Christmas

I feel pretty guilty for not writing for so long, but it doesn't come from lack of trying... I started a post on the night of the Sandy Hook school shooting and really struggled with finding the right words to sum up how I was feeling. I'd stop, come back to it, and stop again. I've finally conceded that it will stay in 'draft' post mode forever.

The past few weeks have been filled to the brim with lots of fun things to celebrate Christmas!

One of our favorite traditions to kick off the season is getting our picture with Santa at PetSmart. This was our 6th year! Now, this tradition did not start off as a "family" picture, it was fully intended to be just Izzy and Santa but once we hit the second year she started freaking out (probably scared from the first year with Scary Santa) and wouldn't sit still unless I was holding her. Hence, it's now become a family shot and despite what you all think about me forcing John to do this, he likes it and never complains about it! Of course it's because this is for Izzy, I'm sure if his mom and I asked to get him to get family pictures (at some place else besides the pet store) there would be grumbling involved.


2007 - Scary Santa





2008

2009

2010

 


2011

I had Christmas dinners with my girlfriends in lieu of our annual Girl's Christmas party which we didn't have this year due to our crazy weekend schedules. I was thrilled when I found these little notepads at Target that said "Mildly Addicted to Cheese". This was the perfect little gift for us cheese lovers! I literally gasped when I saw them and bought every one they had. The cashier asked me as she was ringing up the stack, "um maam,  I have to ask, do you like cheese??"  I wish I could have seen the expression on my face back to her... do you really need to ask?

 

The oil was changed in my Jeep the week before Christmas and I am pretty sure by New Years I will need another one. We have been road tripping all over Pennsylvania this week! We treked back east to see my family the weekend before Christmas. It was a short and sweet time catching up with everyone I could, including my grandmother and aunt/uncle from Minnesota which was a special treat.  I was happy Lauren also came down from Jersey for the weekend. I got to see my little nephew, Joey and he is getting so big at 3 months old already! My mom, sisters and I baked cookies during the day Saturday and the only batch I made were peanut butter reeses cookies and as I was pulling them out of the oven the tray flipped and the cookies went all over the bottom of the oven and melted. I was so annoyed. Needless to say those were the only cookies I made this year.

 

Saturday night, Paige's (one of my best friends I met in college who moved to Cali) parents were having a Christmas party at their house which is north of Philly. Lisa and Carrie were going and I wanted to surprise her since she wasn't expecting that I would be home that weekend. John and I snuck into the house and hid in the bathroom while Lisa greeted Paige and told her that something was wrong in the bathroom. I had to contain my laughter when her response was that it was probably her brother or dad's doing... nope, surprise, it's us! It was great catching up with our Pitt crew and Paige's family for the few hours we spent there.

Sunday we were back on the road again home to Pittsburgh to celebrate my father-in-law's 60th birthday. Carrie, my sister-in-law organized bowling and we had a great time! It was Julia's first time and sadly I think she beat me during the first game.  I made a small come-back during the second one... I think we need to start playing more regularly, I forgot how much fun it is!

Christmas Eve, I decided to work from home and it was a good day to catch up on the stuff I'd been putting off for awhile since almost everyone else had taken the day off. That night we had dinner with John's parents and then went to church for a beautiful candlelight service. I took a moment to reflect on the poor families that are without their loved ones and the little children that won't be opening their presents on Christmas morning. I don't know if I'm just paying attention to it more or I'm really hearing more bells this season but the one line from It's A Wonderful Life keeps playing through my mind.

 

"Every time a bell rings, an angel gets it's wings"

 

Christmas morning, John and I both woke up around 9:00 worrying that something was wrong because Izzy hadn't gotten up yet. You must know that Izzy wakes me up EVERY morning somewhere between 3:45-5:30 to go the bathroom and eat. It's horrible but I've done it every morning for 5 years so I don't even think I'm fully awake going through the motions. So for me to sleep through the night until 9am, this was one of the best gifts! She was fine, also just really tired from all the traveling and interruption to her normal napping schedule.  We opened our gifts to each other (even though every year we say we aren't doing gifts because we have everything we want, need!) John surprised me with a beautiful diamond bracelet and I picked up a few more golf-related items for him to go with the new clubs.

