I love our neighborhood. I love our house, I love our street, I love our big trees and downtown proximity. But there are some weird things going down in this place.

The couple across the street from us has lived in that house for 45 years. They are super nice and have a grandson who stays with them who is always, always, ALWAYS wearing a cowboy hat, boots, and a cape. He’s awesome. But here’s the weird part - she mows the lawn every day. EVERY DAY. I’ve been paying attention, and I think I’ve got it figured out. As best as I can tell, she’s got the yard divided into seven chunks. (I was going to say seven quadrants, but I’m pretty sure that’s impossible. I don’t know my geometry, or even if that would be qualified as geometry, but I do know my prefixes!) Each day she mows a different chunk, and by the end of the week she’s mowed the whole thing. Then she just starts over.

There’s a guy who lives kind of caddy-cornered to us who is a gardener. Usually, it’s really nice when your neighbor is a gardener. They always have pretty, well-kept grass and flowers. BUT. It’s a little different when they are growing corn. In the front yard. It’s pretty awesome, really… there was grass, then there was black tarp everywhere, and now there are cornstalks that are taller than I am.

But my personal favorite is the lady a few houses down. She runs a daycare out of her house, and she keeps a few kids from all over the neighborhood. At the end of the day, when it’s time for the kids to go home, their parents don’t pick them up. Instead, the daycare lady takes them home. On her riding lawnmower. So several times a day I see her driving down the street, racing past my house at two miles an hour, with a couple of kids and a dog in her lap. Sometimes she’s alone and talking on the phone. Because we all need a little downtime.

I wonder if those people think we’re the weird ones? They sit and blog about their new neighbors who pay a guy to mow their lawn, just grow bushes and flowers, and use their cars to get around town. Or maybe it’s about how they have a bunch of teenagers over all the time, sleep late and wear their pajamas outside every morning to let the dog out. Crazy people.

I think I have to come out of hibernation. Sad. How is it possible that today is New Year’s Eve? I usually eat up this time of year - I love lists and recaps and best ofs. But I have missed all that stuff this year. The entire month of December just blew by me.

We went to Texas for a week and it was glorious, despite my having a sore throat and cough that took my voice for the better part of four days. The combination of our not having many non-holiday days in town and my sickness kept us from seeing a lot of non-family people, and I was grateful for it. It feels like we spend a ton of time in Dallas running all over town to spend a few minutes with a ton of people, but all it really accomplishes is making us tired. So this year was a nice break from that.

Santa was good to me. I got, among other things, a sweet pair of cowboy boots, a gorgeous black wool coat, a Willow Tree nativity scene and a homemade (by my dad) set of portable washer pits. Aaron got Guitar Hero 3 and a bunch of Curb Your Enthusiasm DVD sets, so we’re set for entertainment for a while.

There were frustrations, as there always are, and we learned a little bit more about our families and how to deal with them and which people we like better than others. But overall it was a good week. We played games, watched movies, made desserts, slept late. We gave what I thought were very clever and thoughtful gifts, and we even got some in return that were the same.

We also got a ceramic donkey-horse, but that’s another story for another day.

You know how when you’re looking for a job, and you get an interview, you start telling people about it? And then after the interview, if you don’t get the job, you have to tell those same people that it didn’t work out? And after doing that a couple of times you decide not to tell anyone you have an interview until after you’ve already got the job, so you can give them good news instead of having to relive your disappointment over and over again?

I’m kind of afraid of that same thing happening to me right now. Not with a job, but with our house. But I’m doing it anyway.

I think we sold our house. Yay!

We got an offer on Saturday, which was also moving day. Moving day was long and hard. You know what makes a long hard moving day better? Getting an offer on your house.

It was a little lower than we were prepared to accept, so we countered. Then he countered. And yesterday, we accepted his counter. So barring any unforseen issues, we could close on our house on July 13. Which is two and a half weeks. Holy moly.

Lots of exciting things going on around this place! We are officially living in our new house. Well, kind of living. We sleep and bathe there, but that’s about it. We just got our refrigerator yesterday… we have been living on nothing but water bottles, granola bars and fruit snacks for the past few days. Our TV was also hooked up yesterday, but we haven’t had two seconds to sit and watch anything yet. Aaron has been fighting with the bathroom sink for two weeks, but he finally won yesterday so we can stop brushing our teeth in the kitchen sink. We can’t wash clothes because the new house has the wrong kind of outlet for our dryer plug.

But still! We live there! Our stuff is there! Miles is there with his incredible echoing bark! Yay!

We leave for youth camp on Monday. I am nervous. I’ve never been the point person on a big trip like this one before. We’re taking 25 kids and 5 leaders to Centrifuge in Ridgecrest, NC. I can’t wait to get there… it’s the getting us all there in one piece part that concerns me. This the first time a lot of these kids have been to a youth camp before, so I am really excited for them to experience it and to get to be there with them. Our group needs to do some bonding and I think this week is going to be huge for that. Your prayers are appreciated.

Aaron is out of town this week for the third time this month. He will get back Saturday night, giving him Sunday to rest and wash clothes before we head out again. That is assuming of course that I can get someone out to fix our dryer issue before Saturday.

