White Elephant Extravaganza

Can you believe that Christmas was over 3 weeks ago? My how time flies.... 

On the Friday night before Christmas, Dave and I attended our one and only Christmas party of the season - the Annual White Elephant Extravaganza.

All of the gifts set out on the table

Our gifts were a set of photo coasters (that we filled with randoms photos of ourselves, our dog, and a stove) and a box of plastic leis with a giant bottle of wine.  The "theme" of the wine gift?  "Drink wine and get leid." I think that people liked it.

Our general motto for white elephant parties is to never gift totally useless gifts - we will always give something that is at least moderately valuable to the right person, and we try to make sure that it's universally useful (even if the person who ultimately received it may or may not agree.)  But on the same token, we don't want to give the MOST valuable gift because you will never ever ever come away with anything even remotely as nice.  So, basically we half-ass it, but keep usability in mind. 

Anyway, the hot gift of the night was a $25 American Express gift card - clearly the most valuable gift amongst a lot of random things including two ugly statues, the American Pie DVD, Play-doh, a book, and a frame.  One of the other popular gifts including a live Betta fish with a gift certificate, a bottle of whiskey and our wine gift with the leis. 

Dave was THIS close to getting to keep the whiskey.. but, no such luck.

So what did we walk away with when it was all said and done?  A weird little clock that only lights up when you hit it and make it rock (not the greatest, but certainly not the worst), and THIS t-shirt.

Is there anything more than I can say?  I don't think so.....

Ok, Winter - Let's have a talk

I'm ready for winter to be over.  Or, at the very least, for it to stop snowing.  I'm tired of the messy, dirty slush that has taken over sidewalks and parking lots.   I'm tired of having to dry the dog every time he comes in from outside, and I hate that his leash is always frozen shut, so that I have to stand outside and squeeze it with my hand until it thaws enough to open.  I hate that I'm always cold, even though I'm wearing a long-sleeved sweatshirt AND a sweatshirt.  My bones still ache with cold...

I hate how unmotivated I am when I'm cold.  I know that if I started working out I would quickly warm up (at least for a short while), but the mere thought of me having to take my clothes off in order to put on workout clothes deters me every time.  I've taken to not turning on the exhaust fan when I shower, because I don't want to shower if I know that I'm going to be freezing when I get out (and obviously, I need to shower every once in a while.)

I like snow for Christmas.  I enjoy the first snowfall, the first shoveling job, the first sled ride of the season, and watching Murph literally frolick in the snow the first time it falls. 

Murph likes sledding too...

But once mid-January kicks in, I can't take it.  I start looking for jobs in warmer regions, and Dave and I have semi-serious conversations about where we might be interested in moving, just to get away from this cold.  Yeah, we could turn our heat up until we're toasting and happy, but we can't afford that, so it's not really an option.

What I really need to spring.  Right here, right now.  I need that ground hog to poke his head out of his hole in three weeks saying that it spring is just around the corner.  And then I need to crocuses to start poking this little heads up as well (a sure sign that's spring!)  In the fall, meteorologists were saying that this was supposed to be a "mild winter."  I lose more and faith in the field of weather predicting each and every day...

Spring, I miss you.  I NEED you... and soon.  Because even though you're not always warm and pleasant, at least your temperatures are higher than 21 degrees.  And I know that your arrival means that summer isn't far behind......

Love,
Lisa

Christmas Miles 1020 - 1165: Home Sweet Home

Originally, we thought that we had drive about 1300 miles, which was probably just an estimate rounded up slightly each time, and which also attempted to include all of the little side trips that we made (which are obviously not included in my totals here.)  So, although it seems like we traveled slightly less than 1300 miles in total, trust me when I say that 1200 or so is PLENTY.

Murph was SO excited to be home and in his own yard.

 

And so we were.  It was good to be home.

So, what did we learn from this trip? Well, for one, we definitely don't want to do anything so intense ever again in future years.  What made it so tough?

1. We spent waaaay too much driving.  Our carbon footprint increased to a size 14 in just 7 days. Mother Earth is still crying.

2. We planned for others instead of ourselves.  Sound selfish? Sort of.  But basically we traveled around events that were going on in each respective location instead of trying to just spend quality time when we were there, which is why we did ridiculous things like drive to Wilmington twice, instead of just going there once and spending an extra day at that time.  Driving time is wasted time in my opinion, and it's also wasted money when it's done unnecessarily.  While it's great to be at family gatherings, it can be at the expense of our own personal enjoyment - we had good times each place we went but we were way more exhausted than we should have been. 

3. We tried to do it all.  We basically tried to visit every single family member that wanted to see us.  That's great and all, but it was US driving to THEM and that felt a little one-sided.  Distance between families can be hard, since everyone wants to get together during the holidays, and I think that we need to find a way to become more comfortable with saying, "Sorry but we aren't going to be able to make it."  We have a hard time with that right now, and always try to find a way to make it work, which can make a holiday all the more stressful.

How do you balance it all?  How do you combine your desire to spend the holidays with your family (and in our case, many families) while still enjoying your time off at home?  At first we thought, "Well, if we have kids then we won't be expected to drive as much." But is that really true?  Now that I'm thinking about it, I feel like if we have kids, that will only mean a fuller car since everyone is going to want to see the grandchild/niece/nephew/whatever-it-is.  Am I right in thinking this? 

It's not an easy problem to juggle and I don't think there's an easy solution (if there is, PLEASE comment or message me with details!)

As it stands right now, I think we will continue to play it by ear year to year, but definitely some additional thought into how much driving it will mean for us.  We want to see everyone each year, but we don't want to dread it, which means we need to go easy on ourselves in the future when it comes to planning.  We also don't want to seem whiny - we realize that we're lucky to be close enough to everyone to pull off seeing everyone. But OH! How exhausting it was!

