Merry New Year

I failed at sending out Christmas cards so I’m attaching pictures of what you could have received in a Christmas card from me.

And in that card I would talk about the kindness and love of God appearing to us by Him sending His Son to us. If you want you can print this all out and put it where you would have put a Christmas card. If you store your Christmas cards in the garbage you can save some paper and just read and delete. That said this is not going to be a summary of my year because you get those all the time.

I took today off of work. I thought I was going to die last night so I didn’t sleep well. This morning I woke up feeling better but realized that I did have a pretty valid excuse to take a sick day I didn’t actually have any work to do. Today was grand, the office only called in once and I didn’t have to wear heals. Actually not having to get dressed was one of the turning points in my decision to stay home. You know, I could get used to spending my day in bed reading and talking on G-Chat.

But instead of becoming a full-time loaf I have a new plan…getting my MBA! I was keeping this plan on the down low in case I fail miserably but oh well, now you know. I took my GMAT a few weeks ago and now I have to figure out where to apply. Writing application essays is kind of a pain, especially when I am supposed to clearly define my goals. For the most part I try to never set goals but I don’t think that is what they want to hear. If I ever call upon you to write a reference letter, please don’t mention that, or anything else I write.

Christmas was good. Poetry hasn’t been really been happening much because cooking has taken over. The girls still lost but Cristina did break into the winners bracket. The overall highlight of Christmas Eve was my grandpa presenting my parents host gifts. My dad got comic books and a car waxer and my mom got a broom with a mouse cover. Like my mom needs a new broom when I bought her a steam mop. Oh it was also cool when he pulled all the boys into his room one-by-one and gave them each a cowboy hat, except Billy who got some really nice white boots. Somewhere there are some amazing photos of that event floating around.

I hope your holiday season has been going well and that it gets even better.
Love, Joy

A...B...Christmastime

I really like Christmastime, it is only the first week of December but I’m already in love. Here are almost 26 things that are great about it. I mean the other letters are SO obvious you can fill them in yourself.
Amy Grant. I think I’ve mentioned this before but her “A Christmas Album” is my favorite.
Birth of Jesus, I know it seems kind of cliché but really everything in my life revolves around this.
Costumes. My sister has a costume party every year. Last year I, Peace on Earth, won. Also last year to work I wore an outfit that I thought was normal but got lots of elf comparisons. How can you not love a time of year when it is acceptable to wear red and green and, my personal favorite, GOLD all together?
Decorations. I think I just really like themes because they give order to life. And Christmas is a great theme to decorate around.
Egg Nog. The lattes or straight from carton.
Family Cook-Off. Last year we started a new competitive tradition on Christmas Eve. There is nothing like a little family competition to bring out Christmas Spirit.
Gifts. I’m not ashamed to admit it I like getting gifts (giving is great too)
Hot Chocolate. I petitioned that at my office we have hot chocolate available in the kitchen every Tuesday in December. Offering it on Wednesday was approved I think we will see a noticeable rise in office cheerfulness tomorrow.
I
Joy. That’s my name and the name of the holiday tea at Starbucks and an emotion.
K
Lights! I should be annoyed when people put out Christmas lights the first week of November. But once the time changes, and it starts getting dark early, I’m ready.
Music. I try to not overdo this one because I hear carols will lose their splendor but I’ve been sneaking them in since Halloween and now that is all I listen to.
N
O
Poetry Competition. I hate competing in it because there is just so much talent in my family and I don’t like losing year after year but for some magic reason it is worth it.
Q
Rain. Usually I’m not a big fan but add a roaring fire and a Christmas tree and I’m sold.
Sandwiches. Growing up every Christmas Eve we had a sandwich bar for dinner. To this day sandwiches are one of my favorite foods.
Trees. I just bought 35 of the little live glittered ones from Trader Joe’s for my boss to pass out instead of the classic poinsettia.
U
Vacation. Well I used to like this about December. Now I get one day off which is still better than nothing. More time off is one of the big drawing points of me going back to school.
We Three Kings. Last year this became one of my favorite songs and I still am into it.
X
Y
Z