Any of you guys have mad electrical skills and want to come help me out? That would be awesome.

Why I Am Excited About Our New House

1. It is like two minutes from the highway. As opposed to fifteen. Which may seem like a short distance to some of you, but believe me, it is not. I feel like it takes forever to get everywhere from our house.

2. It has a real yard. With tall trees.

3. It is one-story. No more trying to figure out how to keep the upstairs cool without turning the downtairs into the Antartic. No more getting downstairs only to realize you’ve left Miles’ collar in the bedroom.

4. All the doors have cool cutouts in them.

5. We don’t have to share walls with anyone.

6. The kitchen. With a new counter and bright green walls (and less dirty dishes and jugs of bleach), it will be the kitchen I have always wanted.

7. The neighborhood. It’s fantastic. Full of 50’s ranch houses set back on big lots with great trees. And our location within the neighborhood couldn’t be better - we’re right in the middle, near the elementary school. It’s perfect.

8. The floors. Original and awesome.

9. That with the addition of another bedroom and bathroom and a den, it is going to be our dream house in our dream location. I am so excited to live in it as is, and I can’t wait to make some changes at the same time.

10. The swing.

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

So. Lot’s of stuff going on this week.

1. I quit my job. Scary. I wrote last month about the church talking to me about doing youth stuff full time in the fall. Well, apparently some things shifted around on that front and they’re ready for me to come on board now. So starting April 1, I am in charge of the youth program at GracePointe. Whoa. I am really, really excited, and also slightly terrified. The church has never had a full-time youth person before, and I can’t wait to get started. There are so many things I want to do that I haven’t been able to as a volunteer. There are a lot of really exciting things going on at the church, and I am so glad I get to be a part of it.

2. We bought a house! We’ve been looking and looking and looking, and on Sunday we found something. We were driving around the neighborhood going to open houses, and we went to one that was amazing… and way out of our price range. It was a typical house for the neighborhood, but a master suite and den had been added onto the back. The house next door was also for sale, and appeared to be the same size as the first house was before the addition. So we went to see it, and y’all, I fell in love with it. It’s adorable. Huge yard, big trees, updated fixtures and appliances, 50-year-old refinished hardwoods. So we made an offer, and they accepted it! We close at the end of the May.

Big changes around here! I am exhausted. This has been one crazy week.

I am not good at surprises. I love them, but something always goes wrong.

Not this time, though. This time was perfect.

Last Wednesday was my parents’ 35th anniversary. Their 30th fell the same year I was graduating from college and planning a wedding, as well as when my sister was graduating from high school, so it sadly fell by the wayside. I didn’t want that to happen again.

So this year, after considering several options, Chelsea and I decided that I would fly into town unannounced and the four of us would spend the weekend together. This was perfect, because we are rarely able to make it to Texas during the year and when we do, we have a million places to go and people to see. This time would be all about them.

I flew into town on Thursday night, and my friend Allison picked me up from the airport and took me home. Chelsea met me in the driveway and took me inside, telling our parents to close their eyes because she had a surprise for them.

You know how on reality shows, when people are excited because they might have lots of dollars in their case or they get picked for a one-on-one date or they get tyramail? Picture that kind of excitement on a short woman in her pajamas. It was so fun.

We spent the weekend shopping, including what felt like an entire day at IKEA. We ate excellent food like chicken ceasar salad and lobster pizza and fried flounder and barbecue ribs and tiramisu. We played games and told stories and redecorated a bedroom. And it was fabulous.

(A quick lesson, from me to you: if you are 26 and married with no kids in a family where almost everyone else has been birthing some babies since the age of 18, it might not be the best idea to attend a baby shower with said family for your cousin’s girlfriend. One can only take so many comments about how they’d like to be throwing one for you or how you don’t know how to use a bottle brush before heads begin to roll.)

So happy happy happy anniversary, parents. Thanks for staying together and being awesome. Even if you have selective memory about certain impromptu performances of Vanilla Ice songs back in the day.

So we made an offer on a house yesterday.

It was perfect. Right in the middle of the neighborhood we want, even down to the little box of streets I’ve deemed most desirable. In our price range. Hardwoods (under PINK CARPET). Cool built-in shelves. Plenty of storage. An incredible back yard with a huge deck and well-kept landscaping. With work on the floors and walls it would have been sweet. We found it online on Friday, looked at it Saturday and Monday, and made an offer yesterday.

But we didn’t get it.

I’ve never gone through that process before. We bought our townhouse new and got to choose all the details on the inside. Plus, we were renting before that, so we didn’t have to deal with selling our house while trying to buy another one. It was easy like Sunday morning. But this was stressful - how much do you offer? What about the inspection? What do you ask for your house? When can you show it? WHAT DO WE DO WITH MILES!?!?!?

It’ll make you crazy, and we only did it for three days.

We were so close we could taste it, and now we’ve got the bug to move. Which is why you could find us at 11:30 last night, driving across town to look at a house we found online. We think we might like it. We’re going to see it this weekend.

Wish us luck. I am freaking out.

