Merry Christmas

I'm a little late, but I haven't been on the computer in a few days.... so I hope everyone had a very good Christmas!  I was so busy over the past few days finishing up my Christmas shopping that I just had no time for the internet world!  I had Thursday, Friday, and Saturday off for the Holiday and I enjoyed having the days off so much...though I was busy the majority of the time!  Let's see....Thursday I went out while Tyler was at work to finish getting the rest of his presents.  It's always easiest to get his stuff while he's at work :p
As soon as I dropped him off, I went to Jimmy John's and got him a $20.00 gift card....now, normally I wouldn't get anyone a gift card because they just don't seem that personal or thoughtful to me, but he kept mentioning over the past week, numerous times, how much he would 'really like a Jimmy John's gift card'.  So since the man likes to eat, I said what the heck!  Plus, it made for a really good stocking stuffer!  Then I went to Walmart to pick up a photo book that I designed online for him.  It's actually really neat because it holds up to forty different photos and you can add text to them and the outside of the book is a durable canvas.  I've always been one to make things for gifts, because I feel like they mean a lot more than just buying things, and I thought that it could definitely be something that is small enough for him to take with him one day when he leaves for active duty training for the Army.  I mainly used photos of us, but added two pictures from this previous Halloween because they are just too funny.  When ever he is gone...of course I want him to be able to look at us together and all of the times we've had, but I also want him to be able to laugh at the times with his friends, too.  That's why I love taking so many darn pictures....they capture so much and then the memories just start flowing.  The outside of the book is like a tan-ish brown color, which is perfect because his ACU's are mainly this color and it matches all of his Army gear.  I plan on putting his last name on the front of it, kind of like he does all of his backpacks and stuff...that way, it all fits in.  I got him a few other things, but one that I know he definitely LOVES is his Xbox.  Can't get him off of that thing. lol.  Boys will be boys, right?  I asked him today if we could buy a game that we could both play....you know, for a little more 'quality time'?  :p 

Two of the most difficult people to buy for are my parents.  My mom ALWAYS tells me not to buy them anything, but of course, I do....but since they never tell me what they would like, I just have to wing it.  This Christmas, I got Jim, (my step-dad), a few games for his new Xbox because I know that he loves playing on it when he's not working.  He really liked them, so I was happy.  We also gave him Band of Brothers, the WWII series that is like, 10 hours long.  I'm usually not one for these types of movies, but I've watched it all with Tyler, and it is amazing.  I'd recommend it.  Since Jim is retired Navy, we knew he would enjoy it as well.  For my mom, I got her this wax burner thing that I also have.  It's a lamp type things, (just bare with me while I try to describe it, lol) that has a detachable lid and of course, inside, has a super bright lightbulb.  You take the wax squares (there are so many different scents) and break one off, put it on top of the detachable lid and the lightbulb heats this up, burning the wax and lets off the scent of the wax.  They work so much better than candles and you can reuse the wax over and over.  I got her two scents to start off with : Oatmeal Cookies and Vanilla Bean.  I also got her some Chef Man decor because she also has a Chef Man themed kitchen.

I had a pretty good Christmas, as well.  My mom and Jim bought both Tyler and I a TV and Bluray DVD player the month we moved in and told us that this was our Christmas present.  I was so surprised, and defintely very appreciative.  We've put it to good use so far, with his new Xbox and all of the movies and documentaries we watch on Netflix.
Tyler ended up tinting my windows on my Jeep and they look so good!  I didn't expect it at all to be honest, but I am so happy with them.  It was really cute the way he did it.  He 'borrowed' my car one day (gone pretty much the whole day) and when he got home, he made me go outside (eyes closed) and when I was to my car, I opened them and there was a big red Christmas bow on my car and the windows were tinted. At first I didn't notice, but then it hit me.  He is so good because one day a while back we saw a car exactly like mine, except it had tinted windows, and I kept saying how good it looked and that one day I wanted to do the same to mine.  I guess he really listened and took it upon himself to make it happen!  I'll post a picture soon!  He also got me some really cute Coach tennis shoes...he really knows me all too well and knows that I love me some Coach. 

I'm pretty excited because we both got two of the same gifts, not for each other, but from his side of the family.... ARKANSAS VS. OHIO STATE SUGAR BOWL TICKETS!!!!  NEW ORLEANS, BABY!!!!  We were planning on going but didn't get the tickets in time, but his aunt and uncle ended up getting some pretty good seats for themselves.  Because they can't go, they decided that they would give them to us for Christmas since we were initially planning on going with them.  Neither of us expected it, but we were super happy!!!  It'll be an interesting trip!

Besides all of the gifts, we had a really good Christmas and would have, EVEN if we didn't get everything we did.  We are definitely fortunate to have the ones around us that we do and I am so very grateful for everyone in my life.  It was nice being able to see everyone and to spend the time that we did with them...plus, the food was great!