We spent the afternoon/evening celebrating with the Kapusta family, opening presents, eating, talking and eating some more! John's parents love Christmas and they always go way overboard on the presents for all of us. It still feels like we are kids with the stacks of presents under the tree each year! Now we're just asking for more adult things, like a Dyson hard floor attachment for my vacuum. Yeah that's right, it's awesome.

 

Today, I was all psyched to hit the after Christmas sales since I was off, but mother nature had other plans in mind with a winter storm. We have several inches of snow, which has now turned into freezing rain. It was probably better off that I stayed in and did laundry and cleaned anyway!

Here's to wishing all of you a very Merry Christmas season with your families!

bah humPUG

While it seems like Christmas cards are becoming less of a tradition with all the other modes of communication these days, I still like sending them. This is probably because I like receiving them! You must admit the majority of the year when you open the mailbox all it contains are bills, credit card offers and catalogs for stores you've never shopped at and never will!
It's boring.
I remember actually being excited about getting the mail when I was a kid, now I kinda dread it.
But not at Christmas time.
I love seeing cards tucked amongst the other junk that typically gets tossed out as soon as I walk in the door. Sweet notes and pictures from friends and family adorn our pantry door as I hang them all up for display.

Last year was the first year that I did a photo card. While I was hoping I could get a card-worthy picture of John, Izzy and I in time for this year, I knew that would likely not be the case since I'm not crazy about any pictures of myself right now. Instead I had this idea (likely from something I saw on Pinterest) to put a wreath around Izzy's head and use that pic for our card.
John declined the offer when I asked if he wanted to do it too :)

So last night I went to the craft store and bought a wreath and ribbon to be the prop for this photo sesh.
I knew this was not going to be easy since the dog typically hates anything on her besides her collar. No doggie clothes, jackets, reindeer antlers, boots for this pooch. But for a certain amount of treats, I can make her do anything so there would need to be some bargaining going on.
This was not a one person job so John and I had to plan the strategy so she didn't take off running and hide under our bed (her favorite hiding spot) never to be seen again the rest of the night.

The strategy went something like this:

Sit.
Treat.
Hold wreath in front of her face.
Treat.
Push wreath back onto her neck.
Treat.
Picture!!
Treat.

So we had her positioned and the pile of treats ready to go, but she was not going for it. She did not want to put her head through the wreath! I started thinking maybe we just hold it in front and I try to get creative with the camera angle but having John's hand in there wasn't really the look we were going for. Then she ran away so I started thinking maybe it was going to be traditional Hallmarks this year. Screw the photo card.

John caught her and said that we need to be the leader of the pack (must have learned that from the dog whisperer) and put the treats aside, put the stupid wreath on her neck and she was pretty much paralyzed in fear. She stood there like a perfect angel while I snapped away a gazillion pictures like a crazy woman oooohing and ahhhhhing!
(My future children are going to HATE me some day because I will be THAT mom)

I know this sounds like animal cruelty and I promise she was not harmed at all during this. She was rewarded with plenty of hugs, kisses and treats and I was rewarded with some adorable pictures of what looks like a pissed off puggle with a Christmas wreath on her neck.
Bah-humbug from Izzy!

Actually, I do think she may have been partially traumatized, or just really ticked off because afterwards she laid in her bed and stared at the wall rather than cuddling with me on the couch like she normally does. Guess I better think of something better for next year!

so thankful

I know I've been a little M.I.A this past week with traveling and Thanksgiving, my apologies! It feels like I've been doing nothing but eating, drinking, shopping, spending time with family, friends and eating some more!

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays simply because what I've been doing is what it's all about. Relaxing and spending time with those you love without the stress of material gifts, but simply the gift of just being together.

