Just so I don’t start the New Year with a backlog of things to post on, here is my December photo dump. Enjoy! Hope your holidays were merry! I will have a few new house photos/posts once all the holiday stuff comes down tomorrow. Also MEALS! I promise.
I am doomed to always feel a little blah on Christmas Day? Total burnout, extra fat, overwhelmed by STUFF! Does everyone feel this way, or am I a bah-humbug freak? Not that I didn’t have a lovely Christmas, because I did, I always do, but I still feel grossed out on Christmas.
Mr. Gaunt and I have been doing the usual gift bonanza, and then I insisted on a long rainy walk, I needed a little fresh air. My family is coming over for Prime Rib tonight and I am making Yorkshire pudding. I need to clean my house a little, so that is what I will be doing in the next few hours.
I have a horrible mindset that once Christmas is over that spring is on its way. This is not true, and especially not true in Washington. We are at the tippy tip start of winter. It will be June before the sun shines again, and I can be outside. The end of Christmas is the beginning of the fight against winter depression. Bring on the exercise and fresh juice, I gotta make this body healthy to beat the blues.
I hope everyone is enjoying their holidays the best they can. And to my slightly blue, December overloaded, trying to stay in the spirit folks…strength be with you. There will be sunshine again. The holidays are over, and Valentines day is awesome.
xoxo
Morgan
All our cards have been sent out, so I can now share our 2012 Christmas card…
Cute right? There were a lot of fun out takes too, two of which we used on the actual card…
What can I say, sometimes when you insist on having your cat in your photo you have to take a million shots. And in case you wondered we set our camera up on a ladder in front of our house, because A. We don’t own a tripod, and B. Its a little digital camera that wont screw onto a big tripod. The ladder worked fine. See 2011 Card here, and 2010 card here.
In other fun Christmas news, Mr. Gaunt played Santa at my work. Kids came and decorated cookies with me (Mrs. Claus) and then they took photos with Santa and he read them The Night Before Christmas. First off, let me say that I was super nervous for him. I mean what if the kids didn’t believe it was him, what if the parents thought he looked too young? Could he Ho Ho Ho properly? Mr. Gaunt was less nervous than me, he really just isn’t one to stress over stuff like that. So we watched some YouTube videos on How To Be A Good Santa, practiced the Ho Ho Ho, which is more of a laugh than the actual words, and studied up on some Santa facts. Know all the reindeer by heart!
The day of, we went to my work, put on the costumes, put on lots of makeup (even Santa got rosy cheeks and a little lipstick for jolly-ness) and waited for the kids. In the end, it was the cutest thing I have ever witnessed. Mr. Gaunt is such a kind and funny personality. He got down to their level, looked them in the eyes, asked them questions about Christmas, and their families, and kitties, and snow. He let them sit next to him, or on his lap. He thanked them for cookies, and told him which kind were his favorite for Christmas eve night (chocolate chip).
I nearly burst into tears watching him be so sweet to these children. I honestly could not have married a better man, and holy shit he will be the worlds greatest dad…period. No one will compare. I love him so! (sorry to gush!) (see all photos here, note that half way through that album it becomes a different Santa, not Mr. Gaunt)
In an honest moment, I will say that the photos of myself made me feel extra fat. Maybe it was the red, or the stripes, or the fat, who knows? Its both nice and sad to have a reminder to stop eating cookies and go work out. Maybe in the new year Ill get my ass back in shape? We really need to invest in our own Santa costume too, obviously.
Also all photos were taken by Jen Owen of Jen Martin Studios. She did our engagement photos back in the day, but is such a genius with kids! So precious! She also does birth photos if anyone is looking for someone.
Ive been eating this a couple times a week since Thanksgiving.
My aunt made a ton of Cranberry Relish, and Cranberry Sauce for Thanksgiving dinner. At the end of the night when we were divvying up the leftovers she convinced me to take home a ton of both. She recommended freezing it and using it in muffins, or other baking. Well I never froze it, instead I mixed the two together and I eat a huge blob of it top of oatmeal! Also my Mother in Law makes the most decadent sweet potatoes with a thick crust of pecan/brown sugar/butter crumble top. She ended up having leftover of the unbaked crumble topping, and she put it in my fridge in case I wanted to keep it. AND I DO! I sprinkle a little of this crumble top on my oats too. It melts in, and adds the perfect brown sugar, butter, pecan flavor. Plus the tangy cranberries, Thanksgiving Oats are amazing!
