of motivation for him to decide to take on grad school in 2011.  I have been lucky to have many, many doors open this year that will abeit success in  my career (still can't believe I have one of those).  On top of all that, X turned the big 3-0 in September, and I'm not far behind ;)

2011: 

Balance

In my own life, I want to find balance between my career, my personal relationships, and my "me" time.  I feel like I neglected many of my own hobbies during 2010 (for different reasons- trying to sell our house, burnt out from wedding planning, b-u-s-y).  I guess it just boils down to time management, something I've always kind of failed at.  Emotionally, 2010 was pretty stressful for me and for a good chunk of it, I was really strung out.  For 2011, I want to be able to control my stress.  I want my husband and I to continue to balance our finances together.  I want us to continue to work together to find a balance between spending and saving.  With us both studying or in school for the first half of 2011, I want us to be able to both find balance in our lives to be able to put aside time to work on our marriage.  I feel like a marriage needs to continually grow and it's all about the time you put towards it. 

Reverb 2010

12.1

Ah December.  I'm sort of relieved that NaBloPoMo is finally over.  I've realized that while I really enjoy blogging, doing it every day is a bit much for me.  I think overall, it's been a good experience, and I will be making a better effort to allotting more of my time to blog than I had been in months before this.  Hope my topics weren't too dull for everyone out there and you'll continue to follow me along :)

In other news, I can't believe we only have four weeks until Christmas.  I've developed a strong urge to bake and craft in the last few days, so you can be sure to see lots of that in next few weeks.  Our Christmas tree is up, but I still feel like we need more holiday decorations around our house.  I hate buying more stuff, so I think I will just dig through my stockpile of crafting supplies and come up with something Christmasy from them. 

Despite the busyness of this season, I'm looking forward to spending time with my loved ones and enjoying lots of yummy food (which I may regret on 1.1).  What's in store for everyone else this month? 

And Happy Hanukkah to you and yours!

12.1