This year we traveled back to Landenberg the weekend before turkey day to spend time with my family. At the Boxler house there is never a dull moment, and it's getting even better as our family grows. A dining room table that used to feel so big for just the 6 of us is now filled with 10 chairs (including a baby seat), and 3 dogs waiting patiently for someone to give them some food! Since it's only a couple times a year that we are all together, it's special. And even with the shoving elbows, screaming to pass the gravy, baby crying, dogs fighting, and spilled wine on a new table cloth... the twinkle in my parent's eyes when everyone is together, let's me know there is nothing they are more thankful for than this.

While we were in town the guys played in the annual Turkey Shoot golf outing at Chisel Creek and had a blast even though it was freezing. Much of the car ride back to Pittsburgh, all I heard about were these new golf clubs my soon-to-be brother in law has that John tried out and loved. (Thanks Justin!)  I was having a really hard time justifying why he needed new ones when he already had a nice set that was less than 2 years old! But I guess he could come up with a million things that I buy just because, not necessarily because I need them. Sigh.

Back in the burgh I had two quick days of work, dinner and drinks for Jess's birthday and then it was Thanksgiving Round 2 with the Kapusta's. The weather was warm and gorgeous that day, which was perfect for John and his dad to stick with their tradition of deep frying a turkey. This year they kicked it up a notch by injecting it with a cajun marinade and boy, was it tasty! We ate a little earlier this year and were all in food comas by 6pm :)  We laugh that it takes all day of preparing a table full of amazing food, and less than 30 minutes to sit down and eat it!

I'm so very thankful that I am a part of not one, but two wonderful and loving families. 

Even though I technically did not NEED anything that warranted Black Friday madness, Lisa was in town and we decided to brave the craziness and venture out to do some shopping together. That morning John kept dropping hints about these new golf clubs, even going so far to give me a coupon, and package up his old clubs, and even put them in my car jussssst in case we decided to stop at Golf Galaxy to trade them in. You know, because Golf Galaxy is definitely a store Lisa and I frequent often... Could he not be more indirectly telling me he wants these new clubs?!

Our first stop was Kohls and we lucked out and got a great parking spot right away, a shopping cart, and saw a group of nuns shopping. (These are BIG wins on Black Friday) I should probably mention the cart was a large GROCERY store cart and WAY too big to be navigating the narrow aisles of stuff in a crowded store.  Somehow I managed to fill it with stuff I technically did not NEED, but did get some great deals on presents. The lines wrapped around the store, but we had a great system down where one of us would wait in line with the cart while the other did some more shopping. It only took about an hour to get through it, which we didn't think was that bad. I love Kohls but they get me everytime with the Kohls cash, and they were giving $15 in Kohls cash for every $50 that you spent!! So now I have to go back and use it, on more stuff I technically do not NEED :)

I'm so very thankful that I have life long friends that can make anything, (and I mean anything), a fun time.

I decided to be the good wife and stop at Golf Galaxy since it was across the street. Well, I caved. With the trade-in money for the old clubs, the coupon and a sale on the new clubs, I couldn't pass it up, but now how do I keep this a secret from him?... he's impossible to surprise. I was trying to think of a story he would believe so when I got home I told him that I traded in his old clubs, but didn't realize that I was supposed to buy the new ones without him and said I thought we would go back at some point and buy them together. That's believable right?? I never bought golf clubs before, doesn't he want to try them out again to make sure?
I couldn't tell whether he knew I was lying or not, but he seemed to get pretty bummed and then a little upset that he now had no golf clubs. I mean, what is a man to do?! What if he wanted to play this weekend, or go to the range or practice his swings in the living room (even though I tell him not too because I dont want him scuffing the new floors!)
I let him stew on that for a couple days, just to add some suspense to it (I know, I'm mean, but I'm really not!).  I actually let it get to the point where he was ready to purchase them online when I stopped him, confessed and am suddenly the best wife. ever.

