trees, mugs, and scandalous ornaments

Well, it's STILL finals time for me so I guess that gives me a good excuse for being MIA...
BUT, I still have two projects and five finals left, so whatev.
oh ya, and three people have been thrown out of the dental hygiene program so far due to not getting a 77% or higher on an exam...stressful? YES

Our camera broke recently, so I don't have very many good pictures of all the "crazy fun" things that have been going down.

FIRST OF ALL:
I just LOVE the Christmas season! I love the cold weather and the lights and the gallons upon gallons of hot chocolate that I consume on a weekly basis.

So I was a little bit sad because this year we weren't going to be able to afford a Christmas tree (real or fake). So grandma gave us a cute tiny one that we could put in our room. It wasn't what I wanted, but it was still a tree right? So I was happy

WELL, I came home from school late one night and I saw a glowing coming from our room. I thought "oh how nice. Nick put lights on our little tree for me."
but when I opened the door I saw this baby:


My very own tree! Nick picked it up for 15 bones at good will. Fake, pre-lit and everything. It's the most beautiful tree I've ever seen! Why? Cause it's mine, and my husband knew I wanted one and he was so sweet in surprising me with it! I love Nick :)


SO, it's a tradition in our family that every year we get a new Christmas ornament. The idea behind it is, when you get married you have a bunch of ornaments already to take with you! So my mom handed me my boxful of ornaments that I have accumulated throughout life and I CAN'T WAIT to start decorating my tree with them! I thought she wasn't going to, but my mom also got us our first ornament together!


(sorry the picture is crappy)
HAHA
I think the one that's supposed to be me is a little scandalous. Definitely not temple appropriate, but I LOVE the cute painted toe nails! My mom was so thoughtful to think about us!


Nick has been really busy putting together our Christmas presents for our parents and grandparents. You all know Nick is very skilled with ceramics because you saw what he made me HERE. So he has been making some of these:


This is the one Nick made me last year for Christmas. My uncle Ron has been kind enough to let Nick use his wheel and kiln so he can make these cute Christmas mugs. Nick is so good! it's so fun to watch him create beautiful things out of nothing.

ALSO, I have a CHRISTMAS SURPRISE! I will post about it soon, but I don't want to give too much away just yet! Nick made me promise I wouldn't tell ANYONE, but once it's done, I will tell you all :) I can't wait! It's been burning inside me to spill the beans!


Anyway, life is good. life is hard. life is worth it
loves,
K