Holiday Decorating

My beary-sweet nativity scene

“It feels like Christmas!” I said happily on December 5^th. It was not because I was getting in the mood for Christmas by baking peanut butter blossom cookies and listening to holiday music, though I was. Rather, it felt as though I was unwrapping lots of new gifts just like I usually do on December 25^th. In reality I was pulling off the newspaper that was protecting Christmas decorations coming out of a box from storage. 

First came the nativity scenes, and then the Christmas bear figurines, a single box of Christmas lights, ten fragile tree ornaments, and lastly my collection of musical snow globes.

Though received in the past year, much of the stuff was new. Even the snow globes my dad has given to me each year since I was a child had a sense of newness. I had never had a place of my own to decorate for the Christmas season. In college I didn’t bother with it, but now I am married and have not only an apartment but also the feeling of a wifely responsibility to make our place cheery and warm.

I don’t think we’ll have a tree this year. Our apartment is small, and I don’t know where we’d put it. I’m even tempted to wait for the sales on the day after Christmas to buy our first set of stockings. Would it really ruin the day to pull out wrapped presents from the closet instead of from under a tree or in a stocking? I don’t think so. Besides, the focus is on Jesus and His Christmas presence, not Christmas presents. With that in mind, I say Merry Christmas to YOU and ask you to share your thoughts on Christmas decorations.

A Houston Thanksgiving

My sister-in-law hosted our family Thanksgiving meal. She's a great cook!

For our first Thanksgiving as a married couple, my parents were kind enough to meet us in Houston at my brother’s house instead of ask us to drive the ten hour trip to their home. Houston is a halfway point between our home and their home. It is also the home to my husband’s family, so it was an all-around convenient and kind thing for my family to do.

It was the first time in my life I was not in my childhood home to watch the Macy’s Day Parade and binge on food. But it did not feel sad because I was still with my closest loved ones. Besides, I remember last year when I got to be with my parents and siblings but not see my then-fiancé for the holidays, and that was sad. So I guess I couldn’t ask for much more.

I even got two Thanksgiving meals. One with my family, and one with Jason’s. That’s how we worked it out this year. My family got us Thursday and Friday, and then we drove over to his parents’ house for Saturday and Sunday. I count my blessings because I have friends whose both sets of parents are divorced and live in four different states. Choosing which family to see has to be rough.

So that’s the topic of discussion. How do you decide which families to visit on holidays and in what order – if you visit at all?

Marathon and ½ Marathon

We Finished!

We did it. After months of training, my husband finished his first marathon, and I ran my first half marathon. Last weekend ten of our friends and we headed to San Antonio to put our bodies through a painful experience. It was fun and miserable at the same time.

Overall, I say the weekend was fun. The expo had a lot of tasty samples of energy bars, protein drinks, and even beer. Our group went to see the movie 2012, and we had dinner at the Magic Time Machine, a restaurant in which the wait staff dresses as fictional characters and harasses their customers. (Our waitress was Lara Croft.) We woke up ridiculously early, and joined the excitement at the starting line.

For me, things were dandy until about mile eight.  The last 5.1 miles were not as fun as I sucked in oxygen and continued to dodge around the slow people in front of me. Seriously, people who are not very fast should not start at the front of the group. The last two miles were the worst because I kept thinking the finish line was just around the corner … but no.

I finished the 13.1 miles eventually, though – in 2 hours, 3 minutes, and 56 seconds to be exact. I averaged a 9:28 mile, which is about  what I expected. After I rested a bit and talked about the course with my fellow finishing friends, I got to scream for Jason as he neared the finish line or the full marathon. I’m very proud of him.

We had different feelings after the race, though. I was glad I did it, but I would be fine to never run in an event again. He, on the other hand, is now hooked and was immediately talking about us running the Austin marathon in February. Oh goodness, what have I gotten myself into?

Have any of you gotten hooked on something like this … or have a spouse that gets excited easily? I’m wondering if this is a phase or if I should resign to the fact and buy him a subscription to Runners World. Training for marathons takes a lot of time, and if I want to share more time with him, it looks like I’ll have to keep up with his running addiction. Well, at least this is a positive, healthy hobby. No one can say that either of us gained weight after getting married!

Weekend Well Earned

Last Monday I started a new job. I’m the counselors’ secretary at a middle school that sits just above the border of Texas and Mexico. I also help teach the ballroom dance class. This job doesn’t take advantage of my gifts or education and experience, but I prefer it to my last job as a Dennys waitress, and I’ve become less picky after months of unsuccessful job hunts.

There were 2 ½ weeks between the last day of my old job and my first day as a clerk. In that time, I worked on some projects at home, did lots of cooking, and took care of the house. I’ve always been an ambitious young person, and I want to accomplish meaningful things in life, but I realized I’d be quite content to never hold a full-time job and instead stay home. At least, I’d rather stay home than work a job my heart isn’t into.  I usually keep busy, and doing all the laundry, cooking, and cleaning for a family – even a family of two – takes considerable time. Maybe I discovered I’d best like to work from home – where I can wear pajamas all morning and sit in privacy at my own desk and get snacks from the fridge whenever I want. Unfortunately I haven’t found job I can personally do (or want to do) from home and make a decent salary. So I’ve looked elsewhere for a place to earn money to pay off my student loans. Sadly, an unknown white girl with a degree in religion and novice Spanish skills isn’t a commodity in this border town. So here I am – filing papers, making copies, and babysitting kids in the lunchroom.

