Holiday Tidbits

Here are some snapshots from this Christmas:


This funny guy is Mitch's favorite ornament on our Christmas tree. And he says I have eclectic tastes!


These Santa Bears guarded Mitch's pile of presents. The note reads:

Beware, Mitch!
Laurie put us in charge of guarding these presents. Now, we're peaceful bears but we have our orders: if you touch them, we're going to have to bite your fingers off. So if you know what's good for you, you'll back away slowly and keep your distance.

Ferociously yours,
The Santa Bears


Our good buddy, Pete, was home from North Carolina for the holidays, so his family graciously threw a party so we could all get together. Here's Chelsey, Jillian, Pete, Sumit, me and Mitch at the end of the night.


Here we have Mitch and his brother-in-law, Brian, getting ready for Brian's first hunting excursion. They didn't see anything (story of Mitch's hunting year) but I got some great photos!


Before we left for Christmas with Mitch's family, we tried to snap a quick family photo in front of our tree. After jumping through hoops to position the camera just right, Chip would not cooperate and show his handsome face. Ah well...


Meet our new nephew, Mason Thomas Korodi! He's Christa and Brian's first, and this is a rare shot of him not angry with the world. Actually, he's very sweet, he just seemed to cry a lot during our Christmas celebration.


Mmm, what a yummy-looking Christmas Eve breakfast for two!


Who's that sharp-looking couple? Oh, it's us, all decked out on Christmas Day for the McGrath family party. Too bad you can't see my shoes...they're really hot.

Now the real work begins.

Now this is great: it's almost noon and I'm still in my PJs, robe and slippers. I feel cute, not lazy, as my PJs are new from VS and my slippers are fuzzy and pink. I also feel productive, because for the past hour or so I've been starting all the projects I've put off 'til after the holidays. Since I have the rest of the week off, I figured I should probably get rockin' on the following:

1. My return to academia: I signed up for Business Law at Alma because many MBA programs seem to be requiring it. That and I really need to get back into class mode if I want to survive...

2. ...my foray into graduate school! I've been researching programs this morning and am currently considering Northwood University, U of M Flint and possibly Cornerstone. My initial criteria includes location (Northwood and Cornerstone have branch campuses in Lansing) and how the programs fit with my schedule (U of M Flint is online with traditional classroom work every sixth weekend). More evaluation to come, I'm sure.

3. The great homestead quest: while we've been passively examining options for acreage in the greater Lansing area, an email I sent to our realtor should have her on the phone with me to organize the various online searches she's set up for us. The goal is 10+ acres by spring, then house-building the following spring.

4. And finally, the very quiet job search: this is definitely on the DL, but since I think I know who reads this, I'm OK disclosing because I don't think any of you are going to go a-blabbing. For the record, I like my job; it is fulfilling and I feel an immense sense of responsibility to the students and families with whom I work. However, I've know since I started that it wouldn't be a career and with our new move to the Lansing area, it feels like the right time to start looking for other opportunities down here. This week, I plan to update ye olde resume and touch base with a Lansing non-profit connection my dad suggested. With items 1-3 also in the works, I'll be very selective about my jobs, mainly because I won't be able to take a pay cut like last time and because I don't need to switch positions right now. Don't worry, I'll keep you all updated!

Other (more fun) things to look forward to this week: an overnight visit from my cousin, Dayna; basement-painting with Miriam; and New Years Eve at Jon's! And now, maybe I'll go get dressed. We need groceries and I need to go strut it in my new Arc'teryx coat, my wonderful Christmas present from my wonderful husband! (Yes, I know Meijer is not exactly hardcore enough for such a badass jacket, but I'll be on the slopes soon!)

Merry Christmas!

The stockings to carefully hung and filled are now empty; the brightly wrapped gifts are no longer in a festive pile underneath the tree, but are scattered throughout the living room and even the house. The scrumptious Christmas Eve meal has been reduced to leftovers and the sweet Christmas breakfast fills our tummies. But a fire still crackles in the fireplace, our family is still gathered together and more festivities will follow tonight.

I love the anticipation of Christmas morning, don't get me wrong: my entire family is incredibly generous and thoughtful in their gifts, and I have some lovely new things. But you can't beat Christmas Eve, with the fantastic food and the wonderful candlelight church service. That's when Christmas seems most real to me.

