Have yourself a merry little Christmas

Enjoy the day, eat lots of yummy food, open/give fun gifts, relish the time you have with family and friends. And remember why we celebrate.

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

Please pray for my family right now. One of my uncles died last night after a long battle with many health problems. I really don't know what to say other than that.

Tis the season to be jolly!

I HAVE A JOB!!!

Finally! Well, it hasn't really been that long, I've only been unemployed for a month or so and loking for about two... but still, sitting at home everyday with nothing to do and no one to see gets old fast. But, I am now a staff associate for the International Association of Culinary Professionals at Kellen Company in Atlanta. I am so excited. They've stressed growth opportunities the whole time, and they treat their employees great. Agh!

But man, was I stressed. I had a second interview Thursay morning. I got there at 8:30 and interviewed with two people. Then they looked at my schedule (they made me a schedule) and sent me to three more people. Then I interviewed with one more person, and then another took me and gave me a proofreading/Microsoft Word skills test. I would have had to take one for Excel, but thankfully the document had been saved over. I was there til 10:30 and I was ahead of schedule! As I left they said I would hear something either Thursday or Friday. So all Thursday afternoon I was really anxious, but I knew they'd probably wait.

So what do you think happened all day Friday? My phone rang a million times. First it was a real estate agent (we were looking at apartments/houses all day). Then it was Ray's mom. Then it was another real estate agent. Then it was a rep from an apartment complex we looked at the day before. Then my mom. Real estate. Apartment rep. Real estate. Real estate. Dad. Apartment rep. Real estate. Mom. Sister, Real estate. By two, I stopped answering it. Every single time it rang my stomach dropped and every time it wasn't the right number I felt like slamming my phone against the wall. And my self-esteem was plummeting. By three I convinced myself to get used to the Golden Arches. Finally, at about 4:30, Ray made me promise that at five I would stop thinking about it. And then, at 4:45, they finally called. Took long enough! But whatever, it was a good call, but since we were in the Mall of Georgia, I had to hold my jumps and squeals til we got outside.

And, Ray and I found a new townhouse we love in Woodstock that we're most likely going to rent. It's sooooo cute, with a fireplace and a teeny fenced-in backyard.

AAAAANNNNND, I got to spend last night with good friends I haven't seen in awhile. Anna B. just got back from Madagascar, so her family threw a little welcome home/birthday/ Christmas party. Yay.

So yeserday was a greay day. And tonight Ray and I are going to celebrate at one of our favorite restaurants. Mmmm.

The weather outside is frightful...

Because it's freakin' hot outside!

It's December, and almost winter, and 65 degrees. Tomorrow, supposed to be 73. Seriously. The first day of winter, the forecast says it will be almost 60 degrees. How are you supposed to get ready for Christmas? Red and green don't exactly work in warm weather. I mean, I'm wearing flip flops today. In the North GA mountains.

And I've got an interview tomorrow. I get nervous for these things, and I get hot when I get nervous. Sweaty hot. How am I supposed to look calm, cool and collected wearing a suit when it's warm enough to wear tank tops? Huuughhh.

Maybe all those Santa figurines that people get from tropical vacations are accurate for this year... red and green swim shorts, Raybans and a pina colada? He'd fit in here.

Deck the halls

I love Christmas decorations, and Friday night at Ray's work party, we saw the best of the worst. A tacky ornament party. We were blessed with what everyone called "the idol," a glass thing with glittery safari animals covered in pine needles. The winner was this thing, apparently from South Park, called Mr. Hanky the Christmas Poo. If you know, great. If you don't, don't bother, it is what it sounds like. Other crowd favorites included a miniature doll made to look like a judge in the system, an Alabama wreath (toilet seat with antlers and bows), and two spherical ornaments with pictures of attractive men covering them. That one came in a bag with the Hugh Jackman on the front, People's "sexiest man alive." Think about that one for a minute.

Yeah.

Oh, those government employees.

That being said, I'm loving all the stuff all over the house. It feels more homey.

We'll just hide the idol until next year's party.

I'll be home for Christmas

Big sigh.

I don't like the waiting game.

Since my second interview could possible lead to a real job, Ray and I have started apartment hunting again. Or, really, house hunting. I don't get why we're finding 3 bedroom houses for rent for less than one bedroom apartments. Sure, the apartments are nice and have pools and tennis courts and gyms, but I would so much rather drive to all those things and have a real house. It's really exciting but hard because there are no definites yet. But it always makes sense to plan, right?

On the bright side, I keep hoping I'll get hired and by some miracle we can move soon. Like this weekend. That would be soooooo awesome. Unlikely, but awesome.

Fa la la la laaaaa, la la la laaaaa

Random stuff for today:

- lesson #847 for the kitchen: don't cook a two-pound box of macaroni when the recipe only calls for eight ounces. Only disasters and mounds of macaroni can result.

