It is SOOOOO effing cold!!!

My first winter back in Indiana was SUPER mild.  We had a total of about 1 inch of snow that ever accumulated for more than a few hours, and one morning of ice on the roads that was gone by noon.

So far this year, we had an overnight accumulation of 14", which we only got to see the result of a week later when we got home to a full driveway and no snow shovels in the entire city.

NOW the weather is SUPER cold and I had to buy my first official COAT - I felt like Eddie Bauer would be my best option for a quality coat that was not going to cost me a billion dollars.  SO, this is what I got...

via

I love it... there is really great fleece in the collar, cuffs and pockets that makes me feel like I've got a a teddy bear in my pocket  :)

While it's not as cold here as it is where J's family lives, where the high tomorrow is 0 degrees, this coat should be great for the rest of the Southern Indiana winter, and hopefully it will keep me warm during my trip to Chicago that starts tomorrow!!

Where did January Go???

I can seriously not believe there are only 9 days left in January.  The spring semester always seems faster to me than the Fall (yes - I live my life in the college semester calendar, not the normal January-December), but this is outrageous!!

When we started the semester, I kept thinking that I wish we would have had one more week before the students came back, but now it seems like they've been back forever and January 6 seems like an eternity ago!

Since I didn't recap Christmas with my family, here's the short version...

• It was so great to have my cousins and aunt home with us (it just wouldn't feel right with out them)
• We had a great "Christmas morning" that was really the day after, but it still felt like Christmas morning to me!
• After a few days in Indiana, we went up to Michigan to visit my other aunt and to go to my cousins' house for our family get together/ugly Christmas sweater party
• We returned to my parents' house for New Year's Eve where it had snowed, so I made Simon...

• New year's even with family, back home on New Year's Day and back to work on the 2nd

Since then, I've recovered from a cold, J has been in the ER with kidney stones and January has disappeared.  We've done some stuff around the house, I've been kind of crafty and I have lots to share, BUT I'm on my way to Chicago on Thursday, so it's going to have to wait until next week.

Just something to look forward to, I guess  :)

Christmas in Minnesota

We had a great trip to Minnesota!

As soon as we got there, we went up to J's grandparents' house.  It was so great to see his grandma with more energy and spunk than this past summer. They live about 15 miles from Canada, which basically just equals COLD, but this year, it also meant that the snow had frozen on the trees so everything was BEAUTIFUL! 

I posted this on Facebook and no one thought it was real

We got back to his Mom's and I finished wrapping while I watched some Christmas cartoons and his sister and her family got there on Thursday night.  On Friday we went and worked out, relaxed a little and went out with his sister and brother-in-law on Friday night. We don't get to do this much and it was so much fun! Not having any siblings, it's hard for me to really get what it means to have a sister or brother, but I feel a little closer to them every time we hang out. 

On Saturday we did a little bit more shopping and then got ready for our Christmas. It was CRAZY and we ended up having to take a half-time to clean some stuff up so we had room for more gifts. I think next year, we should let the kids open the gifts, put them to bed after a while and then open our gifts, hehehe.

J and I only took a couple of small presents up there for each other because it seemed silly to drag them up there and back, but my favorite gift that I got from him this Christmas was this...

 

Infinity ring with our birth stones

I've also gotten tons of compliments on the scarf that J's sister bought me... I absolutely LOVE it!

 



Sorry for the kind of weird picture



Everyone else left on Sunday and we relaxed and read books and just hung out. J and I met some friends out for dinner and drinks and then Monday we relaxed some more (I woke up not feeling well) and went out to dinner before coming home to watch Elf (J's mom had never seen it before). 

On Tuesday, we headed for the airport.  I've never flown on Christmas Day and it was actually busier in the airport than I thought it would be.  We were really lucky to avoid any bad weather, and everything went really smoothly!

We got back to my mom and dad's house on Christmas night and got up the next day to have Christmas - Round 2 with them. 

What's your favorite thing that you got for Christmas?

Oh Crap... Christmas is over

Christmas is definitely my favorite time of year, and while it's still definitely winter in Indiana, it's time to put the Christmas decorations away (maybe this weekend?)

I was so busy leading up to Christmas that I didn't get to post anything that showed the new decorations that were incorporated to what we had last year, so before they go away for another year, here are some pictures of what our house looked like during the holidays...






A modest centerpiece - love the candle sticks!

My grandmother's nativity

Mistletoe  :)

A gift from my mom for our tree

What the nest means...

By the end of the weekend, everything will be back in boxes and back in the garage - I wish they were called "Winter Decorations" instead of "Christmas Decorations" because I'd like to leave them up until the end of February - the lights on our tree create such a great ambiance for our living room!

Merry Christmas!!

I'm writing from the Minneapolis airport tonight as we make our way from J's family to mine. I'm feeling very thankful that the weather that is affecting other parts of the country are not going to keep us from getting home.

Tomorrow is Christmas with my parents and we still have a whole week off before we have to go back to work - HOORAY!!! Christmas recaps to come, but in the meantime here is something to keep you in the Christmas spirit!