I don't miss TV...

...mostly because not having it means I don't have to listen to all the campaign ads! While I was catching up on my Townhall reading, I found a number of articles discussing recent TV ads for various presidential candidates and I mentally went, "Huh? If these are such a big deal, why haven't I seen them?"

Oh yeah, my rabbit ears give me three fuzzy stations and all are playing reruns or crappy reality TV. So except for some snippets of "The Simpsons" or "Two and a Half Men" while I make dinner, I'm immune to prime-time propaganda!

And cheesy as it was, I'm glad I was watching the last half of "Transformers" (I really liked that Bumblebee robot!) rather than cringing every time an ad for any candidate came on the screen. Painful memories of the Michigan gubernatorial campaign ads are still too fresh in my mind.

***

On a completely different note, I am so excited for Christmas! Almost all the gifts are wrapped and clustered under the tree; all the plans with family are made, including a late doe season hunt for my citified brother-in-law; and the cookies are baked, though they're rapidly disappearing. Here are our plans for the upcoming week:

Tonight: Party at the Pietila residence in Grand Rapids. Pete's parents sent us an invite because Pete will be home from North Carolina. It will be great to see him after so long!

Saturday: The above-referenced deer hunt takes place at Mitch's parents, and while the boys are shivering in the woods, I'll be holding my new nephew, Mason Thomas, and watching Christmas movies.

Sunday: Christmas at Mitch's parents, complete with a deep-fried turkey and more baby-cuddling.

Monday: Christmas Eve at my parents'. This will be a more relaxed celebration than usual, because we won't be getting together with any members of the extended family. Instead, Mom's making a fancy dinner and we'll attend an evening church service.

Tuesday: CHRISTMAS! We'll gather around my parents' tree to open presents in the morning, then head to my grandparents' (Mom's side) for an Italian Christmas celebration. Now you're probably thinking, "Laurie, you're not Italian!" Well, I have an Italian uncle who married in to the family and my aunt wants to expose us all to their fantastic traditions. I do love me some Italian food!

Wednesday and Thursday: Back to work for Mitch, and lots of sleep for me. My little cousin, Dayna, my come up to visit and I hope to be able to see Jen Conkey while she is in Michigan, but nothing is solid yet.

Friday: Finally, the Christmas celebration with Dad's side! This would usually be on Christmas Eve but my cousin, Ryan, and his son, Landon, are flying in on Christmas Day and we wanted to get together while they were here. Should be fun!

And of course, we've got great plans for New Years. It's not another cruise, like last year, but it's a big bash at Jonny D.'s in the basement we're been helping him renovate. I'm sure pictures will surface!

If I don't post again 'til after Christmas, here are my wishes for all of you: I hope you all have a blessed Christmas and are able to revel in all the joy of the season. To those of you with new babies: what a special, special year! Give your little ones kisses for me!

Fulfillment

Today, at this moment, I genuinely love my job. I was able to pass on news of acceptance to two students who are or have recently been legally homeless. One has some great role models who have helped shape him over the past few months, and the other, as far as I can tell, has been the beneficiary of extreme kindness.

Whether either of them come to Alma, I know they'll both go to college. And I know that today, I made two phone calls that will probably end up being the highlights of their weeks.

A Susie Homemaker Day

I would just like to announce that I took an entire vacation day to bake Christmas cookies. On the menu, we have jam pockets, black forest cookies and probably chocolate chip with dark chocolate, holiday-colored M&Ms.

Yum!

Oh, and Ryan, I'm not sure about the legitimacy of driving bra-less, but it had to go down that way. I just wonder if the guys in the truck behind me could see me whip that puppy out from under my shirt! Ha! (And the technique is magic...if we women told you guys how we did it, we'd have to kill you.)

Time to don my apron and get into the kitchen!

And now the state of...

...my boobs.

Tim, Ryan, I'd prefer comments be kept to a minimum from you two. This post is for my female readers!

I accidentally bought a push-up bra, and I am regretting my reluctance to try it on in the store. See, I was in a hurry and I needed a flesh-colored bra for underneath my gold "holiday" top. It looked good, felt soft...I wore it for an evening with no ill effects, but I have it on now and I hate it! Now granted, it shouldn't feel any different; I mean, how much do I really have to push up? ("You hit Laurie in the chest! What are the chances of that?!?!?") But let me tell you, the girls are not pleased right now. And I'm at work, so they're not getting freed until we're safely in the car!

