tree.

I'm just so upset. We have not been successful in making our Christmas tree drink water.

We made sure the tree guy cut off the bottom and the low branches so that it would sit low in the water. We gave it plenty to drink, and then realized the water level wasn't lowering at all.

We mentioned this in passing at our Care Group and one of the older gentlemen (you have to say "older" and "gentlemen" together, because it makes using the word "old" a little more easy to hear, and you can never say a word like "gentleman" without explaining your suddenly fancy word choice) suggested pouring Sprite into the tree's water. Fortunately, since I had been sick the week before, we actually had Sprite in the apartment! That never happens. We usually have tea, Coke, Mountain Dew, and milk. But rarely all at the same time....

Anyway! So we added Sprite. And no change. I told one of my co-workers that we had gone crazy and were giving our tree carbonated sugar, and she had heard that regular ol’ straight sugar added to the water works best. So I added sugar. And no change. But by this time, the tree’s trunk was probably coated in stickiness, so who’s surprised it couldn’t drink?

We decided to try lowering the tree further into the water. But this wasn’t going to be easy- there were several branches in the way. Some of them were easily cut off with scissors, but there was this one mammoth sized branch that was hoping to make Tommy’s life a little harder. We aren’t rugged outdoorsmen, so we don’t have a saw or an ax (or axe- both are ok.) But! Tommy DOES have an electric drill. So he drilled off the branch. Don’t ask me how. There was probably a lot of saw-like action going on. And then he drilled in some holes on the side of the trunk so the current state of stickiness could be defied.

When Brian and Miranda came over for game night, he and Tommy lowered the tree so there was a full four inches or so under water. “Aha!” we thought, “This will work!”

Nope.

Last night, two ornaments fell off the tree while we watched the finale of Survivor. The branches of our poor thirsty Christmas tree have started drooping. Our dear tree can no longer hold little, tiny, almost weightless decorations! WOE.

It still looks pretty. It is still green and hasn’t dropped many little fir needle leaves. But it is just SO SAD to know that it is slowly dying- ok. I guess I mean it is slowly dying faster than it needs to.

This is why I have always, always wanted a tree that was dug up and has its roots and is put in a huge pot. One day, I will have a potted living Christmas tree. I know that the root system will need a good amount of room, so it will be less like a “pot” and more like a small rounded room. And it can sit outside when it isn’t Christmas time. When it is, we can roll it on a dolly (yes, I know the word “dolly”- you can’t move 18 times and not know the word “dolly”- although whoever named it was dumb) through our French doors straight into our living room. Ah, what a happy tree. Now we just have to get Tommy on board!

I feel like this could be a very good metaphor for our lives before and after Jesus. Before Him, we try to feed off of worldly sugar and its bubbly "goodness." You can so easily see this in your unsaved friends and co-workers. They depend on their jobs, their abilities, to make life for them. They have nothing to depend on but their own feeble and dying selves. They look alive but- They can't take in the sweet and everlasting water of True Life because they are not rooted in Christ.

Oh yeah. Learning from a Christmas tree :)

fun and games.

We had a date night. I love date nights. We went to Urban Flats- basically like fancy pizza. But their spinach dip is outa sight! And I get tomato soup with goat cheese- don't think it's gross! It is AMAZING.

And then we got a text from Jon and Kim- they had gotten free basketball tickets to the UF game. They were offered to them from a regular at the Starbucks where Kim works! Apparently he has had these tickets since the place was built. Not only that, but they were directly behind the UF players' bench! By the time we got home and turned on the tv, they were chattin' it up with their new friend and looking cool in 90% of the air time. Even the team doctor sat behind them, their seats were so good. So funny. We watched them awhile and took some pics of them so they could always look back on their awesome time.

(From now on, I will just say "Then" because I have no idea what days most of these events occured.)

Then we had a game night!! We invited Jon -n- Kim and Brian -n- Miranda. AND we got to play Cranium. We haven't played it in a really long time because Tommy doesn't really like it. In case you've never played Cranium (which everyone needs to do. a lot.) it is a game that can be rather embarrassing. If you're not acting out silent clues to your partner, you're drawing a picture without looking at it, or you're guessing at super tricky trivia questions. So since he can be on the shy side, Tommy would rather play cards or something- where you sit quietly figuring out strategies.

