Allie and Kyle Firsts: Christmas

I suspected that this Christmas would be a special one since it was our first Christmas as a married couple, and it certainly turned out that way.

Our Christmas Eve morning started off perfectly slow and cozy. We stayed in our pajamas until noon watching movies and drinking coffee. I cherish these moments so much. I never feel more blessed than when we enjoy quiet mornings at the apartment. During these times, neither of us feel hurried to be somewhere else, we aren't worried about work, and we can just relax and enjoy being together.

Later that night, we went over to my parents house, and later my family and Kyle's met up for Mexican food and the 11 p.m. candlelight service at First Methodist. The church service was a peaceful reminder of God's grace and love. Even though we have heard the Christmas story thousands of times, Kyle and I left the church feeling so much more thankful for Christ's selflessness for sending us His son to save to the world. We are so glad that we have First Methodist as our church home.

After we left church, we headed back to my parents for a big family slumber party. All of the kids, plus their significant others, crammed into 2 of the upstairs bed rooms... it definitely felt like the days we used to wait for Santa. We woke up on Christmas morning, downed 3 pots of coffee, ate plenty of biscuits and gravy and pancakes, and opened gifts. And while the family transitioned into nap time, Kyle and I headed over to Katie and Lance's for the Schielack Christmas. We had so much fun exchanging gifts and watching Karly open her presents from Nonnie and Poppy. After all of the gifts were opened, we all prepared for the Christmas night party. At 7 o'clock my family came over, and we played a rowdy game of bunco. It was so nice to have both families together, and I couldn't be more thankful that our families are friends.



Our first Christmas as the Schielacks



Bailey the reindeer

A Savior is Born

"And she gave birth to her first born son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for him in the inn.

And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, 'Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.'

Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,

'Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.'"

Luke 2:7-14

Happy birthday Jesus!

In Lieu of Christmas Cards...

Kyle and I couldn't have imagined a happier 2010, and we look forward to seeing what God has planned for us in 2011! Merry Christmas to you all!

The Christmas Countdown

I love the week before Christmas! I have no problem getting caught up in the anticipation of Christmas day despite my age, and I always have a list of "Christmas Must-dos" before the 25th comes around.

Must Dos ...

• Starbucks holiday drinks... purchased with all of my giftcards from my students :)
• A trip or 2 to the Galleria... this is easier to come by this year, since I could hit the Galleria with a rock from where we live
• Lunch with sisters and mom... this is acutally on the list year around
• Church services... nothing is more "Christmasy" or gives more perspective to Christmas
• Watch a Christmas movie while wrapping presents
• Go to the acutal movie theater... not always my favorite thing to do
• And just do whatever I want, whenever I want 

With great enjoyment, I accomplished most of my list this weekend. Kyle and I woke up relatively early on Saturday morning. I drug him to Starbucks, Bed Bath and Beyond, JCPenney, and Target. On our little Christmas adventure I said, "isn't this so much fun... our first time to Christmas shop together." His reply, "really? Are we almost done?" I forgive him. I guess it really isn't that much fun for a guy to pick out a silk nightgown for his grandmother.

Before and After

Friday night was the first time in over a month that Kyle and I were actually in the same location. Between Aggie football, weddings, a cheer competition, the deer lease, and Thanksgiving ... to name a few, we haven't gotten to have a lazy Friday in quite some time. So, we took full advantage of this time because next week starts another series of the exact same madness.

For some reason, The Biggest Loser is one of our shows. The two years after college, before we got married, Kyle would record it on Tuesday nights. Then, when I would come over on the weekends, we would watch it. We have still stuck with this same tradition, except we were kind of behind on the show because of our aforementioned plans. So, what did we start of with last night? The Biggest Loser. And doesn't it always seem that when you watch that show you are usually eating something you shouldn't? Don't ask me why, but we were eating sausage, sauerkraut, a potato, and beer... oh my, I feel guilty just writing that.

Since falling asleep early on a Friday is one of my favorite things, Kyle got my lazy butt off the couch, and we embarked upon setting up the new computer. Thank goodness it was with relative ease.

Before

After



After that... I got to fall asleep. It was 9:15. :)

Good Bye Old Stuff

I am by no means wasteful, but boy do I love to throw things away. I love the feeling of cleaning things out, and getting rid of unneeded stuff. I spent part of my time at work today cleaning out my 1st semester file cabinets and loved the fact that I was able to fill up my classroom's recycling box. I did however have a moments guilt of all of the paper that got thrown away, but after I saw all of my extra space in my filing cabinet, all sad feelings were soon gone.

Kyle and I just bought our Christmas present to each other. A new computer! (Kyle said it is more like his Christmas present to me since he is the one that saved all the money, but whatever :). We both haven't had new computers since we started college, so we were totally excited about getting rid of the ghetto tower, speakers, and cords that all old computers unfortunately have. I can't wait to dust off the desk and place our new computer on top. Good bye cord confusion. Good bye slow computer. You will now be making your way to Rockdale to live with Granny. You have served us well, but it is time that we say good bye.

As much as I love getting rid of the old things, I get weirdly excited about using/finishing other things. Examples: laundry soap, coupons, books, lotion, dryer sheets, spirals, groceries, and the list goes on. I know its really weird, but I like it when things have served their purpose. I guess so I can get rid of it after I use it?