Four

HOW IS IT DECEMBER ALREADY?!

I seriously wake up expecting to see sunshine and the calendar flipped to early August. The ink on our marriage certificate? Still wet. It was basically YESTERDAY that we got married.

Basically.

But alas, here I sit in early December, sucking on a candy cane, resolving to eat less junk after the end of the holiday season.

Actually…I don’t know why I say these things.

I’ll just be real: Valentine’s day chocolates will be on the shelves just as I am coming down from my Christmas dinner/dessert/peppermint bark/assorted popcorn coma on the 26th…so I literally just lied to you all.  I’m definitely stuffing my face for another few months.

ANYWAY, like I was saying, it’s December, and I can’t believe it — but before we get into that, how about we cover November first?

Last month was a whirlwind of hiking, family, and turkey (you can’t get rid of the stuff — it’s even a November staple of the whole foods hot bar!), and it was so much fun. We began the month with no real plans other than the usual visits to the cascades or another woodsy, mountainous area in which to hike and search for secret spots. Maybe we would take yet another cold weather camping trip to Whidbey Island, and we would end with our first married Thanksgiving feast. We did the hiking, skipped Whidbey, and did the Thanksgiving feast…just a little differently than anticipated.

After Alex’s mom, Tess, came to town, it didn’t take long for our Thanksgiving plans to change. We were invited to spend the holiday with Tess’ future in-laws, and were lured by the promise of family fun, delicious dinner, and the absolute blessing of not having to cook it. Like I was really going to pass that up. We spent the evening eating turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, and pie –enjoying a house full of love and time with family. It was a truly fantastic Thanksgiving. We were in the elevator ascending our high rise later that evening when we decided that a holiday as fantastic as Thanksgiving, dedicated to being grateful, eating an abundance of delicious food, and not risking hypothermia for a Furby deserves to be celebrated TWICE. The next day, we did just that, and called it our “Thanks 2” celebration. We made a turkey that had the most gloriously crispy skin, creamy mashed potatoes, dozens of rolls, assorted veggies, and of course, PIE (it was out of this world, by the way). Our thanks 2 celebration just might have been even better than the first. 😉

The last day of November we started to finalize our plans for this month. The first week was ruled by uncharacteristic and truly frigid weather (It was 19 degrees, so this isn’t the Georgia speaking) and engagements to host on the weekend, meaning that we did a whole lot of complaining and not much else. 😉 Now, the temperature has warmed a bit, but with all traces of the sun long gone before 5 PM, we have to wait until the weekends to go on any real adventures and do anything of importance other than eat our way through downtown. This weekend is bound to be one of the most fun weekends this month, as we’re headed out to New Jersey/New York to see my family. We’re more than excited to eat the country’s best pizza  (HANDS DOWN), REAL bagels (I’m a huge bagel snob, and I’m not even sorry), and of course, my mama’s amazing home cooking again.

As for the rest of the month, we plan to spend Christmas here at our place in Seattle cooking up a big meal, or maybe spend it at a romantic location in the Cascades. Afterward, we know we’d like to go camping again — maybe we’ll head up to Camano Island — and go on some more hikes. We’d also like to spend a weekend at a lodge and go snowshoeing, but we’ll see what we can accomplish!

Our fourth month of marriage was just as much fun as it always is, bringing more happiness and more adventure with every passing day. Did you really think I would say anything different? We hope you had a great Thanksgiving and that the rest of your holiday season is filled with joy. See you in 2014!