The snow is finally sticking.  I am not sure how I feel about that.

Christmas has come and gone and I was caught a little off guard by the apathetic feeling it provided.  I was not anticipating it.  It is odd, actually.  The days prior to Christmas/my birthday, I thought it would be my birthday that I would not care about.  Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed Christmas - it was just  blanketed with with really dull, heavy feeling.  I suppose that is to be expected.  Not to mention two of the million pregnant friends that I have gave birth on Christmas.  Meh, I just really had to shake it off.

Aside from my insides being a little sad, the two days of Christmas festivities were really nice.  I am pretty sure everyone loved the gifts that they got, which pleases me greatly.  I received a ton of kitchen stuff that I had wanted, which makes me really excited to re-paint the kitchen/dining room.  You know you're officially old when you ask for a toaster, microwave, garlic press, and wok for Christmas.

I turned 31 yesterday and it was a good day.  I woke up and had breakfast with a friend that was home for the holidays.  We had great conversation and it was really refreshing to see her again.  After breakfast we went to a book store because she wanted to get me a book for my birthday.  The book is called Heaven Is For Real.  I came home immediately and began to read.  It is a great book and it was especially nice to read for leisure rather than for obligation.  Ray had already given me my birthday gift (well, not really, I totally opened the box when it was delivered to the house before Ray was home from work.  he wasn't really happy about it, but I couldn't wait!) so I wasn't expecting anything more from him.  Ray got home from work and had another gift for me, which was a gift bag full of everything that I love.  He is such a gentleman.

The new year is approaching and I couldn't be happier.  Ray and I are both working, so we won't be partaking in any of the festivities.  I would rather this year just end, and not really celebrate anything.  I am excited for the year to be over.

Our Gatlinburg trip is the end of January and I am going to Los Angeles mid Febuary.  I am excited to travel again.  I feel like it has been forever.  We have heard that Gatlinburg is beautiful in January.  The package that we originally bought for October is much more costly than the package in January and, because so, we get an extra day.  Mike is unable to go now, so Sean and Cyndi are on the bill.  We're going to have so much fun.

Our house is a total wreck.  We must clean today and do a ton of laundry.  My vacation ends today, and what perfect way to celebrate by cleaning.