So anyway, that's it! Those were our Christmas miles - each and every one of them!!! 

How was YOUR holiday season?

Christmas Miles 736 - 1019: St. Marys

On the morning of the 28th we packed up the car for our second-to-last destination - my hometown of St. Marys, PA.  We were spending a full day and a half there (which meant sleeping two nights in a row in the same place! Oh how glorious!!!) and we were excited to get some relaxation in - something we felt like we had not yet achieved.  The start of the day was beautiful and we made great time.  We had never made this trip from the direction we were traveling (usually we would take this route FROM St. Marys instead of TO) and Dave thoroughly enjoyed the mountains, rivers, and scenery of central Pennsylvania.

However, once we got onto Interstate 80 it started to snow, and conditions immediately began deteriorating.  We had to slow down considerably, as the roads were snow covered.  It was somewhat treacherous for those last 50 miles or so, but we made it safe and sound and were finally reunited with Murph!!!

He was surprisingly uninterested in us

Actually, that picture is from the next night in St. Marys and not the eve of arrival, but it serves it's purpose nonetheless.  And really, we weren't too surprised to find Murph less than enthusiastic to see us, since my parents probably gave him more love and attention than we even do, and since it's the nature of the Cavalier Spaniel to "love the one you're with."

Anyway, we did get some good relaxation in during our time in St. Marys. We watched two movies - Angels and Demons and the Hangover, and we were SORELY disappointed in the Hangover.  Was it because we were too tired to really enjoy it? Was it because it was too hyped up by others as being the most amazing movie of all time?  We'll never know, but I can honestly say that I don't think either of us laughed out loud once during that entire movie, and that's rare for us and a comedy.

On our second and final night in St. Marys we went to visit my aunt/godmother and uncle.  We had decided to gift them with a picture of us from our wedding, since we had noticed during a visit that summer we were the only ones with a wedding photo NOT prominently featured in the foyer area.  How happy we were to find that we would be the ONLY ONES featured for a short period of time, since the pictures had been removed to allow room for the stable.  They even made space for us inside the stable with baby Jesus.

No caption necessary

Finally, as we were getting ready to leave, we noticed that we were also not featured on their refrigerator, which held dozens of holiday themed pictures.  Apparently we're wildly competitive when it comes to making sure that we receive equal face time in photos featured in prominent places, so my aunt decided that we would take a photo in front of the Christmas tree that could be featured on the fridge-of-honor the next year.

So, all in all, our trip to St. Marys was successful.  Very relaxing with some crazy antics thrown in.  The next morning we packed the car bright and early and started our drive back to Pittsburgh.  We were VERY excited to be heading home....

Christmas Miles 675 - 735: Back to Wilmington

Still with me?  Wow... I'm impressed.... In fact, I can barely believe that I am still me, since reliving this exhausting experience is exhausting in itself.

Anyway, when I last left you, were being sent off with a glorious "wave," as we headed back to Wilmington for a Christmas party.

This particular Christmas party was being held in honor of the girlfriend of the one of Dave's cousins, who traveled all the way from Thailand to be there, and it was a great time.  She was super sweet and I like large family gatherings where you get to catch up with a lot of people all in one place.

I'm going to let this post be picture-heavy, since the photos really do share the story better than I could with words.

A family photo - all of those open mouths are directed at me, and are saying "Hey! You need to be in this!"

Noi, Dave, and two Lisa's

An incredibly cute baby, and Dave's cousin Mike

A group photo before we left

And finally, I save the best for last.  Here's the background story..

You see, Dave's younger brother decided to go away for a mini-honeymoon shortly after Christmas, meaning that he was going to miss this party.  Even though we knew that they were on their "honeymoon" of sorts (I use quotes because they're actually going on their real honeymoon in March, but I'm pretty sure that one is the 3rd or 4th one that they have planned in total) we wanted to show them what fun they were missing.  So, we took and sent them this.

Sorry for the poor picture quality, but it was taken on my phone which has a really weird colored flash.  But doesn't that look like fun!?!?  Wouldn't YOU be sad to realize what fun you were missing if you received this picture??? Needless to say, we did NOT hear from the honeymooners that night, nor did they mention it in any subsequent conversations.  Perhaps because they were so infinitely jealous of the fun that we had?  That's what I'm going to let myself think.

These holiday travels are almost over - but we still have quite a few miles to go!!! Onwards to St. Marys!

Christmas Miles 577 - 674: Delta

fter the White Elephant party, we drove to Dave's dad's house for a brief visit.  We were tired and so were they, so we exchange some (real!) gifts and headed to bed.

The next morning we woke up bright and early and jumped in the hot tub, as has been our custom there recently.  I think it's a sign that we're getting old when we'd rather get in the hot tub in the morning after a good night's sleep over jumping in at night with a beer and then going to bed.... You agree?

The next morning we had a huge breakfast and then talked at the table and caught up on everyone's lives.  It was nice and relaxing... unfortunately, it was cut short by our need to leave to go back to Wilmington for a party that afternoon.

We were attacked by snowballs for leaving, but then they came around, and we got a nice send-off.

Click to enlarge - I swear there are actually waving people in that picture

Then they decided to do a wave!  This next picture is sort of horrible and blurry, but I find it incredibly funny.  You'll see two people in the far bottom left hand corner, and evidence of the wave that took place.

The Wave

At this point, have your found yourself thinking, "Seriously, this isn't over yet?"  Sorry, no such luck.  Stay tuned.

Christmas Miles 456 - 576: Maryland White Elephant

On the morning of the 26th we ate breakfast and then headed off to Gaithersburg, MD for a White Elephant gift exchange party at Dave's half-sister's house.

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