- lesson #252 in home maintenance: let the husband handle anything that deals with a plunger. Ew.

- lesson #673 in housekeeping: Anticipate the hubby running out of clean socks and undershirts before he needs them 10 minutes before work. Or just buy more socks.

- Ray's work Christmas party is tonight. Tacky Ornament party at a Chinese buffet. Not so excited about the food, but I love the ornaments. Last year, since these people deal with delinquents and have to keep track of these things, someone filled a pee cup (for drug testing)with some kind of yellow liquid and floated a snowman in the middle. They all got a kick out of it. Inside jokes, I guess. But, it's my debut to his coworkers as Ray's wife. Now I get to defend myself against awkward questions... "How's married life?"... How was the honeymoon? (nudge nudge, wink wink)"... "Are you ready to throw in the towel yet?" (howling laughter while I just shrug and start blushing). Yay for Christmas parties! But no, really, I like the people Ray works with. Should be fun!

Grown up Christmas list

Agggghhhhh! Yay! I'm am so excited right now! I got a call back from my interview yesterday. I get to meet some senior members of the company in a week, which is really intimidating, but I'm okay with facing that challenge. This job seems so great. Lots to do, lots to learn, growth potential in lots of directions, and a great company. I'm not going into much more detail because I don't want to build my hopes, but for now I commence celebrating in my living room, jumping up and down all by myself. So if you get the chance and you don't mind looking weird, do a little happy dance, be with me in spirit!

Bells will be ringing

(Note: a "Do you hear what I hear" update)

... In prison, for the convicts who escape and terrorize small mountain towns. So remember that fugitive that had me cowering in the living room? From what I hear, he was caught after a fairly eventful showdown at the Dairy Queen. Cop cars everywhere, at the gas station across the street and the bar down the road, just for this one guy.

And Ray got to make fun of me some more when he got home and almost cracked the door because I'd latched the chain and was crouched on the floor in our hallway, peering out to make sure it was him.

O Holy Night

Since my last post talked extensively about how meaningful the Christmas story is, I decided to post it. I absolutely love this story, and practically have it memorized. Every year, at my grandparents' house, we would all squeeze into the living room, dim the lights, turn the light onto the nativity and listen to my grandpa read this passage. If you know my grandfather, he has a rough, gravelly voice that's perfect for bible stories. We still have this tradition, and every year he still has this reverence and respect for the words he's reading. Which is one reason why it's so important. So anyway, here you go.

In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria. And everyone went to his own town to register. So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."

Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests." When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let's go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about."

So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.
-Luke 2:1-20, NIV

So this is Christmas

When I was little, every Christmas Eve my mom's side of the family would go to my grandparents' church for their candlelight service. While it was always a well-produced show, it was a tad bit dull for children (and apparently, my mom, too). Because one early year, my mom, younger cousin and I discovered that if you held the half-inch thick candle long enough, the wax started to soften. So every year after that, we all compared how long we could stretch the wax and make a curlique at the end. It made the ceremony a lot more bearable. But it was a little embarassing having to turn the candle in to the baskets at the door when we left. I hated that glare from the old ladies that said, "Ugh, these children, don't have any respect for the church property."

The point of this story is that I was really wishing for one of those candles at my old church's annual Christmas dinner show. Now, I'm not going to use its name because I'd hate for this to turn people away from a church that's usually great, but I feel like this needs to be said and I feel like we can all learn something from it. It was boring. Well-produced, and filled with talent, but incredibly dull. A candle would have at least distracted me. Every song sounded the same (I literally could not tell which song they were playing until the singers began, and I'm a fairly musically minded person). Beautifully performed, but the same. Except for three songs. O Come O Come Emmanuel, Jingle Bell Rock, and Rudolph. Performed by two people. I swear, every time they get on stage whatever they sing/play automatically becomes my favorite version of the song. But anyway, after some pedestrian music, they started the drama.

What. the. heck.

Not only was it kinda dumb and not that funny, but there was no message. Once I realized it had to be ending soon, I kept looking for some tie-in to the Christmas story or spreading Christmas spirit or something. But it never came. And then a few pastors got on stage and discussed how the play was all about individual stories and so was the Christmas message. But they never really discussed the actual Christmas story. Sure, there was a little about the shepherds and wise men, but nothing about how miraculous it was or really even why Jesus came, or, for that matter, why shepherds and wise men are even in the picture. I thought the best year for this show was when they made a really strong connection to Easter. But this year? Nothing.

This is extremely upsetting to me. This church has been pretty radical in what it does and always breaks the mold on how churches function and the way to spread the gospel. Their music was one really big way for them to do this. So was this dinner. This year all of that was gone. It could have been any large church that's been around for 50 years. My hubby said they only got skin-deep. I though they only plucked a few hairs. They've always been great at getting to the heart of messages. Where did that go?

