My Favorite Things

Now that I'm an adult, the gifts I ask for and get excited about are drastically different from when I was a kid. This year five of my favorite gifts are items I will use daily. I think these are some of the best kinds of gifts because they add a little extra excitement and quality to everyday life.

From left to right:

• gold initial necklace: tiny and inconspicuous—perfect for daily wear
• 55-250mm telephoto lens: I didn't even know I needed this lens until I got it. I am loving it.
• Crabtree&Evelyn honey and coriander body lotion: I fell in love with this lotion while Johnny and I were on vacation this past summer, and now I can't live without it.
• Moleskine daily planner: I am so excited about this gift. It's kind of absurd. I'm such a visual person, and I love to make to-do lists. This planner is my way of being able to grasp the year ahead of me and make the most of 2012.
• coral iPhone case: My phone is now complete. I love this case. It fits me (and my phone) perfectly.

Not to say I don't get excited about less practical gifts as well. My sister might have given me a Harry Potter wand and broomstick, and I might have been casting spells on Johnny and Persie on Christmas Day. That being said, what were some of your favorite gifts this year?

Christmas 2011

Johnny and I had a wonderful Christmas! We hope all our friends and family did as well. We wish it had lasted a little bit longer. Johnny could not take time off work for Christmas because of the campaign, which we knew when he took the job. Hopefully, we'll be able to take some vacation time in the next few months!

Here's what we did during our break:

played board games

chatted with family

opened presents

 ate Christmas goodies

had sweet rolls on Christmas morning

and just enjoyed each other's company.

We also had a Christmas Eve roast with friends, but I forgot to document it.

Mostly, we just relaxed, something Johnny doesn't get to do much these days. I got Johnny to watch a couple Christmasy chick-flicks with me. He would mostly be on his computer and look up every now and then to comment that he couldn't believe what he was watching. I would offer to turn it off, but then he'd say, "Well, we've been watching it long enough now that I might as well see how it ends up." Haha, poor husbands.

It was a Christmas at home for us, but we had a great time together. I love spending time with my Johnny boy.

5 Days and Counting

Last night I got to the post office 10 minutes before closing time and sent off the last gift on our list! I felt such a huge relief knowing I was all done with Christmas shipping and shopping. This time last week was a different story. Yesterday we also received our final grocery order before Christmas! I have all kinds of plans for yummy food leading up to Christmas day.

This week I plan on making sugar cookies, pretzel turtles, and the cookies with the little Hershey Hugs on top.

For Christmas Eve, a couple from Johnny's work is coming over, and I'm going to cook a roast. Then we're planning on playing some board games.

Our house is all decked out for the holidays now, too! I love this time of year, and it's nice to think that we'll just be able to relax over the holidays for once. A few weeks ago when I flew home to my parents' house in Alabama, I threw up on both planes, so flying isn't exactly my favorite means of travel. That being said, we're still going to miss our families TONS. Since we're spending Christmas at home, I've been trying to make things as festive as possible.

Here's what it's looking like around our house these days:

A North End Christmas

I've posted about some of the different Boston neighborhoods, but I've yet to post about our neighborhood, the North End! The North End is an old Italian neighborhood—which means delicious pizza, pasta, and gelato. The first time we came to Boston, I was in love with the North End within seconds. It has a very small town feel. It is just so quaint! During Halloween, all the store fronts were open to trick or treaters. Now that it's Christmastime, almost every single store and restaurant is decked out in holiday decorations. I can't wait to see what our neighborhood looks like with a blanket of snow covering it.

We would prefer to be with our family for Christmas, but since we can't be, I'm so happy we live in a neighborhood that gets all decked out for the holidays!

Thanksgiving 2011

Thanksgiving was quite an exciting affair in the Galbraith household. Johnny and I had never celebrated Thanksgiving on our own, and I don't think we knew what we were getting ourselves into. I had the following items on the menu:

• turkey
• corn pudding
• rolls
• stuffing
• sweet potatoes
• side salad
• sparkling cider
• pie

On Thanksgiving day Johnny pointed out that we didn't have mashed potatoes and gravy on the menu, which I never had growing up, but apparently that is a staple for most families on Thanksgiving. Who knew?