So ladies, I'd like to hear any experiences - good or bad - you've had with a push-up bra. And I hope they come quickly so I have some way of distracting myself until 4 pm!

I would prefer to focus on Christmas...

...(and on new babies, TIM) rather than politics, but this article was too interesting to pass up. No, it's not on global warming or Repubs vs. Demos, but rather a synopsis of the main Republican candidates' strengths and weaknesses. Enjoy!

Photos

As promised, here is a photo of our Christmas tree! Isn't it beautiful?



And as an added bonus, here are some cute kitty cat photos. See, we took our goldfish out of the tank and put him in a glass bowl because he was being mean to one of the other fish. Then we put the bowl on the table and let Chip have a little fun with the fishy!

Christmas tree, oh Christmas tree...

I am happy to report that our Christmas tree is up and glorious like never before! I'll post a photo when I get home tonight, but let me tell you, vaulted ceilings open up a whole new world for Christmas trees! Our tree is a beautiful nine feet tall and finally, a focal point rather than an afterthought stuffed in a corner of the dining room.

Knowing how much I love Christmas trees, my ever-wonderful husband has the lights set to turn on when I come out for breakfast in the morning, turn off when we leave for work, and be on again by the time I walk in the door. Now if he could just make it automatically water itself...no, I love taking care of it! Chip thoroughly enjoys it, too; I call him my Christmas cat because he is always curled up on the tree skirt.

In other holiday-related news, I've almost completed the Christmas shopping. Let me tell you, I love buying gifts for my family and friends! I think I would do it all year round if I wouldn't go broke. (Instead, I compensate by incessantly feeding people - who wants to come over for dinner?!?!?) I've been able to completely spoil Mitch, too, but I'll refrain from posting too much about that because he reads this! (Mitch, if you're looking for a hint, you won't find it on this blog!)

And finally, there's one Christmas activity left besides the actual celebrations: cooking baking! This year, Lizzie (Bruce's girlfriend) and I are taking a whole day to bake together at my apartment. So far, we are planning jam pockets, black forest cookies, chocolate chip cookies, peanut butter cookies and maybe Snickerdoodles. Again with the feeding...I'm really going to need help eating all of them or the pounds the bike trainer is taking off are going to come back in full force!

I haven't decided...

...who I'll support in the primaries, but HuckChuckFacts is rather convincing! Thanks for posting that, Ryan!

For Ryan

No, it's not a politically-charged column from the ever-wonderful Townhall.com - this entry is an update on the things about which he asked in his most recent comment!

The new digs:
We do like our new apartment in St. Johns. The commute is longer for both of us, but I've already gotten used to it. "Oh look, there's M-57! I'm halfway home, only 15 more minutes!" I'm also catching up on cell phone calls as I cruise at a safe 61 mph down that slow section of 127. As for the town, we have not had much time to explore. We found a Meijer 15 minutes away in DeWitt, a Blockbuster just across the street from said Meijer, and discovered when and where open gym occurs. I think we pretty much have our bases covered, other than finding a bar that serves amazing Long Islands.

Mitch's job:
He really enjoys it. Ridiculously so, in fact. He's had some informal performance reviews and those have gone well, and he's always telling me about different pricing projects he has on his plate. He feels like Dart is the kind of company with which he could stay for a long time, and I like that idea. Company loyalty doesn't happen as much nowadays, but if you can find a place where the atmosphere and opportunities for advancement are good, there's no reason to look elsewhere.

What priorities?

Usually I'm very good at prioritizing, but this afternoon I really stink at it! I have a nice long to-do list here at the office, but here's the thing: I don't want to do any of it! Write notecards to my students: nope, not a fan. Ditto on Christmas cards. Format email blasts: nope, burned out on that after a couple of hours this morning. Email some kids with specific scholarship info: maybe, but that requires getting a list and...yeah, nope. Browsing through photos for the new slideshow: um, not really thrilled about that, either. Eat another Jello Jiggler leftover from the Christmas potluck for our student workers: yeah, I think I can do that one! All right, just 23 more minutes 'til I don't have to feel guilty about not wanting to be here!