Happy New Year!

Wow, 2009 already. That is so hard to believe! Christmas was fantastic this year. I must have been a very good girl because Santa hooked me up! A new Wii, Wii Fit, a camera (3 cameras, actually!), kitchen gear, and on top of that, my very own Sams Club card! It was really nice to be able to spend Christmas with Will's family. The feast was wonderful, and the sausage rolls were a huge hit.

I made it to Decatur on the 26th, after an AWFUL drive through nasty fog the whole way up from Nashville. Not being one to shy away from procrastination, I finished my Christmas shopping literally an hour before the Wingard family Christmas festivities began. Nearly all my dad's brothers and sisters made it to the celebration this year, which is no small task since there are 9 kids in the family and everyone is spread out. Grandma Wingard has been in a nursing home but she was able to sneak away to be at the party, too.

We had our annual "Naughty Santa" gift exchange, which is always a trip. You never know what you're gonna get. Some years you can end up with a really nice candle or movies or a board game, and other years...well, other years you may not be so lucky. I was the latter this year, being the proud recipient of an "Anti Monkey Butt" bathroom gift pack. Hooray! Just what I always wanted! Regardless of the gift you end up with, though, that game is always fun to play, especially with 30+ people involved!

Andy (or Will, whatever he is now-a-days...I just can't get used to calling him Will) and Sandy got a Wii and Wii fit this year, too, so most of our weekend at home was spent bowling, playing darts, playing quiz shows, and teaching Sandy how to use the Wii-mote. She just didn't get the hang of it. :)













Some highlights from Decatur: wearing matching pajamas all weekend (the boys had one pair that matched, the girls, another) taking our family picture at K-Mart (hilarious!), singing karaoke with Kelly at Curly's, going to Holy Family's 50th anniversary "Jubilee" mass and then walking through the grade school (it's amazing how tiny everything looks in that school now!), running into my old boss from LaGondola, Tony, seeing my old 8th grade teacher, Mrs. Farris, and avoiding my old teacher from St. T who despises our family, Mrs. Keller. Oh yes, and watching my adorable niece lock herself inside the dog crate.

We spent New Years in Nashville this year. We went to the Music City Bowl with Colin and Jackie during the afternoon, and then spent the evening at another Colin's house. It was a pretty lowkey New Years, but we had fun.















Shaughn stopped by Nashville last night and stayed with us. He is en route to Houston, where he's starting school in a couple weeks. He's heading to Dallas right now, and should be in Houston by tomorrow evening! It's strange to think that almost half my family are now Houston residents. I'm looking forward to heading down there and visiting once he gets settled in.

Because I can't get enough of it...Merry Christmas Y'all!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Happy Christmas Eve!

I can't believe Christmas is already here! This year I'm spending Christmas with Will's family here in Nashville and then driving up to Decatur early Friday morning to do Christmas with my family. It works out well since my family is postponing Christmas festivities til Andy and Sandy get in to town on Friday. I'm glad that I am going to get to be with Will's family, but not have to miss my family's Christmas to do it.

The good news is that I get to see LOTS of kids open presents! I love watching little kids open gifts. In Will's family, Santa makes one stop at "Papa's" house, so every year the whole family stays at his house on Christmas Eve, and then Christmas morning the kiddos (and the adults) open up their gifts from Santa. So that means that tonight Will and myself, Cari, her boyfriend Curtis, and his son Mitchell, Sue, Pete, Luke, Olivia, and Avery are all going to cozy up at Will Jr's house! We are going to the Children's mass this evening and then we have a HUGE feast planned for tonight. I'm not contributing much- some bruschetta and cookies, but I'm doing the Mason family a favor by introducing them to sausage rolls for breakfast tomorrow morning. They'll be thanking me later, I'm sure. :)

I love learning about different family's traditions. Like, at Will's house, Santa wraps EVERY gift. Even stocking stuffers. The Santa I grew up with didn't wrap anything- not even the presents under the tree...that's how we knew it was Santa and not Mom and Dad who gave us the presents. Like I said before, I am excited to watch all the kids open their gifts, but I'm also really looking forward to watching everyone open their gifts- at BOTH houses. I think Will and I did a good job of picking gifts out this year for both families.

Will and I exchanged gifts the other night...mainly because I begged Will to let us open them early. But also, we both ordered from online and the packages looked SO similar we were curious to see if we got each other the same thing. Curiosity won over patience! :) I made a photo book for Will of all the places we have travelled together, and Will bought me a really nice wine journal. I have been saying for awhile now that I'd like to learn more about wine (as opposed to "that tastes good" or "I don't like that one") so this is a great start! Now I just have to find a wine class and soon I'll be able to start my sommelier career. :)

I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas and safe travels to wherever they're headed!

Weekend Visitors

Mom, Dad, and Ella drove down to Nashville to visit this weekend. It was a quick trip, and we didn't really do a whole lot, but it was still fun to have them here. I find that it's hard to do a whole heck of a lot with a 2 year old in tow. Ella is such a handful right now! She is very cute, and extremely funny, but still a handful.

Our current apartment, with its lack of doors on the bathroom and minimal hot water, is not really conducive to hosting houseguests, so they stayed at a hotel. Saturday morning they came over to check out our apartment, and then we hit the mall to do some Christmas shopping. One good thing can be said about where we live right now- we literally live within 5 miles of any store you could possibly want to shop at.

