A Southern Christmas

I have returned to America's northern limits [well, it's my northern limit at least]. Our trip down south was freaking fabulous. A gift from the good Lord himself, really, considering that Friday yielded temperatures in the 70s. THE SEVENTIES, PEOPLE.

It was actually hot outside and you better believe I soaked in every breath of fresh air. I went for not one but two outdoor runs. And there wasn't even death-trap-ice on the pavement. Sigh. I loved it so much. I should have brought my bikini for reals.

Okay, so it was a great trip. I even managed to snap a few pictures long the way.

We arrived in Jefferson City a day early because the forecast up here wasn't looking pretty. The plan was for me to work all day on Tuesday and we'd head down after. But instead, I got an extra day off at work [WHOO HOO!] and we were able to drive on Monday night after work. We arrived just before the next snow storm hit Milwaukee, again proving that there is a God. :)

We entered the house to find 2.5 Christmas trees. The 0.5 comes in if you consider the 'wedding tree' a Christmas tree. I do not suggest using this term around my mother. It's a lost cause, folks. In fact, I think the whole room has become a wedding room.

Here is the 'vintage silver' Christmas tree, which is new this year. I love how she decorates the trees in themes and this one is a blue theme, obvi.

And downstairs was the other 'traditional' tree full of red, and a few less ornaments than last year:)

Of course, Henry donned his Santa costume and Lucie looked on with disdain.
Sometimes I like to play around with the settings on my point-and-shoot, can you tell?

--------------------------------- MAJOR A.D.D ALERT-------------------------------------------
Okay, this is totally off the subject of Christmas but these long posts are so not me anymore! I need to warm back up to this blogging thing, huh? So for your entertainment, I present to you a real jewel:
In the hall closet at my parents' house I found my high school letter jacket [symbolically hung next to my wedding dress.....just a few of my many 'costumes' I've worn in my life].

You guys, I was a total jock in high school and was a volleyball and basketball star. The star on my sleeve says so. [Technically it means I was captain but whatev]. Also, you would like to view my patches, I'm sure:
You know, no biggie....just 'District Champs' and "First Team All District" types of patches.

Nate could not believe his eyes when he saw this beaut.

"You actually WORE a letter jacket?" [Why yes, dear. Does that make me a total loser?]

"Is it yours?" [no duh, Nate.]

"Only dorky hoosier girls wore letter jackets in my high school." [I'm sure the Wisconsin state rules do not apply to Missouri in this case, right?]

So yeah. Enjoy that, my friends. I admit, it's pretty hoosier:)
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Where was I? Oh yes, Christmas. Memaw and Pepaw made the trip up to see us, and my little brother was back from college as well. Here is the whole crew [dogs included] before our Christmas Eve church service.
My handsome hubby and me in front of the tree at church. Note to self: get a new 'nice' sweater, you cheapster. This is the same one I wore last year....but at least I bought new black boots to add variety:)

Have I ever mentioned that I love Memaw? I won't tell you her age on this very public blog [she might kill me!] but I will say that she is the hipest, coolest grandma out there. She has a facebook account. Enough said.


So then came Christmas morning. After shoveling disgusting amounts of food into our bellies yet again, we opened gifts.

My brother and I are 6 years apart from each other and we are complete opposites in many aspects. For instance: I wrap my gifts like this.I obsess over fun little details like a name tag, and truly enjoy this part of Christmas.
My little brother? Here is his version of wrapping a gift [click to make bigger]:
A sharpie, written directly on the paper, with a random bow slapped to the bottom of the oddly shapen gift. Are we from the same parents??

Are you dying to know what I got this year? Of course you are. Mostly I received lots and lots of cold-weather running gear, including these pimped out gloves from the dude sitting next to me.

He also gave me a pair of tight running capris, a new ear-warmer headband, and my first pair of freakishly-tight long running pants! Oh so flattering and warm, too. Yay!Amongst other goodies, my parents got me my new automatic car starter [squeeeeeeeee!] and Nate is going to get it installed tomorrow while I'm at work. He is contributing to the cause......the 'help Julia acclimate to this crazy weather so she doesn't demand that we move south again" cause. First the warm weather clothes and now the car starter: I must admit he's doing a pretty good job.

I don't have the energy to list everything that I received but I'll just say that I am incredibly lucky to have such generous family members. And we won't even get started on how cute our dogs are:


And now for the two traditional pictures:

1. The kids with all of their loot.
2. The kids under all of the wrapping papers. Henry is totally losing his mind in this one.

Our biggest meal was lunch on Christmas Day. My mom went all out as usual. She fed us enough food to last us all winter and I could feasibly hibernate until March without consuming another morsel. But that is what moms do, right? They feed you until you have to moan and groan and roll yourself downstairs, then they do it all over again the next day. You will not hear me complain until I step on the scale and shed a tear....mark my words.

So after we emerged from our food comas, and said goodbye to Memaw and Pepaw, my mom and I somehow convinced the boys to see Marley and Me with us. All I will say is this: the book was better and full of more alluring details about Marley, but the movie still made me sob like a baby. It didn't make me as hysterical as the book but I did catch myself muffling an actual wimper in the theatre. As in, I was afraid I was going to howl from the bottom of my soul in front of a bunch of strangers [just like I did on the plane back from San Diego while finishing the stupid book]. Read the book first, then go see the movie....but don't say I didn't warn you.

Finally, the trip morphed into a 'Puzzles bring out the OCD in us all" kind of time. As you can see, Nate refuses to look up for one second or he will lose all concentration. Henry is determined to eat a puzzle piece in defiance.

We discovered the soggy half eaten puzzle piece eventually and were able to complete the entire 1000 piece puzzle in less than 24 hours. I call that psycho, don't you?

Then Nate decided to do this in the name of a good picture.......and shortly thereafter the bottom half of the puzzle eroded into a chaotic pile of crap. At least we got the picture, right?

So that was it. We left J-town and drove to St. Louis on Saturday for a little friend reunion, including a holiday bridal shower, a disgusting amount of red wine, and too many hugs to count.

Pictures to come.

About the hugs....did I mention that Kim is leaving for a year long trip to Korea on Friday? She is leaving us until Spring of 2010! I'm so excited for her but obviously I'm sad to see her go. More on this later since I cannot wrap my head around it all just yet.


Now I must rest my weary eyes after this mega post. I'm such a wussy.