Weird Christmas

This year was a weird Christmas for us. It was our second Christmas together since moving out to Tennessee, but also the second year we've spent away from family. Last year we went to a cabin out in the Tennessee mountains and it was more like a vacation, which kept us more or less distracted from what we were missing with our families back home. But we still managed to have a wonderful time - nothing but relaxation, hot-tubbing, reading and hanging out together. This year has been quite different. Don't get me wrong, we're still enjoying the time we have together, but we both really miss our families even more so and though spending our first Christmas in our new home has been really nice, it also feels really empty. I was fortunate to at least have had time with my family back in Seattle over Thanksgiving and then also with a visit from Kris a couple weeks ago, but I know Jason is really missing his family since the last time we saw them was in April over my birthday. I also think we're both just so worn out from working on the house so much, that by the time Christmas came around we really wanted nothing more than to veg out with some holiday movies and sleep. We just haven't felt the Christmas spirit like we have in the past. It felt like we were always one step behind this year, from not sending out Christmas cards, to having to overnight our gifts to our families, to not wrapping presents till the last minute - it just felt off this year. When we went shopping for each other, we were more interested in what we could get for the house rather than ourselves - it just seems to be more the pressing need than anything else. I guess we could have wrapped up the vanity mirror and drew straws for who got to unwrap it?? We did get each other a few things that we really wanted - Jason got me a purse and two pairs of new shoes. And I got Jason the We Are Marshall DVD, a Frank Sinatra CD, and a black watch from Fossil that Kris and I both picked out for him.

I'm a pretty big on traditions and with it just being the two of us and spending Christmas in our new home, I wanted to make it as special as possible. I had planned out a pretty big Christmas dinner, but still had a few things I needed for the recipes. We figured while we were out on Christmas Eve shopping we'd stop by the grocery store on our way home. Note to self - not a good idea to wait till Christmas Eve. Out here everything closes REAL early on Christmas Eve and is closed ALL day on Christmas. We drove to 4 different grocery stores and they had all closed by 6pm and wouldn't be open on Christmas either. I was getting so discouraged, I thought the least I could do for us was cook up a delicious Christmas dinner and now that was looking a bit bleak too. But Jason got up first thing Christmas morning in search of an international market, one where maybe an indian or mexican guy wouldn't celebrate the holidays and still have his store open - and sure enough he found one! An hour later he brought home what I needed and I cooked up a big Christmas dinner with pork tenderloin, baked sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, homemade rolls and brown sugar carrots. I had unpacked the china Grandma Moreland had given us from our first Christmas and our wedding crystal and we were able to use it all for the first time, which was really fun.

We still managed to have a great Christmas and I even got a few Christmas puzzles, 2 of which we bought and 1 sent to us from Jerry & Sherry that's sure to keep me busy through the New Year!

We also drove out to Gallatin to see some really pretty lights out on a big farm that we had heard about. I took a few pictures so you could get an idea of how it looked. You literally drive through the entire farm under arbors, over bridges, around nativities over ponds. It was very cool. This is actually the view of the farm from the side as we were getting ready to head into the entrance.

They had this barn that was decorated like a house that was split in half and you drive straight through the middle of it - it was a trip!
Life-size nativity scene.
And this somewhat creepy snowman that comes up to your car to dance around and wave.

That's it for Christmas - I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas holiday too!!