In my head everything was going to work out just magically, but cooking that much stuff is kind of intense! I prepped the turkey at around noon and stuck it in the oven. The prepping process almost turned me vegetarian. For some reason I was freaking out about handling a dead bird, and Johnny was right over my shoulder telling me to calm down. Pulling the neck out was especially traumatizing. Handling the turkey was my least favorite part. We both concluded that if we had to kill our own food, we would live off nuts and berries.

When the turkey had about an hour left, I started making everything else. The dough for the rolls was rising in the bread machine, Johnny mixed up the stuffing and chopped up the sweet potatoes, and I made the corn pudding. The temperature inside our tiny apartment with everything cooking had to have been close to 80. It was SO hot. We were sweating and running around like crazy.

Johnny was in charge of carving the turkey, of course. I was done with that thing. We cooked it in a large disposable aluminum roasting pan, and as soon as Johnny began carving, the knife went through the bottom of the aluminum. Suddenly turkey juice was spilling all over the counter and floor. It was absolute chaos in our apartment for a few moments there.

By the time dinner rolled around, we were so exhausted and we had so much food. At one point, Johnny said, "Jo, this is enough food to feed my entire family." Our dinner was super yummy, and then we both crashed afterward for about an hour. When we woke up, we enjoyed pie and ice cream.

It was a wonderful day, and it gave me so much appreciation for all the moms who cook dinner for their families each year. I was so thankful that Johnny helped me the whole time. I couldn't have done it without him! Next year if we're alone again, we may simplify things a bit :)

Catching Up

Ever since moving in October, I feel like I've never quite caught up on life. I feel like there's so much to do and not enough time to do it! When life gets crazy, the first thing I neglect is our blog. When we have kids, it'll probably be obsolete. And Google Reader shouldn't be a source of stress, but it really stresses me out knowing I have hundreds of unread items right now! But, deep breath... all is well.

Right after Thanksgiving, I was able to go visit my family in Alabama. My parents were in the process of moving about an hour away to a home they've renovated on 26-acres, so I got to help with the moving process. I also got to see my sister Jill one last time before she left on her mission. It was a quick trip, but it was such a fun trip!

We were working most the time, so I barely got my camera out, but here are a few pictures I took one morning I was there:

Mom running to greet Jill and me :)

Jill and Mom

Jilly and Mommy

It might not snow in Alabama, but the frost sure is beautiful in the mornings.

Next I will be documenting Johnny and me celebrating our first Thanksgiving in Boston!

Hermana Jill Fleming

Today my 21-year-old sister, Jill, went into the missionary training center (MTC) in Provo, Utah.

She'll be there for three weeks, and then she heads to Lima, Peru, where she will spend all her time sharing the gospel for the next year and a half.

I recently went down to Alabama for a few days to see Jill and the rest of my family. Jill and I got our hair done while I was down there, and we had an opportunity to talk about Jill's mission with our hairdresser and some of the other ladies in the salon. They couldn't believe Jill was going to be in Peru for a year and a half! They had all kinds of questions for Jill, from how she would pay for her mission to where she would live and whether she would know anyone in Lima.

Growing up in Alabama, I always shied away from talking about the church I went to because I knew that many kids at my school had heard negative information about Mormons from their pastors. Now that I've gotten older and lived outside the southeastern United States for several years, I've come to realize that people's religious intolerance shouldn't make me uncomfortable to talk about my religion. So it was with enthusiasm that Jill and I discussed her mission with the ladies in the hair salon in my parents' small town in Alabama. The women seemed so excited for her. It made me so proud of my sister. There aren't many people who would be willing to drop everything for a year and a half to serve their church!

I'm really going to miss Jill!!! But I am really proud of her and so excited for all she is going to experience in the next 18 months!

If you want updates on Jill, I'll be keeping up her blog here.