Merry Christmas!

Well I won't lie...Christmas has been a bit different this year.  As I write this I am still in my pj's and it is 5:30 at night.  I kind of like that!  Ok I am lying I LOVE it.  I am trying to realize and understand that just because something is different doesn't mean it is better or worse than what you are use to...just different.

Yesterday Mark and I cooked our first turkey.  TOTALLY gross!  I am use to seeing it as white meat on a platter in front of me...done.  This "project" was a defrosting nasty mess.  It had guts in it and everything....ewwwww!  Blood....no no Shara doesn't do that!  Thank goodness for Mark!  He was a pro washing it and stuffing it with stuffing.  I had to leave the room so that I wouldn't be sick.  Seriously I did not need to know what it looked like before it was yummy in my tummy.  We did fine with it once it was in the oven.  Craving it...well that was entertaining too.  But the end produce was a success.  Yummy turkey.

It is Tetchner tradition to have turkey sandwiches on Christmas Eve so that is what we did.  Different....I am use to Magic Wok Chinese food....oh....how I wish I could have tasted some...but new and different is good.  We opened my parents gifts and that was fun.  Today we opened each others gifts and that was fun too.  So that is about it here.  I am about to watch the 3rd Disney movie of the day....yahoo!  Mark is off playing his video games...ah....all is well.  So thankful for a peaceful day!

I hope that all of you get to experience the true peace of Christmas and the reason for this wonderful season.  God coming to earth as a precious baby to dwell among us.  Lots of love to you and yours.  Gods blessings...
Wise men still seek Him!  Merry Christmas!  And Happy New Year!

Christmas is coming....

I can hardly believe Christmas is almost here!  I still feel like it should be the beginning of November...not almost the end of December!  Things are going well here over the pond.  Let me recap the last week for you.
Wednesday:  Mark came home with a case of "man flu".  Now we all know this is the worst kind of flu by far....was he really sick?  Well lets just say Bonnie would have never allowed Shara to stay home from school for this one...but I let it slide and tried to be sympathetic which can be hard for me to do even when someone is really sick.  I guess being a teacher it is always easier to just go to school sick and deal than write lesson plans and all the junk that goes with it.  Unless you are throwing up that morning...to school/work it is.  I guess that is just how I look at it.  (Doesn't help that my mom was a teacher and I was too...so there really is little sympathy.)  If you are well enough to play games and nap and then annoy your wife you are well enough to go to work.  Moving on....can you tell I am a bit bitter about this....nah?!?

Thursday:  I had another driving lesson.  Things are going really well.  I won't say I am ready to take my driving test yet but it is getting there.  I have my theory test on Jan. 7 so I need to study for that.  It is like the rules of the road test back in the states plus you have a hazard perception test too.  So silly that I have to redo it but whatever....

Friday: We cleaned house and just got everything organized....because Sat. Gemma and Darren were coming!

Sat:  On a mission Sat. morning to get some last minute Christmas gifts and then get back to the house in time to bake brownies and get ready for our guest to arrive.  We are half way done with our shopping when Mark looks at me with this horrified face.  "What's up" I ask?  "Do you have your keys?" "No...why?"  "**** I don't have mine...we are locked out!"  That is when I start laughing like a crazy person because I think it is comical.  My other half didn't quite see the humor that I did in this all.  I really thought he was going to have to either break glass or lift me through a window which just made me laugh harder.  Well needless to say our shopping was done...even though it really wasn't.  So back to the house we go.  Hubby thinks he is going to take the window off its hinge and then climb in.  I (the brains of the operation) think otherwise.  You see we have a cat flap on our back door...and I know that the extra keys are on a hook on the wall just inside the door.  I think...bust the cat flap open...use a stick to reach up and get the keys off the hook....pull them through the cat flap door and poof....we have the keys to open the house.  Hubby looks at me like a crazy person when I explain this all to him...but I just say try it...over...and over ...and over again.  Well once he realized his window plan was ridiculous he looks at me and says ok....give it a go.  Well guess who got us in?  Yep...me...it was a bit too easy actually so the keys are not there anymore...but we were in.  Just in enough time to make the brownies, change clothes, and then have Gemma and Daz arrive.

We had a lovely time with Gemma and Darren!  They brought their 2 dogs as well so it was a ton of fun.  It is nice to have people over...and they stayed the night here.  Sunday was a chill day...

Monday:  Mark came home early from work again...this time though it was because there is so few people in the office that they didn't need him anymore.  He literally was home by 9:45 which isn't bad considering he starts at 8 and it takes a half hour to get to work...real rough day!  Anywho...we made Christmas cookies together all day!  It was hilarious to watch the self proclaimed "Cookie Press King" making his cookies.  We seriously were like little kids....it was a blast...Christmas music playing as loud as it could...eating dough...you know...good stuff!

So that is my update...I am sure I will do one more before Christmas...but just incase...Merry Christmas!  What a wonderful time of year!  Remember the real reason we celebrate and enjoy every minute of it!  Off to eat some of our cookies...tehe...

Ah...where to begin...

Lots has happened over the past week....so I am not really sure where to begin.  Lets see...
Our house is pretty much finished.  There still needs to be a few more things up on the walls, but we aren't sure what quite yet...so at the moment we are leaving them bare.  It isn't exactly easy putting things up on brick walls...especially if you decide to later on move it...so we will just live with bare walls for a while.

