December is officially here and with it brings the start of the Christmas season! I, like just about everyone else (except my husband), LOVE Christmas, and it is so exciting to be coming into it this year with one extra smiley face to enjoy it with. I can't wait to start some of our own little family traditions, starting with holiday decorating of course!
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| Mommy is so silly! |
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| Oooo, what's this? |
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| Can I put the star on top, mom? |
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| Actually, maybe I'll just grab a few more of these shiny things... |
I may have gotten a little carried away by the Christmas spirit and started decorating the baby...
In any case the weather is getting cooler and it really is starting to feel like winter. Over the Thanksgiving holidays Jason and I had a fun, wintery date night. I knew my parents would love to spend some quality time with Drew, so we sent him up to the lakehouse for an evening and Jason and I had the night to ourselves. We found ourselves ice skating in Centennial Olympic Park- an outdoor ice rink in downtown Atlanta (with plenty of devices to keep that ice frozen!). I, being Canadian and all, love ice skating (though I do it so infrequently that I often need a good bit of time to warm up). Jason, however, despite his 10 years growing up in Wisconsin, does not ice skate. Nor does he roller blade or roller skate. Just as I used to tremble at the idea of trying to move whilst having my feet strapped together on one board (snowboarding), Jason hates the idea of moving his feet separately (except for walking, of course). He grew up skateboarding and in recent years has become quite skilled at snowboarding. For the sake of a fun evening and a happy wife, however, he sucked it up and put on some blades...
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| Do my feet still work? |
Let me tell you a little story about snowboarding. My sister and I, boyfriends in tow, went out to Seattle one winter to visit our Aunt Sue and to do some skiing. Jason had never skied nor snowboarded before. Being a skateboarder at heart he decided snowboarding was the way to go. He took a few lessons and we hit the slopes. After getting off one lift we turned the wrong way and approached a slope. As we came to the crest of a hill we suddenly looked down to realize we were about to head down a black diamond- yikes! We realized we had turned slightly too far left, so we tried to quickly turn right and cut across a soft patch of snow to get to the slope we were originally aiming for. Well, that little patch of snow was a patch that was not often skied and was soft and fluffy. Not having enough speed at this point, we instantly sank. I can't even tell you how long we spent trying to dig ourselves out, moving ourselves only an inch or two at a time, before my sister and Michael came skiing by. Seeing us and thinking they'd come say hi, they skied right into the snow trap too. After easily a good 30 minutes of wading and digging the four of us finally freed ourselves, but Jason vowed he never wanted to see snow again. Several years later and now Jason's the one who insists we go snowboarding every winter. Ha!
So I was not overly surprised that, after spending the first 20 minutes or so whining and complaining about skating, he suddenly started to get the hang of things. And only a little bit after that he was talking about taking up hockey!
Jason is just the personality-type that doesn't give up (sometimes I call it stubborn). He said, "if I'm not falling, I'm not trying hard enough" (though he never actually did fall). Maybe I could learn a little from him...
I do have to say that there is something so endearing about watching a guy fumble around on ice skates. I could not get the silly smirk off my face as he teetered and tottered around on the ice. I guess it's something about seeing guys, who are usually so confident and sure of themselves, suddenly awkward and childish. Heehee!
Happy December!