I'm so very thankful that I have a husband who loves me, (even when I sell his golf clubs) and plays along to let me think that I actually surprised him with the new ones.

happy halloween

It's typically mid Summer when the question comes up amongst my friends, "so what are you being this year?!" and then the panic sets in when I have no clue.

Weeks go into searching online for different ideas as to what to dress up as for Halloween. And while I've always enjoyed this holiday growing up trick or treating, I still love dressing up even as an adult. I usually make my costumes rather than buying pre-packaged ones, thinking that I save a lot of money, which in many cases isn't always worth it given how much time I've spent searching Gabes for ladies construction boots, or Goodwill for a leather vest. This has resulted in a nice collection of wigs and random paraphenalia that I'll likely never use again.

Growing up, we didn't live in a neighborhood, so we were those people who's parents would drive us to other neighborhoods to go trick or treating. I remember there was one house where a man would hide with a chain saw and just hearing the roar of it would send all the kids running and screaming. For some reason we still went back there every year, testing ourselves to see if we were still petrified.

When we were done all four of us kids, would come home dump our sacks of candy on the table, trying to determine who had the biggest pile. Then there was the "inspection" by Dad to see if any candy looked "suspicious". These would end up in his bowl of candy. Funny we didn't catch onto that until later in life. Then the trading amongst each other would begin, I'll give you my Snickers for your Reeses Peanut Butter cups! We were so worried about who had the most candy, even though there was no way we could ever eat it all.
 As I've grown up, I miss the excitement of trick of treating. With all of the places I've lived, there have never been children around to trick or treat. (Ha! This may be why I miss it!) I've bought candy and waited anxiously for the door bell to ring, but it never does. I'm sure when we move this next time it will be a different story and I'll probably be complaining about how I have to buy all this candy!

So back to the costumes. Halloween costumes became a big deal in college where (yes I am admitting) most girls, including myself found it as an excuse to wear things they would NEVER wear in public. There were always so many Halloween parties to go to, and often times we'd be to the point we were sick of wearing the same thing so many nights in a row. Post college, we tamed it down a bit and usually it was one party and the dress was a little more conservative.
It's cold in October, what were we thinking in those short skirts?!

Of course it is fun dressing up yourself, but it's even more fun seeing what everyone else is wearing. Last year we went to Stage AE on the North Shore in Pittsburgh and there were so many awesome costumes. One of the local radio hosts dressed as Abby Lee Miller from Dance Moms and he looked just like her! This year he was Honey Boo Boo. Ridiculous.

I am a little sad to report that I did not dress up this year, this is the first time in awhile. That's not to say I didn't get in the Halloween spirit, I did. Last Friday, we went to Fright Night at Kennywood with friends and had a blast, even got a little skerred! (Mostly from riding roller coasters in the pitch black).

So in honor of halloween's past and my lack of costume/creativity this year, I want to reminisce a bit. Please don't judge, people!





Freshmen year Flapper.
Pretty conservative. Dad would be proud!









Sophomore year Police Officer.
Uh oh, seriously, no need to show the stomach.








Junior year Mafia girl.
Couldn't get John to dress up this year.


Senior year Referee. I can't find any pictures of this! I remember a long blonde wig though and not wanting to spend money on a real ref shirt so I painted black lines on a white tee.











Homewrecker.
All time favorite. I just cannot get over those boots, I wish I knew where they went. (Pretty sure the only thing I can get John to dress up as is a construction worker)













Flight attendant.
John was a pilot. Duh, didn't you see that patch on his pocket?

 

 







Sarah Palin.
It was an election year and I remember people requesting to get pictures with me. John was McCain.















Betty Rubble.
Ok I did cheat here and buy a pre-packaged costume!
















Kat Von D.
Another favorite. I still wear those tattoo sleeves occasionally.











Flo.
I thought I was being unique until I realized Progessive has an entire site providing instruction on how to dress up like her!
















Bumble Bee.
Izzy from a few years ago, she wishes her old costumes still fit her too :)

Happy Halloween!