Christmas is Coming...

Two weeks to go! It's just crazy. I'm not even sure it FEELS like Christmas this year. 2008 has been a BIG year for me. It's hard to believe it's all coming to an end soon.

We spent Thanksgiving in Richland, WA with James' Grandma, Aunt, and Uncle. It was a quiet dinner but we had fun. We actually drove up to Richland (3.5 hrs away) on Wednesday evening and spent the night. I had to work on Friday so that's why we headed up Wednesday to avoid having to drive 7 hours in one day. I haven't really done much for Thanksgiving in years past since being away from family so it was nice to spend time with my new family.

The weekend after Thanksgiving we headed out to get our Christmas tree. We're flying home for the holidays on the 20th so we wanted to get our tree early so we could enjoy it. A friend I work with who is a PT also happens to own a tree farm where you can cut your own tree. James and I headed out in search of a perfect tree. It was hard to find one we LOVED but we found a nice one and after it was up in our house and decorated, it looks GREAT. Our first married tree.
Here's some pics

From ChristmasTree08

Hanging our first ornament, a "Two Become One" Ornament

From ChristmasTree08

James hanging the angel on top of the tree:

From ChristmasTree08

From ChristmasTree08

Beautiful Tree!

From ChristmasTree08

From ChristmasTree08

We're still trying to get all our Christmas shopping done before we head back east on the 20th. It's quickly approaching. We will be splitting time between Detroit and Ann Arbor-ish area from the 20th until EARLY on the 25th then heading to Cleveland until the 29th before going BACK to Detroit and flying home to Portland on the 30th. Whirlwind but we're looking forward to seeing everyone. We have 2 beautiful nieces to smother with some lovin' and just can't wait to see our families. It is hard to be so far away from them. We LOVE it here, and really can't decide on anywhere else we would rather live as Portland is just perfect for us. But it doesn't make it any easier to be far from family, especially this time of year.

We'll be spending New Years on the slopes, God willing, if the snow comes as expected. Probably won't have time to post much over the next few weeks, so Merry Christmas everyone and have a happy and safe New Year! I hope 2009 brings everyone love, health, and more happiness than your hearts can hold.