Thursday evening was Mark's Office Christmas party.  They all get dressed up in suits and the ladies in nice dresses.  It was a really great evening.  I curled my hair for the event...so you know it had to be a big deal cause lets just face it...I NEVER do it.  It takes way too long...but with nothing else to do I figured why not.  It was really nice to be able to meet all the people Mark has talked about over the years and their wives/girlfriends as well.  It was just really fun to pretend to be a "grown-up" since I think that is what grown-ups do. LOL  The end of the night got a bit interesting...some townies tried to disturb our good time...but all ended well.

Sat. and Sun. Mark and I caught up on sleep and just had a really great time chilling out.  Watched the good old "Christmas Vacation".  I swear every time I watch that movie it reminds me more and more of my dad and our family.  You can't help but note the similarities between Clark Griswold and Clark Griffin...right down to the Bears hat he wears...I was cracking up!  My driving is coming along as well...last weeks lesson was reversing into a parking spot.  My instructor was shocked that I got it in the lines on the first try.  Hello?!?  How many times have a parked a car?  As well as my driveway growing up...you had no choice but to backup straight or you hit the stairs to the house.  Too funny.  I get to "try" parallel parking on Thursday.  I was good at it in the states...we shall see how I do in England.

Really not much else is new.  I got a wonderful package for my ladies in California (Becca and Katie).  It was seriously the best present ever!  It was a box filled with everything I miss from home...from an Old Navy shirt, to triscuits and Hamburger Helper.  It was an awesome surprise...but more than what was in the box that made me so happy was that they know me so well.  I mean they seriously got me what I would have bought myself if I had gone to an American grocery store!  When your friends know you that well, and can keep it a secret until it gets there...they are priceless!  You have no idea girls how much it meant to me...you are the best!

With that I am going to post some pics of our house and the night out.  12 more days till Christmas!  On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me.... tehe....Later!

 One side of our bedroom...

 Turned around the other side of our bedroom

 My cute little gorilla from my hubby

 Spare bedroom...part office as well

 Couch that turns into a bed...so we are ready for all our visitors!!!  That means you too!!!

 Looking down the hall from our 2nd spare room...aka my extra closet at the moment...doors on left go to above rooms...the other doors are the right go to the bathrooms...one just has the toilet the other has the rest.

 Mark and I all dressed up.

 Mark with his buddy Zak and Zak's girlfriend Harriet

 Ladies all the ladies...Kirsti, Heather, Harriet, and me

 Mark's work buddies...Mark Barry, Mark, Mark who is called Bob, Rob, and Kevin.

 Later on in the night....

 Us out for a walk on Sunday afternoon

 More of our house decorated for Christmas

Flowers my hubby brought home...he is a keeper.

Success!

So this weekend went by without a hitch.  Mark's parents stayed with us for the weekend and it was wonderful!  I was a bit nervous to have them here for the weekend.  I love them to bits...but I still am not the most confident cook.   They could have stayed for weeks if I wasn't responsible for cooking...but since I was the weekend was a bit stressful.  They liked what I made and well who doesn't like being waited on for a weekend so that went well.  They enjoyed their stay with us and that made me a happy woman!  They liked our house as well which was nice since you always want to make the parents happy, wether they are mine or his.  (you reading this mom...yes even I try to make you happy!)

Anyways...we went to the Lincoln Christmas market with his rents...never again!  So many people....in fact all I saw were armpits...you couldn't see the stands and what you could see was a bunch of you know what.  Really disappointed but you live and you learn.  I have heard good things about it before so maybe this year was just a bust...but man...no impressed.

Mark gets a day off every year to do Christmas shopping.  Must be nice....why don't they give that to teachers?  We are the ones that could do some serious damage.  Anyways...Mark had Tuesday off for his Christmas shopping so we spent the day together in town.  It was really nice to walk around without so many people there and get what we needed.  I don't think I have ever had so much shopping done this early in the game....um....EVER!  We only have really 1 more gift to buy and that is just something little so I am feeling good about being ready this year.  I am also on top of the Christmas cards.  I am 4/5 of the way done with them and should be by the weekend.  Yeah!  That means you might actually get one on time from me this year. LOL  We shall see.

It is amazing to me to look back on the last year of my life!  SO much has changed and yet some of the basics are the same.  Still kind of weird that a year ago I was hoping for a ring...and now I am wearing 2 (engagement/wedding) and sitting in England where I only use to visit for a few days at a time.  Seems totally normal and yet so not all at the same time.  Life goes by so fast...I swear...I can hardly keep up with it all.

Well that is about it....Oh did I mention my hubby is the best.  On our shopping day (yesterday) when we went to lunch he had a little stuffed animal hidden and waiting for me.  I am a big sucker for stuffed animals so this was extra sweet.  It is a little gorilla...so stinking cute.  I don't know if this was a tactic in getting me to buy him what he wanted for Christmas or if he was just being sweet...but it worked.  I won't say what I got him just in case he reads this...but you are a lucky boy....enough said.  Happy shopping everybody!  You only have 18 days to go!

TGIF

So I had another driving lesson today!  Went into town...which is crazy, up hill, and had people walk in front of me!  You have to be nuts or just plain stupid to walk in front of a "learn to drive" car.  HELLO people!  So I did well, everyone lived! lol  I have been getting the house ready for Christmas and for the Tetchner's.  They are coming down to stay with us for the weekend and we are going to go to the Lincoln Christmas market tomorrow.  Kind of excited about both.  I don't know if our house could be any cleaner lol and it will be nice to just have people around for a while.  I can't really say much else is new.  Lots going on next week which should be really good for me.  This house is getting a bit out of things to do.  So that is my little update.  I hope you all have a great weekend...22 days till Christmas Eve...not that I am counting.  tehe