At the mall Ella was a bit distraught when we walked by the carousel and wouldn't let her ride it...but we made up for it by letting her take a ride on the Christmas train they had set up by Santa. There were about 7 kids on the train, and when the ride ended, 6 kids happily exited the train. One little girl was left sitting alone, refusing to exit. Ella was not ready for the train ride to be over, so I had to literally pull her out of the train car. The picture says it all- she was NOT a happy camper after that.

After the mall we met up with Sue, Pete (Will's sister and brother-in-law) and their kids at Chuck E Cheese's so the kids could play. Luke, Olivia, and Avery were all very sweet with Ella. They had a jungle gym that Ella wasn't quite tall enough to climb up alone, so Avery and Olivia helped her up--every single time. And I'm pretty sure that they climbed this gym about 20 times. It was hysterical to watch. They were being so helpful, especially Avery, but I'm sure she was exhausted by the end of the afternoon. Avery is about 8 months older than Ella. I think she enjoyed having a younger person around that she could look after, especially since she's used to being the baby. She followed Ella all through the jungle gym making sure she was OK. The kids brought Ella a present, too, which delighted Ella. She loves to color, so her new Crayola paper and markers will surely be a big hit.

Saturday night we headed down to visit with my Uncle Bobby and Aunt Jeanne. I had no idea they lived so close to me! It's nice to have family nearby. We enjoyed some tasty spaghetti with homemade meatballs and sauce, and, of course, Ella entertained us all night. Uncle Bobby as it turns out, is quite handy. He brews his own beer and has made a lot of furniture that was in their house. I was very impressed- the furniture he made is beautiful!

Sunday morning they hit the road after church. I am looking forward to seeing them again for Christmas. It really is nice to be close to family again. Quick weekend trips are always nice.

Happy Birthday Ale!

Our Chilean exchange student, Ale, turns 29 today! She and her husband Francisco are having their first baby in April. Ale sent me some pictures of her growing belly bump, so here are a couple to share! Of course in Chile right now it's summer time, so she's spending December at the beach. Ugh. Must be nice. :) I joked with her that she is finally starting to look like a Wingard girl (at least the ones in my immediate family)- her chest has grown! Hahaha. She is planning on being a bridesmaid in Andy and Sandy's wedding, so we will get to meet her baby when she is about 6 months old! We can't wait!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALESITA!!! We love you!

Confession time...

Working from home can be boring. I miss having human interaction during the day. I am definitely not the type that is happy to sit alone all the time. Don't get me wrong, some days it's really nice to roll out of bed, stay in my pajamas, and have a 15 second commute from the bedroom to the "office". But for the most part, I'm not really into it. I need to look into finding a job that allows me to be around people. I just wish I knew what my calling in life was! It's especially hard since I don't know many people in Nashville yet, aside from Will's family. So even after work is done for the day, I'm still not that involved with other people, except Will. We have fun together, but I would really enjoy having a social outlet in my new town. That, however, is not my confession.

During the day I try very hard to avoid the temptation of turning the TV on. This is no small feat, especially since my job doesn't involve a huge amount of concentration- just patience. I could easily watch TV while getting my work done. And, on occasion, I have given in. However, I feel like this is somehow cheating my coworkers back in Denver who don't have the option of watching TV during their work day. Some days it's justified, though. I think about how they get social interaction and get to go to lunch together, so why can't I just catch the 12 o'clock episode of "No Reservations"? This, though, is not my confession either.

To prevent myself from turning the TV on, I use Pandora, an online radio where you can design your own stations around a song or an artist. This has been crucial to me since I started working from home in October. Since I don't get to talk to people during the day, I use my vocal chords in other ways. And now, finally, comes my confession. I love to listen to Broadway tunes and belt them out loudly while I work. I am fortunate enough to have learned lots of lyrics while working at the Fox in college, and listening to the station brings back fantastic memories from my "younger" years. I don't claim to have the greatest voice in the world, but when I'm singing "Phantom" or "Aida" I suddenly feel like the next Celine Dion. :) And I won't lie...chair dancing is sometimes involved, as well. And yes, I also sing in character, depending on the song. One can not sing "Hakuna Matata" without sounding like Pumba and Timon.

I feel better getting that off my chest. Thanks.

Ella the Artist

In the past couple weeks I've received a series of picture messages from Molly regarding Ella's newest talent--she's an artist! I had to share the pictures of her creative "art" projects. They're hilarious!

First pic message:

Second pic message:

She's quite creative with her canvas! Molly is heading to Chicago this weekend so Papa and Grandma are being brave and bringing Ella down to Nashville for a visit. I can't wait for them to come see my new town! I'll be hiding my feminine products, though! :)

In other news, it's been raining non-stop the past couple days which means that Will and I are dealing with ground water coming into our place again. This time we were prepared, but I spent all day yesterday washing and drying the plethora of towels we used to keep our bathroom floor dry. In sad news, the closet started leaking, too (a spot that we weren't aware of), and my favorite boots got soaked! I'm trying to dry them out right now and really hope they survive. I LOVE those boots!