We really did have a good time. We got to see Brian pretend to skateboard- he did an awesome job, especially considering he was wheel-less and on carpet. We got to watch Kim and Tommy draw hints for the word "clothes line" without looking. We also saw me and Tommy lose after being WAY in the lead the whole time. Good grief. But we really did have a lot of fun.

After losing, we got to play Catch Phrase. Another wonderful game. But you know you're getting tired when Miranda's hint is "another name for white!" and Kim and I shout "BLACK!" at the same time. But somehow the boys won THAT one. So I lost twice. Great- I'm the weak link!!

Then we got to take pics with Jon and Kim! They wanted to have a funny picture to send as their Christmas card, and they wanted them all taken at the UF stadium. Can you believe it's open to the public, like all the time? Really exercise-y people run up and down the steps (sounds like a good way to fall and break all your bones to me) and that day there were people actually on the field. Jon and Kim wore Santa hats and I took several shots of them by a huge "Home of the Gators" sign. Then they decided to go on the field - got some action shots there - and then hang from the goal post! Got some awesome pics of them! When we went back outside, we asked this German tourist to take some pictures of all four of us by the nice statue of a Gator. Good times.

That night, we went to our pastor's basketball game. Tommy and I don't really get into basketball, and we only knew one player, so we weren't that entertained. But I humored myself by trying to take action shots since I was in a camera-y mood from earlier that day.

You can find all of these pictures and more on Facebook :)

we are nutty.

So Thanksgiving was the last post, huh? That means I need to catch you up on about 3 weeks. Hey! That's not too bad! I thought we were way way behind.

For those of you who don't know, I LOVE Christmas. As a Christian, how can celebrating THIS day not be your favorite?! The beginning of JOY on Earth! I'm getting tingly typing about it.

So right before we left, Tommy let me start taking out my Christmas decorations. This mainly involves finding more and more nutcrackers and more and more boxes of nutcrackers. I always forget I have a nutcracker stocking holder, nutcracker ornaments, a nutcracker snow globe and music box.... etc. I have no idea how I started collecting them. Ha. My mom collects angels, my aunt collects Santas, Oma (who you met in the last post) collects snowmen... I apparently chose the scariest thing to collect. Seriously, those eyes and teeth will freak you out when you're all alone and the light flickers on them.... -chomp chomp chomp-

No, I really do love them. And I think Tommy underestimated how many I actually own. Ah, the things you learn in the first year of marriage...

So of course, when we got back, I had to actually decorate and THEN we had to get our TREE!!! I wanted to get it that Monday. But Tommy made us WAIT.

So Saturday we were OFF. But we had to hurry, because that night we had our first Christmas party as a married, in Gainesville, with our new church, actually know people, couple.

We checked out a couple of places, bought a stand and strings of lights, and settled on one place to find out tree. Good grief, that is a difficult task. Because after you're there for two minutes, you see every flaw and misshapen detail of every tree. Every. Tree. We did finally find one, and it is gorgeous. Tommy got to do the lights, and then we both put on the ornaments. The awesome thing is that both of us have almost all of our childhood ornaments. Mom gives both my sister and I an ornament every year. And it seems like Tommy's grandparents did the same thing for him. So we have a wonderful assortment of 80s and 90s memorabilia, including a ballerina, a fishing Santa, a ship, and lots of hearts.

It's just so nice to show off our JOY.

So we made it to that party! I was going to make my famous baked beans, but since we had more important things to do, we took chips. It was a really fun time. We played awkward party games, and oddly enough they both were secret murderer types. We sat around a camp fire and made SMORES. YUM. And we sang Christmas carols. And prayed and shared what we were thankful for. It really did make us feel like we had a church family - which we should've remembered is all over the world!

It was a lovely beginning to a wonderful Christmas season.

and then we gave Thanks.

We knew that this year's season of celebration would be different. Since we're now married, we would both have to take part in each other's family traditions. And that also means having to give up some of our own.

We really went back and forth about Thanksgiving and Christmas plans. Tommy's sister, Kerri, who has been married almost to the day a year longer than us, was going to have her baby right around Thanksgiving. So we knew everyone wanted us there for that awesome-ness, and we wanted to be there, too! But my parents are in a little town in Arkansas, far from family and close friends, so we kind of wanted to make them feel loved, too! Oh, the pulls of the heart! (hehehe) But we honestly felt so blessed to have so many loved ones that we want to be so many places!