We always invited friends to this event, and we were really glad they didn't come this year. These are people who didn't grow up in church and expect something new and different. I was especially disappointed when I saw a friend from high school leaving with her grandmother. This girl is Wiccan. Her family has been dragging her to church function for years. One day she told me that being Wiccan gave her a place to belong and let her feel like there was a point for her existence, a place in the universe. If there was one church in the area that I thought she might find something different and become interested, find that feeling, it was this church. But I knew that when she left, she saw the same ol' thing and heard absolutely nothing. She is the kind of person Christians need to reach. How many others were in that audience and thought that there was nothing being offered?

Anyway, that being said, Ray was joking about how that show ruined his holiday spirit (he's a Thanksgiving person) because it didn't mention what the season was about. So remember, holiday spirit comes from Jesus, being born miraculously to die and rise miraculously so we can live. In the midst of all the trees and decorations and songs and presents, remind yourself that God did some amazing things Christmas night, just to show us that he loves us.

The most wonderful time of the year

Good day!

I finally got to decorate the apartment today! And Ray helped, which is a big surprise because I like Christmas decorating a lot more than he does. But afterwards, right when we decided to go for a walk, my phone rang. It was for a job interview! AGGGHHHH! Finally! I am so freakin' excited! I've been so discouraged with the whole job search lately. But it's so much more than a job and a paycheck. It means possibly moving away from Ellijay, closer to civilization, things to do, people to hang out with, stuff to get involved in... Ahhh. And so on our meager budget we decided to mini-celebrate with Zaxby's and then some Ben & Jerry's and a movie (Phish Food... mmm!). So my day was pretty close to perfect. It's like a pre-Christmas present.

Seriously, you don't know how excited I got. I was jumping up and down and singing and rambling on and on. But I don't sing normal songs. You know in the Wizard of Oz right after Dorothy leaves Munchkinland and comes to the fork in the Yellow Brick Road right before she meets the Scarecrow? It's really upbeat, fun clarinet-y bouncy stuff. So I basically was humming this as I skipped along the path in Ellijay's park. I think Ray was a little embarassed (luckily it was really cold so no one else was out), but who cares? I have a job interview!

Do you hear what I hear?

I'm a little freaked out right now.

While it's great to have a husband who's in-the-know in city matters and loves to make sure I'm safe, but sometimes it backfires. Example from today:

(Phone rings)

Me: Hey.
Ray: Hey, ummm... is the door locked?
Me: Did you lock it when you left? And why does it matter?
Ray: There's a fugitive loose in Ellijay. They locked the schools down because he's near downtown somewhere. And he's armed.
(Silence)
Ray: But I don't want to freak you out or anything, I just thought you'd want to know.
Me: Are all the windows locked? Are you going to be okay? What'd he do? Should--
Ray: (Chuckling a little) Anna, it's fine, it's no big deal, I just wanted to make sure the door was locked.
Me: Yes, I re-locked it.
Ray: Good, just don't be worried, I'll be home later.
Me: Yeah. Thanks.

(About thirty minutes later the phone rings again)
Ray: Hey, whatcha doing... you're not huddled up on the couch, are you?
Me: you know me so well... what did you think I was going to do?
Ray: well, [co-worker] said that if you were freaking out you could come up here and help us decorate.
Me: So you want me to leave and drive through downtown where the fugitive could carjack me and kidnap me?
Ray: Anna, it's no big deal. Really.
(silence)
Ray: I shouldn't tell you these things, should I?

So I'm currently curled up on the couch peeking out the windows every few minutes at every car that drives by wondering if I should hop in my car far away until Ray comes home. Good times.

What child is this?

I'm going to a baby shower today... hmmm. See, I don't like babies... and I've never been to a baby shower, and I don't know the girl or her friends very well. It's one of Ray's friend's wife, and I really like her, just don't know her very well. So it should be interesting.

It's been weird anyway lately because Ray's sister is preggers, too. Due on my birthday (but that's a different story). They're hoping for a girl, and the friends are having a girl, so every time Ray and I are in any store we look through baby stuff for potential gifts. I giggle to myself a little because the the clohes are so cute but I still have no desire to ever have kids that small, but women always look at me with that knowing look that says, "Aww, look at that young couple planning for babies, isn't that sweet..." Blech.

But anyway, on a positive note, I get human interaction during the shower and I get to leave Ellijay for the day, even if it is for babies. Yay!

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

Yay! First one of the season! Well, to be honest, at first it was more like slush, only sticking to cars, but now we have beautiful, fluffy flakes gathering on the ground (and turning to ice... so much for leaving the house today). I have so much I wanted to get done today because this past week has been so busy and we've been down in Paulding/Cobb everyday since last Monday, but snow just makes me want to decorate for Christmas! And I really need to get that done when Ray's not here. I don't think he could handle that mess. But for now, I'll crank up the carols, drink some hot chocolate, and start going through my red and green!