Twas The Night Before Christmas

The week of Christmas was kind of a blur of baking and wrapping paper. And somewhere in the midst of all 

that  I think... think.... there may have been some snow.

Just kidding. There was A LOT of snow!

The holiday festivities kicked off the morning of Christmas Eve at Marine's Mom and Step-dad's. We arrived early and gathered around the tree to open presents. Marine-Sis passed out the presents and as my stack grew I wondered if I had really been that good this year.

I got an assortment of wonderful gifts including the new Sugarland Cd and a neti pot. Ever heard of a neti pot? 

It's no secret in my family that I have horrible sinus issues and I am told I snore. *SHOCK, GASP* How could lil 'ol me snore? I mean how unladylike is that? 

I think they're lying. Either way this neti-pot has been a topic of conversation lately about how great it supposedly is. Marine-Mom got me one. I'm not sure if I'm thankful yet or not.........  Things going up my nose freak me out! But I'm determined to give this a try and see if it's as good as Giggles and everyone else tells me it is.

Christmas Eve evening we headed to my mom's with plans on staying with her and doing Christmas morning at her house and then going to my Grandparent's house which is about 2 hours away.

The forecast called for snow but it was so warm out I really didn't believe the weatherman.

Big mistake on my part.

We awoke Christmas morning to falling snow.

And lots of it.

My Mom, Marine and I gathered around the tree to open presents.

Now if you remember Marine and my Mom had nagged harped on me about making a list. Why I'm not sure since neither one of them chose to get me anything off of it (seriously not even one item)! Instead they did SSSSOOOO MUCH BETTER! I got a new Nikon Coolpix camera which I'm so excited about!!

I carry a small camera in my purse at all times. And my poor old Olympus (may it rest in peace) bit the dust a few months back. I had not put a camera on my list because I didn't want anyone to buy me anything pricey. With that said I'm so glad my mom doesn't listen! lol

I also got a new hackamore for Miss B which I was very excited about because it was much needed! ( a hackamore is used in place of a bit. It goes across her nose and nothing actually goes in her mouth).

Marine and I had decided to do only small gifts this year and even though we both stayed within a budget I have to give it to Marine for thoughtfulness.

My gifts were perfect! He gave me a silver chain to replace one I had broken while he was gone (the camera, the necklace..... I'm seeing a pattern here....). I had kept the broken chain so I could be sure to get one the same length. Unbeknown-est to me Marine stuck it in his wallet one trip home and then went and got me a new one just like I wanted.

He also gave me a USMC sweatshirt I had wanted and a beautiful picture frame. Within the frame he had placed some of his favorite pictures of us. PERFECT GIFT. I would rather receive a thoughtful gift than an expensive gift any day and this gift reflected the thought and time Marine had put into making it just perfect.

What did I give me Marine? Well I didn't do quite as good as him but I think I did pretty good. Marine is hard impossible to surprise! He always guess what I've got him, so this year I decided to think out of the box a little.

His mom got him a Mr. Beer kit awhile back so I got him a refill kit for it called Mr. Beer Cowboy. Sounded interesting.

I also got him a Conair Hot Lather Machine ~ did you just ask what? ~ this was something Marine had mentioned in passing that he would like. One of those....

"Wouldn't it be cool if you could have a hot shave....... oh look at the bird" you know one of those moments. He was SO surprised and so excited. After opening the presents he went into the bathroom where he stole my shaving gel and quickly popped the can in to see how it worked. He seemed happy so I am going to say it worked well.

The snow was still coming down so it looked like a trip to my Grandparents was out of the question. We bundled up and headed down to the barn to feed and take care of the horses.

My mom's a little crazy ----- hey I had to get it from somewhere didn't I? ---- and she pulls out a bag of with a Santa hat and reindeer antlers. You guessed it. She wants a family photo. So we each pull out our respective horse and brush them off and put on their hats. I set up my tripod out in the snowy field and screw my new camera on top. Which resulted in this picture:

My Mom, Me, Marine

The south is not prepared for snow. That puts it kinda mildly. All in all we got about 9 inches at mom's house. Which is a lot for us! Needless to say we ended up being snowed in for a few days so the Christmas hecticness faded away into Christmas rest.

Marine and I lounged around watching movies, reading our new books, and playing in the snow. We attempted to build a snowman. Attempted being the key word..... and his nose was an icicle so you can't really see it.

Christmas night the power went out. I used this time to rummage in the closet for classic board games.

Marine and my mom weren't to thrilled about this as they placed oil lanterns around the room. Me, I loved it!

Marine selected Clue from the assortment I produced. Of course he won. But I think he cheated. lol

It was a wonderful Christmas! We didn't really get the us time we would have to liked to have had but it all worked out well.

Monday after Christmas we were able to get out and go visit Marine's dad and do Christmas with him. We were supposed to head back to base Monday morning but the low temps caused what snow that had melted to freeze so Marine was able to call in and request a leave day so we could head back Tuesday.

I had a wonderful white Christmas! Hope each of you did to!

I know this is a long post.... but there's still more to come bare with me!

Phoebe: You know, Chandler, you being here is the best gift I could ask for Christmas. 

Chandler: Aww. Thanks Pheebs. 

Phoebe: Ok, now where's my real present? 

~ Friends ~