merry christmas!

We had a most eventful Christmas this year, although it was not nearly as bad as last year. It's getting to the point that we'll probably want to do the every-other-year thing from now on. Just too much fun!

On Christmas Eve Eve - the Sunday before Christmas - we had a traditional Russell family Christmas Eve (untainted by the relatives). We had a nice dinner of fondue, Christmas jello, veggies, and Shirley Temples. This is a picture of Scott sporting the napkin rings. I laugh so hard every time I see it.

We then delivered some of Kelli's, Kerri's, and Brooke's Christmas presents to their friends and along the way, we wished all people walking by a "Feliz Navidad" or "Mele Kalikimaka." I had a hilarious video of Scott yelling "MELE KALIKILAKA!!!!!!" to someone walking by but I accidentally deleted it and now I'm kicking myself for it. When we arrived home, we read Christmas stories, sang Christmas carols (The Friendly Beasts was the best - complete with all the animal noises by Scott and Brooke), opened a present, and had dessert. Some of us stayed up until the late hours of the night playing Monopoly and Life. It was awesome. The traditional Russell family Christmas Eve (untainted by the relatives) was a success! This is a picture of Kelli, Brooke, and Kerri in the car on our adventure. There is also a picture of Kelli, Kerri, and me in Scott's 3XL shirt that his mom gave him with a picture of the family ironed-on. It was hilarious that we could all fit inside it.

On Christmas Eve, we had the usual party at Grandpa IVon's, which is always fun. I didn't take any pictures though. We opened a gift from Lorie and Sterling there. I got a really cute pair of pajamas and Scott got an awesome jacket that he's been wearing pretty much everyday since.

Then we went to my parents' house to open "Pixie Presents." We each draw a name of a family member after Thanksgiving and do kind deeds in secret for that person during December and then get them a gift for Christmas. We find out who our Pixie was and then open the present on Christmas Eve. That was fun. Lauren gave Scott and me a gift card to Megaplex 12 at the Gateway to see a couple movies. We were so excited for that! Then my mom and dad gave us each a pair of pajamas to wear that night. Here are two pictures of all of us in our pajamas. A cute pose and a funny pose.

On Christmas morning, we woke up at 7 to open presents with the kids. My family got a Wii! I used to think it would be stupid, but it is awesome! We had so much fun playing it and Lauren and I were even a little bit sore after. Scott gave me a beautiful Brighton necklace and I gave him some cologne. We also gave each other some smaller gifts and a new entertainment center. I didn't really take any spectacular pictures on Christmas day, which I'm bummed about now.

After opening presents, we went to breakfast at Little America, which is always a good time. We then went back to the Russells' and opened presents there. Scott and I got a nice new printer from his parents, some Jazz tickets from Brooke, and I got a cute shirt from Kelli.

I'm a little tired of writing so the rest will be brief: we went back to my parents' house for lunch, to our house to open the rest of our presents, to Scott's parents for dinner, and then home to bed, and for me, work the next day! Scott didn't have to work the day after Christmas and he surprised me with clean laundry and a clean house. I was so excited when I came home. He's the best.

Christmas this year was awesome. It's so much fun when you're married, to have someone special to share it with. We had a very merry eventful Christmas to say the least. We hope you did too!

eye doctor

I went to the eye doctor today after about a year and a half of having a really bad prescription, and this is about how I felt. Just watch the first 20 seconds or so.

happy birthday scottie

Happy 24th birthday Scott! He's getting to be so old. I just can't even believe it. Last night he wanted me to make him spaghetti and meatballs so I attempted homemade meatballs from a recipe off of foodnetwork.com and I'm not going to lie, they were dang good. He kept raving about it, so I felt pretty confident about my domestic/homemaking skills. That was just what I needed after a couple weeks of feeling down on my good-wife abilities (the last thing I want to do after a being at work and school for twelve hours is come home and cook or clean).

He asked for spaghetti and meatballs last year, but I didn't make it because we basically had that meal at least twice a week in our first couple months of marriage. So instead I made salmon that was pretty nasty because it was taken from the in-laws' freezer and who knows how long it had been there. We were both really disappointed about his birthday dinner last year, so I decided to grant his birthday wish with homemade spaghetti and meatballs. We both kept saying how much better these meatballs were than the frozen ones from Costco, which are pretty good...and really easy. And then I thought, "Wow, Mattie, maybe they're better because the meat hasn't been run through machine after machine and then frozen for 10 years." So anyway, that was our experience with spaghetti and meatballs last night. Just ask Scott how wonderful they were.

Lorie then made excellent London broil for him tonight. They even had my family over, which is a huge deal, and I was really grateful for that. He got some awesome gifts: a 20" monitor for his laptop (which is beyond me. He keeps asking me if I want one now for my laptop and I say, "No, Scott, I don't need a 20" monitor for my LAPTOP. This screen I have attached to my computer now is just fine."), some gym clothes, a new basketball, and $50! Anyway, I'm really grateful for Scott today. He's the best husband any girl could ask for.

It's a Wonderful Life

Non-Crappy Holiday eCards on JibJab

I just think these JibJab videos are hilarious. Here's one to remind you that life is wonderful.

Snow Day

I know this was last Saturday, but I thought you might be interested to know how much it snowed at our house. A lot. And we get to shovel it - one very long driveway and the normal-sized driveway you see in the picture. After about three hours of shoveling, we finally talked Grandpa into buying a snow blower, which was really cool because he likes to do things his way and doesn't get talked into doing much.

the inaugural blog

I guess you could say that I caved in and I have officially started a blog. Who knows if I'll keep up with it. But I will try. Just a caution: our lives aren't that interesting even though we're married (which seems to be a requirement for having an interesting blog), and especially since we don't have kids. But I think of this blogging thing as more of a way to document the interesting things we do do because frankly I'm horrible at journal writing and scrapbooking and this seems to be a little easier. So here's to the wonderful world of blogging. Please enjoy!