Today is my first Friday off! I no longer work Fridays, which is pretty splendid. It might mean I actually regularly blog again…say what? I’m going to meet up with my mom today to work on our Christmas Ornaments for our Ornament/cookie party on Sunday! I’m super excited! On Saturday Mr. Gaunt and I have to play Santa and Mrs Claus at my work for the kids. We are letting them decorate sugar cookies, and then Santa is going to read them The Night Before Christmas, and then a REAL photographer is going to take their photo sitting on his lap! Squeel! So much cuteness. Needless to say the Santa Suit arrived this week, and we both couldn’t resist trying it on…lol! Who makes the better Santa? (note I have a much cuter Mrs. Claus outfit)
I think the best part is where we are wearing the belt. I’m such a girl, even in a Santa suit I’m trying to give myself a cinched waist!
Oh man! Seriously, I haven’t blogged in a month, I suck.
I blame it on my job, and the holidays, and blah blah blah, everything. Really I just don’t prioritize it. I mean I really do like blogging, but I also no longer feel like I NEED it. I use to feel like blogging helped me work through a lot of my emotions with missing my family, my weight loss, finances, everything that I struggled with on a regular basis. Moving back home has been really good for me. I feel older, and stronger and more secure in myself and my life. I don’t need to blog as often, because I’m just not working through as many things.
The last week or two I definitely felt like I needed to blog. I need a little therapy, and my blog had always been that for me.
I’m struggling with wanting to be vague, and wanting to word-vomit all over the place. I took a big self-esteem hit this last week. Something happened to me professionally, that I wont discuss, but it was hard. It engulfed me and made me dwell on all my mistakes, and all my flaws. It be made me second guess myself, my business, and made me lose trust and develop fears that I hadn’t had. It was a huge learning lesson, one that made me feel like my skin isn’t as thick as I had thought. But I’m coming through it, with help from Mr. Gaunt and my mom, I’m focusing on the positive things that happened this year, and letting this roll off as just a blemish on what was a great first year for my business. We are strong.
And we are weak. We are vulnerable, and not invincible. Not everyone is good, not everyone wants the best for us. This is what I dwell on at night. This is what I am still working through.
December is flying by, and the deadlines are piling up. We have a lot of plans, a lot of obligations, and a lot of larger projects that are hard to prioritize. I feel overwhelmed and worn out. I feel like my patience is thin, and I’m expecting more out of Mr. Gaunt than he is able to give. We both work hard, we both sleep too little, we both prioritize date nights over chores. We love each other dearly, and are so similar sometimes. I just need to give him some slack, and myself some slack, and focus on the fun of the upcoming holidays, and the excitement of a fresh new year.
There really are a number of awesome things coming up. I have almost all of my Christmas shopping done. I actually ordered a lot of gifts online, in time, yay me! I have some holiday parties coming up, and Mr. Gaunt is playing SANTA this weekend! Seriously, I’m so excited to see him all dressed up! I’m being the young hip Ms. Claus….yes there will be photos! So despite the challenges this year-end brings, I know that we will get through it, we will make memories and take pictures and thins will be great in the new year.
And I’ll give it a good honest effort to blog a little more regularly. Show off some of this holiday cheer we are trying so desperately to have.
We carved pumpkins this past week. My brother gave my mom a ton of pumpkins, and we took 5 of them, and so far Mr. Gaunt has carved 3 and I carved 1. This year we went with the scratch/surface shave method instead of the full on carving. It’s easier, you can get more detail, and your pumpkin lasts a lot longer.
Mr. Gaunt has been on his 13 days of Halloween scary movies, and I have been unusually willing to watch some of them with him. So far we have watched The Mist, 28 Weeks Later, The Faculty, and couple others. He has watched way more (actually scary movies) that I don’t participate in. I have enough trouble sleeping.
Also we have been watching Glee, Breaking Bad, and Oddities too! (in case you wondered)
Need pumpkin carving inspiration, check out Reddit Pumpkins!
The Family Chapters 