as of late

as of late

Warning: This post is so random. I've just been a busy little bee and I have so much to say. . . Mmmm kay.

It doesn't look like I have much Christmas spirit. But trust me, I do. I've been listening to Christmas music since the beginning of November, my poor roommate. It's sad to admit that I keep forgetting that it's even close to Christmas. Everyone on campus is so worried about finals that not one word about Christmas has been spoken, nor has a Christmas song been sung. Grinches. That's why I can't wait for next Friday. I'm going to Texas with my family for the Holiday. It will be merry and bright. Or a catastrophe with a billion children everywhere. But no matter. Being with family is what this time of year is all about. You should watch the Christmas episode of Glee. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Now I'm rambling. Just so you know I see couples everywhere I look.

Ope. I'm in the JSB and the people next to me just kissed. Is this something new, or am I just now starting to notice?

(Andie's birthday present. I'm brainwashing her at a young age)

I've been trying to distract myself so I don't get to sad about you know what. Today I watched this youtube video. SO funny. A bit dramatic. But funny. "Eighteen, clueless, and baby hungry."

Anyway. Back to Christmas. I made this video of my friends and I.

We thought it was funny. You can watch it here. Nolan's face is theee best. So now for some pictures from my Thanksgiving break at the Halladay home. My family is not as big into Christmas as I am, so I had to make my dad pinky promise a month in advance that we could set-up our tree and decorations the day after Thanksgiving. Pinky promises are pretty much a big deal, so he had to follow through.

(homemade stuffing cakes)

(baby sweet potato blossoms and pecan pie)

So then next day is where the real fun begins. My mom and I were the only ones excited. It's pretty sad when you have more Christmas spirit than an eight year. We Halladay's have a few quirky traditions. One being, we like real trees. Although that's not very environmentally friendly, it's Christmas, and we do what we want. Sometimes we go chop our own in the forest (refer to Christmas Vacation). This year no one was feelin' it because they are lameeeeee. When no one will go chop one down, we like to go to people in town who have cut some down and are trying to earn a little extra cash for the Holidays. How cute is that?

(kole was soooo thrilled to be there.)

(the traditional red and white tree adorned with white house and bells. . . and kole texting. shocking)

(our sweet dog molly, and ornaments andie made us. such a halladay moment.)

(the big kids got to do the lights this year. how grown up are we?)

My tradition: So every years since 2004, I have bought everyone in my family their own ornament. It changes every year. Sometimes they're all matching, and other times they are unique to each member of my family. I've even made them some homemade ones.

(our first year was the ice cube snowmen from hallmark, the one on the right was for andie when she turned four.)

I buy them before thanksgiving so that the day we set up our christmas tree and hang the stockings I give them their ornaments. We hang them with our stockings on the stocking holders until Christmas eve, then we all put them on the tree. That way, when people come over they can see what ornaments I got everyone all December long.

(i seriously love my dad)

(my pretty mother)

It's kind of a silly tradition, but I have a lot of fun doing it. This year I found these cute "vegetable animals." look really closely at the pictures. They are adorable. Kole opened his and said, "what the potato?" I was like, "it's a potato pig, duhhhh"

(Spence was there when everyone was unwrapping. We were being silly gooses.)

We also have another tradition: Clyde the elf. This is the cutest idea in the world You can order the book and elf for your own family by clicking here. Anyway, we got to name our own elf, and every year when we unpack him we read his story. He watches over us all day and returns to the north pole at night to report our behaviors to santa. Andie has so much fun finding him the next day, and it's a great excuse to get her to behave. It's been such a great tradition.

You can even register him in the North Pole hall of registry to make it even more legit.

Ok jumping to a completely different topic:

Andie got baptized!! It was so adorable. She was so excited she couldn't even contain her joy. My dad got to baptize her which was so sweet. She loves him. He also got to baptize a little kid that he home teaches. It was actually pretty touching because he was baptized by his home teacher when he was eight. Anyway, it was such a nice day, and I felt so honored that she wanted me out of everyone to speak at her baptism. Although it wasn't a great talk it was so sweet of her to include me in her special day. Spencer was sad because he missed it by three days. In the letter I just got today he said, "I'm so sad I missed Andie's baptism, but I'm so proud of her that she made that choice. Baptizing is one of my biggest goals as a missionary. Please tell her how proud I am of her." He and Andie got along so well. She cried for days when he said goodbye and my mom tells me she mentions him in her prayers every night. (Just as a side note, the letter I got was four pages long. It was sooo amazing. In ten days he as already grown so much. It's crazy to even think how spiritual he'll be in a year. I'm proud of him though, and excited that he's doing so well.)

(i got baptized in a dress, but she insisted on being baptized in a jumper, which i'm glad because she looks adorable)

(my sweet mom and grandma giving andie her first set of scriptures)

(my old bishops little boy Talmage. Is he not just the cutest thing you've ever seen?)

That night the Halladay cousins came over to make gingerbread houses, thanks to my amazing aunt Lesa, who always has something fun for everyone to do.

(my beautiful aunts and grandma making christmas pillow cases)

(the cousins all slept over in our living room)

Anyway, it's always great to go home. We got our family pictures taken too, which I'll post some other day. I used to think people my age were so old. But now that I'm there, I feel so young. It's the strangest thing. I feel like time is moving so fast. It seems like yesterday I just started the semester, but no, I'm done with classes and now I'm going to start over again in January. I was actually sad to leave my writing class. My instructor was so wonderful, and I learned a lot about writing and life. Anyway, I'm rambling again. You know those days where you just can't stop thinking about how you have gotten to where you are in life? I have had one of those days, and to be quite honest, I'm glad I made the choices I did, because life is pretty dandy as of late.

All my love,

Alex