Several years ago, my mom bought a little four-building set of houses to put on top of the entertainment center at Christmas time. She rolled out some cotton, bought some little people, lit the houses and called it good.

And it was, for a while.

Then she started finding bigger, fancier houses at Kohl’s. More detailed pieces. Shops and cabins and boat docks and churches and playgrounds and ferris wheels.

And the village grew.

My dad, being something of a train enthusiast, decided to add a train to the mix, causing a move from the living room to the game room. He started building tunnels and bridges and mountains.

And the village grew.

Today, it takes up 3/4 of a room that used to be a garage and is a continual work in progress. The cotton has been replaced by mountains and roads carved out of styrofoam. The store-bought trees, acceptable for a while, have given way to homeade trees of dowel rods and sponges. There’s a lake. And an ice-skating rink. And a downhill ski slope. And a carnival.

And it is awesome.

The ski slope:

The neighborhood:

The ice skating rink:

Hotel and shops:

The carnival:

Food stalls at the carnival (I love the colored trees):

Carnival parking lot:

I should be better at this by now.

This was the fifth year in a row we’ve gone to Texas for Christmas. We are very lucky to have jobs that allow us to travel for a couple of weeks over the holidays, and we always get a lot of good family time in.

But somehow, it’s never enough.

I can’t leave my parents’ house without crying. I have to take last, long, sentimental looks at the Christmas tree, the fireplace, the butterfly wall. I have to get big fat hugs from everyone.

I know that the ten hour drive settles my emotions, and once we’re back to Nashville I can get back in the groove with little trouble. But the day before we leave I start to feel it in the back of my throat, and by the time we’re packing up I am a mess.

You would think I’d be an old pro at this by now. I know it’s going to be hard, but I also know I’ll see them again soon. I know that life in Nashville is good and we’re happy here. It’s always too long between visits with our family, but we make it.

But the actual walking away and leaving is HARD.

Because Jennie told me to. (And it’s easier than actually thinking of something to write about!)

1. Egg nog or hot chocolate?
Between the two I would choose hot chocolate, but in general I don’t like hot drinks. I always burn my mouth.

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree?
Oh, that Santa. He’s so crazy with his special wrapping paper and his mystery gifts. Every now and then he leaves something unwrapped. He likes to mix it up.

3. Colored lights on tree/house or white?
White white white. But I like the way my dad does stripes of red and white so it looks like a candy cane.

4. Do you hang mistletoe?
No, but my parents used to.

5. When do you put your decorations up?
Today! We leave for Texas in three weeks, so I need to get as much enjoyment out of my decorations as possible. I. LOVE. CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS.

6. What is your favorite holiday dish?
Mawmaw’s chocolate pie.

7. Favorite holiday memory as a child?
My parents worked really hard to make Christmas morning special for us, so a lot of my favorite things happened every year – waking up at 3 am and sneaking to the living room to see if Santa had come yet, eating burnt cinnamon rolls, reading the letters Santa wrote back to us on Christmas morning. I have a pretty distinct memory of Chelsea and I riding new bikes in the street wearing jean jackets and New Kids on the Block t-shirts, but that’s more embarrassing than anything else. Although not as embarrassing as the video of us dancing to “Christmas in Hollis” by Run DMC. Oh how I wish I was joking about that.

8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa?
I told this story last year. Santa paper is very important in our house, and I heard my mom talking about how she still needed to buy that year’s paper. Also, to steal from Jennie: “If my mom and dad are reading this, I STILL BELIEVE.”

9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve?
We started a new tradition last year. We opened all our gifts from each other on Christmas Eve, and did Santa presents Christmas morning. It worked out really well as far as time goes, but I don’t know if we’ll do it again. It’s hard to change how Christmas works!

10. How do you decorate your Christmas tree?
For the past several years, we’ve gone to Crate and Barrel the day after Christmas and stocked up on discount ornaments. We’ve got a pretty big collection now of jewel-toned and silver ornaments, and I love them all. It’s always so fun to pull them out and remember the ones you bought the year before.

11. Snow! Love it or dread it?
I love it as long as I don’t have to go anywhere.

12. Can you ice skate?
I’m… okay. I can get going pretty good, but I am really bad at stopping.

13. Do you remember your favorite gift?
I don’t know that I have a favorite gift. When I was little I had this really sweet She-Ra castle… it was a big purple mountain that opened up and She-Ra and her friends lived inside. I think that same year we got She-Ra swords and headgear AND Jem and the Holograms nightgowns, so as you can imagine the photos from that year are really flattering.

14. What’s the most important thing about the holidays for you?
Being with family. Also, making sure the Christmas Village gets put up in time!

15. What is your favorite holiday dessert?
CHOCOLATE PIE.

16. What is your favorite holiday tradition?
Listening to “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” (Brenda Lee version ONLY) while trying to actually rock around the Christmas tree. It’s hard work.

17. What tops your tree?
A blue star.

18. Which do you prefer, giving or receiving?
Giving. I am so good at Christmas.

19. What is your favorite Christmas song?
Andrew Peterson’s “Labor of Love”.

20. Candy canes! Yuck or yum?
Yum! But I only like the fruity ones… just say no to peppermint.