Waiting for the weekend

During my break between jobs, I would look forward to the weekend because Jason would be home. But after starting this job, my longing for the weekend increased. Though my task load didn’t increase from the projects I was doing at home to the projects I did at the school, I felt like I deserved a break more. After a forty-hour workweek, waking up at 5:30 a.m. each morning, I earned the weekend. Like I said, the workload is not challenging, but perhaps I felt I earned the break because I spent each weekday taking orders from others and doing tasks I didn’t want to do. Because I put up with the boring work, spending my precious time at others’ beck and call, it was my right to have two days of freedom.

Of course, Monday came too soon and Sunday night was slightly miserable as I thought about the full five days I’d have to endure before the next weekend. At times like that, I tell myself to be grateful to have a job at all and thank God for the enjoyable parts of my life and ask Him to teach me through the rest.

First Houseguests

We're number one!

This past weekend my parents became our very first overnight houseguests. Our second bedroom was finally put to use in the way we originally intended: to host friends and family. It’s taken a while for people to visit because all of our loved ones live five minutes away or five + hours away. The former don’t need to spend the night at our apartment, and the latter don’t get much of a chance to make the trip.

My mom and dad, though, took Friday off work and flew down in their airplane, and I was excited to show them Brownsville for the first time. The weekend was relaxing; my parents don’t require much entertaining. A couple movies on our home projector, a Frisbee game on the South Padre beach, and lots of food kept us happy.

I’ve seen my parents a few times since getting married, but this was the first time that they have come to my home and I was the lady of the house. Our relationship is still comfortable, but it’s a little different. My dad mentioned he has a hard time realizing I’m married, but he had to have seen a change.  I was the one deciding what was for dinner, Jason and I were the ones driving them around town, and at night I retired to a bedroom I share with my husband. Times have changed.

When I go to my parents’ home, it is reminiscent of my high school days, and I feel younger. But I’m not a little girl anymore. During my parents’ visit, I was fully in the present. I was a loving daughter, but also a dedicated wife.

Guacamole and Movie Agreements

Before I did a little research, I was going to say that my husband and I are like the average American family who enjoys relaxing in front of the television. But after reading up on the facts, I realized I shouldn’t compare our tv-watching habits to the average person because we are not normal.

An old article in USA Today says the average American home has more television sets than people. It also said that on average a tv set is turned on for more than eight hours a day, and each person watches more than four and a half hours daily. The statistics are probably worse for 2009.

Jason and I have one screen in our apartment, and we can only watch movies on it. Our projector would play cable, but we discontinued the service months ago because we didn’t watch enough to merit the cost. We catch our favorite shows online each week, but I’m happy to say we spend more time cooking and running than sitting on the couch.

Last night, though, was one of our veg-out nights. Our guilty pleasure is to take a big bowl of homemade guacamole, a bag of chips, and sugary drinks to the living room. We borrowed Behind Enemy Lines from the library and let our dog cuddle between us as we watched. That was our dinner, and that’s how we enjoyed the evening.

I would say I enjoyed the evening but not the movie. I’ve appreciated some of the action dramas Jason has chosen, but movies like this one – where the main character is pursued the entire film by men with guns – that’s too intense for me. I kept telling Jason I’m so glad he’s not in the military.

Thankfully, my man has a taste for romantic comedies, and we rarely have an argument about what movies to see. I know it’s a bigger issue for some couples. Do you and your loved one agree about your entertainment? Participate in the poll below!

New name – What a pain

Earlier this month the reality tv personality Khloe Kardashian got married to LA Lakers basketball star Lamar Odom. I’m not a fan of Khloe; in fact, I’ve never seen her show Keeping up with the Kardashians. But I happened upon this article about how she was refusing to drop her last name and will be known as Khloe Kardashian Odom.

… insiders insist that the only reason she refuses to totally drop Kardashian is because she knows it is her ticket to stardom and hefty pay-checks.

“Khloe knows that by keeping her identity as a Kardashian sister she is far more marketable,” a source said.

I’ve never believed my maiden name to be a money-maker, but I’ll admit I felt reluctant to give it up. I even seriously considered replacing my middle name with my maiden name as Khloe did. After 23 years, I’m accustomed to hearing “Chansin Bird”. Bird is a part of my identity. It’s a part of my family. It feels like it fits me more than my husband’s name. After months of being married, I still hear my new name with surprise. I don’t know how long it will take until it feels right and normal.

Ultimately, I made the decision to take my husband’s last name because I want to be identified with him, I want to void other people’s confusion, and I still have traditional tendencies. There was a war within me, though, for a little while, and I wonder if I was born 100 years later if I’d have made a different decision. My guess is that in the future it will be commonplace for a woman to keep her maiden name. Certainly it happens much more now than it did in the early 1900s.

Come what may, I’ve made my decision. My husband and I share a home and a name. Am I the only one who struggled at all with the issue? Please share your thoughts!