Unfortunately, my mom's mom, (Oma!!) had to have heart surgery. Being the dutiful daughter she is, mom went to help her heal quickly. But when she got there, she realized she wouldn't be able to leave to have Thanksgiving in Arkansas. Dad let us know that he felt like mom would be so sad if she didn't see any of her immediate family, so we (sister Madison, Tommy, and I) should all go up to be with her. Well, the three of us talked and all had the same idea. Tommy and I would go be with Dad, and Madi would go be with mom. Perfect! Kinda different, but still great!

Sunday before Thanksgiving, Kerri was induced and she and Allen got their baby-sweet baby Kaelyn! healthy and happy! And we got to Skype that afternoon with her and see everyone for a minute. Everyone seemed tired and overjoyed. We can't wait til we get to join in that- with Kaelyn! We are not in a rush to have kids, yet!

So Wednesday we got off work early and drove about seven hours. And then we stayed the night in a town halfway to El Dorado called Hattiesburg. We thought it would be an older hotel and crossed our fingers that it wouldn't be dumpy- but it was brand new! And really nice! Such a nice surprise.

Thursday- Thanksgiving Day!- we drove about six more hours all the way into the thriving and booming metropolis of El Dorado, Arkansas. We had planned to both wear our UNC sweatshirts just for dad (since it's his alma mater) but it was too warm! So we looked like bums in t-shirts. But he was still glad to see us! And, of course, so was Peaches, the crazy dog.

And then we got to work!!

I was doing the "sides." So I had sent dad a shopping list earlier in the week and had all my recipes ready. I made my mom's yams, Tommy's mom's corn casserole, my aunt's green bean casserole, SisterShubert rolls (cheating, yes, but they're so good you really have to) and mixed up some bananas and strawberries. Dad was in charge of the meat!! He was already cooking ham when we had arrived (Peaches was drooling uncontrollably)  and had also bought an indoor turkey fryer. Technically the ham was supposed to be back-up main course because none of us had ever fried a turkey, and the fryer was brand new!

Dad brought out the turkey. The NECK was included (barfed a little in my mouth) and then the innards fell out (more barf) and THEN Tommy had to cut off the extra skin that dangled from where the neck HAD been (no more barf left to barf).

During the cooking, we turned on Skype and got to see Mom, Madison, and Oma! They watched us cook and we all caught up on news. They also watched, along with Tommy and I, as Dad slowly lowered the turkey into the vat of boiling ... grease? Oil? Fat?

By the time everything was ready, we were really hungry and that makes everything taste even better!! I did NOT, however, enjoy seeing the inside ribs of the turkey. So I only had like... some of a leg. But I still counted the meal as a success, and it seemed like Tommy and Dad did, too!

I was kind of gross feeling from a head cold I was getting over and was getting a headache from the drive, so I went to bed around 8! Tommy and Dad ended up watching District 9 and bonded over sci-fi (which I like to pronounce as "see-fee") all hours of the night.

The next day, Tommy and I walked around downtown small town El Dorado. We stopped in the bakery and shared hot coco and a cinnamon roll- it was really, really cold! A surprise after the 80 degree weather the day before. We went in the little shops and took a few pictures, just strolled all bundled up. We met Dad for lunch at El Dorado Grill. I think it was mostly Mexican food, but I got chicken fingers and Dad got a hamburger, so you decide.

Also on Friday, we went to a play. "A Southern Christmas Carol" to be precise. It was... interesting. I thoroughly enjoyed it, but later we did make fun of certain singers, but only a little bit! The three of us are easily critical, but we were gracious and accepted the actors as they were. And really did have a good time, which was the whole point.

Saturday was also a full day. I also learned that my father has turned crazy. He asked if we wanted to go to the shooting range. To shoot. To shoot guns. And we went! We drove 45 minutes away to shoot. It was actually really amusing. Tommy and Dad both shot some kind of long gun and some kind of small black gun. I took a lot of pictures. And giggled while they set up little targets with what scraps of old stands they could find.

And then, for my enjoyment, we went to the Oil Museum!! See, El Dorado is an oil boom town. So we learned all about the gross awful crowded oil boom town that grew and grew. I thought it was pretty interesting. I think the men folk did too.... maybe.

And then. Sunday. We had to leave at like 7 in the morning. And drove 13 hours back to our little apartment in Gainesville. So far. But still good.

Whew. Done.