Happy New Year!

Once again, it has been awhile.  I have had lots to write about, but just haven't been able to sit myself down and do it.  I have been sick since last Friday so I have spent a lot of time sleeping.

Last Tuesday, Alison and I got together for our 2nd annual baking day.  We made a ton of sugar cookies and about 12 loafs of banana bread.  We literally baked ALL day!  Since this is the 2nd year in a row that we have done this, it is officially a tradition.  Our families have always had holiday traditions together and since many of them have stopped or changed over the past few years, we decided we needed to start a new one of our own.  It was a gloomy, rainy day which made it all the more enjoyable.  I had been stocking up on the ingredients and materials we needed, but we still had to go to the store for a few things and we ended up going to 4 different stores to get the things we needed.  So we decided next year we are going to do all the shopping beforehand.  The one thing we couldn't find was mini-loaf pans that we used for banana bread last year, but I lived in a different part of town then and shopped at a different grocery store.  The next day I happened to be near there so I stopped at Basha's and bought 20 mini pans for next year.  Anyway, we had a enough other pans for banana bread so it turned out fine.  The bread and the cookies were delicious and were a hit at work and at my house on Christmas.

Alison made some pretty cookies ..... 

Me ... not so much  .... but they were still yummy!

Our frosting workstation.

On to Christmas Eve ....  Rudy and I both had to work that day, but thankfully I was all done with my shopping, baking and almost all of my wrapping.  We started the night with his family at his cousin Kylie's house.  There was lots of good food and even an appearance made by Santa himself (Uncle Ray).  He gave out gifts to all of the kids ...... 

Our nephew RJ was thrilled about his new helicopter thingy-bob.

And Nathan got a itunes card.

 I think he likes Kung Fu Panda?? 

My mother-in-law gave me these beautiful new earrings.

With the in-laws .... 

New baby Eljiah (his cousin's baby), with Santa.  Just a couple weeks old and soooo tiny.

After we left that party we went to Alison's mom's house to meet my family.  This is one of the traditions that has changed quite a bit in recent years.  It used to just be a few of us families that don't have our relatives in town and ever since I can remember we spend holidays together.  Now it is a completely different crown of people, most of whom I do not know and so it usually ends up being all of them in the main part of the party and then my family in the back room with the Hurleys, our good friends and maybe a few other people in and out.  It's still fun, but just very different from what it used to be.  We stayed later than we had planned, but it's only like 2 minutes away from our house.  We came home and finished wrapping each other's gifts so that we could open them when we woke up.  When we were done, I asked Rudy if he had put my stocking by the tree (thinking that was the most logical place, because we don't have a fireplace or anywhere else to hang them).  And he responds with, "no, I put it on top of the cable box," (in a very matter of fact tone like he was thinking 'DUH!').  I hit the floor, laughing soooooo hard.  OF COURSE!!  We'll put the stockings on top of the cable box, what was I thinking?  He cracks me up.  I think it was one of those, you-had-to-be-there moments, but I took a picture anyway.

I love that he didn't even bother to clean it up or make it look nice.  Just threw it up there. :)

With m parents, Christmas Eve.

Our first married Christmas Eve!

I hardly took any pictures on Christmas.  It was actually a very sad Christmas for my family this year.  Our very close friend, Dale has been very sick with cancer in his esophagus.  He was only diagnosed in October, but by the time they figured out what was going on, the cancer was very advanced and the tumor was too big to be surgically removed.  Despite the chemotherapy, the tumor grew and spread to other organs.  There was nothing they could do for him at this point, except try to manage his pain.  Rudy and I went to see him on Thanksgiving and I couldn't even believe how different he looked.  He was healthy at our wedding just 8 months ago and now he was super skinny, eyes sunken in and very pale.  It was so sad to see him like that.  He has been a part of my life ever since I could remember and we were always buddies.  Everyone said we were both from Jupiter.  The day before Christmas eve, they decided that it was time to stop feeding him.  He had been in pain for a very long time and was very weak.  So the day of Christmas eve, my mom, sister, Rudy and I went to see him one last time and to say goodbye.  It was sooooo sad.  How do you say goodbye to somebody for the last time?  It is so hard to watch someone die like that.  It reminded me of my grandpa. :(  It gets to the point where you don't want to let them go, but you also can't stand to see them in such pain.  He was barely able to speak, but we knew that he knew who we were and that we were there.  After we left, he never really communicated anymore and only opened his eyes a couple of times.  It was weird to not have him at our house on Christmas, he has always been there.  His wife, Janet, left the hospice for a little while to come have Christmas dinner with us.  I feel so horrible for her.  I can't even imagine what she has been going through.  Late that night, around 2:30am, right after I fell asleep, my sister called to tell me that my parents had just left to go to the hospice because Dale was starting to have trouble breathing.  I pretty much broke down at that point, because even though I knew it was coming,  I was still hoping that it wouldn't happen.  He passed away Friday morning at 5:20am.  I am glad that my parents and some other friends were there with Janet so that she didn't have to be alone.   I still can't believe he is gone and it will always be weird to see Janet without him there too.  I have a lot of great memories with him though.  

Friday was a very somber day and the weather matched it.  It was rainy all day.  I made myself go out and do a little after-Christmas shopping to get some new decorations.  I got some cute stuff and then I hung out at my parent's house for awhile because my uncle Art was in town.  That's when I all of a sudden started getting a sore throat.  I came home and got in bed, drank hot tea, etc. but I couldn't stop it.  By Saturday I was fully sick.  I went to work on Sunday, even though I was still sick.  It turned out a bunch of people at work were sick (at least I know where I got it) and three of us left early that day.   I came home and slept all day.  I thought I was getting better on Monday so I went to work and stuck it out through a REALLY long day.  By the time I got home I felt awful again.  Tuesday I went to Sam's Club with my mom and then the grocery store and was EXHAUSTED when I got home.  I couldn't even put the groceries away ... I had to lay down for about 30 minutes first.  I had to work for a few hours yesterday and it wore me out.  I just can't seem to shake this cold, or whatever it is. 

We were pretty lame for New Year's Eve last night.  Between me still being sick and having to work this morning, and Rudy having been up since 5:30 yesterday morning, we decided to stay in and go to bed early.  We celebrated with the New Yorkers at 10 pm our time and then hit the hay.  Work came early this morning, but I got double-pay today so it wasn't too bad.

I think that's about it ... sorry for the LONG post.  Here are the rest of the pics from Christmas. I wish I had taken more, but oh well.

Rudy opening presents at our house first thing.  We made cinnamon rolls for breakfast and I had to throw together an oreo pie to take to my parents later.

At Rudy's parents on Christmas.  Elijah riding his new scooter and listening to his new ipod.

What a cool 6-yr old!!

My sister's dog Charlie in his santa suit.

Ariel in her bed while we opened presents.

The only picture I got of us on Christmas. Opening presents with my parents.

Lindsay & Charlie opening presents.

That's all for now!  Happy New Year everyone!  I can't believe it's 2009!