We Wish You a Merry Christmas and A Happy New Year

Christmas has finally come and gone, and while it's normally my favorite part of the year I would be lying if I didn't say, I wasn't in the best Christmas spirit this year. Work is killing me! I am there all day every day, doing all the work no one else wants to do with zero recognition or credit. I can't seem to catch up with everything they want done! My boss is awful! She doesn't seem to get how much Mariah and I have on our plates already, so she keeps on dishing it out. If I tell her I can't do something she responds with things like "It will only take a few minutes" or "That's your job" while she sits on her butt watching Mary Poppins on her computer! Then there is the stress of trying to find time to get the right gifts for everyone, and decide how to split the holidays with our families this year. Basically I'm done, with all of 2013!

While I am under a lot of stress, we did have a lovely Christmas. My side of the family has a tradition of doing Christmas dinner on Christmas Eve, so we didn't have to split that holiday with my husband's family as much. After dinner, we watched a Christmas movie, opened our Christmas Eve presents of new PJ's and a movie and then hung out until it was time to go home. Bright and early in the morning we went back to my parents to open the rest of our gifts. We were spoiled! Then it was back to our house to open gifts from that side of the family and have Christmas dinner with them. It was especially fun to watch everyone open the gifts we bought them. The best reaction was Lisa's when she saw her new coat, hat, scarf and gloves. She was all smiles as she modeled her new outfit for everyone. I don't think I've ever seen her act like that before, but it was awesome to see and we could tell she was really happy with the present!

Rachel's presents got a little abused by the cats sitting on them

Mom so excited about her chippandales calendar

Dad's gift from us

The Graham way of unwrapping gifts wears
off apparently

Dad's new cooling pillow

Mom's turn

The new egg dish she wanted

Rachel isn't so sure about her present

Now she is happy

Bob crocheted the hat and scarf just for her

Kelsey is so excited...

Now she is happy!

Finally Savannah's turn

Harry Potter and new sunglasses!

One last picture of Bob's craftmenship

Unfortunately now that's all over and it's back to work from Hell! I know things will get better after the new year because the warehouse move will be slowing down and Teresa will be back from maternity leave to help out. Here's hoping the rest of it will sort itself out as well!

In other news, since it's almost the new year I would like to show off how well I did on my 2013 resolutions and this year I will share my 2014 resolutions with you from the get go!

In 2013, I resolved to:

1. Learn Spanish or ASL (sign language)
2. Pay off our honeymoon
3. Pay off my car
4. Get a 2nd car for Bob
5. Get to 125 lbs (the healthiest weight for my body, and the weight I felt best about myself at)
6. Either run a half marathon (13.1 miles) or a sprint triathlon (swim 500 Meters, bike 10 miles, run 3.1 miles)
7. Write a post on my blog for every week.

#1. While I don't feel at all comfortable understanding or speaking in Spanish or ASL, I have started listening to a lot of Spanish radio and every day I get a Spanish word of the day sent to my email so it's coming along slowly but surely.
#2. Paid off in June
#3. Paid off beginning of July
#4. Done at the beginning of July
#5. Close, but not quite. I've gotten to 127 this year and I'm currently around 130 but it's not bad.
#6. Half Marathon completed at the end of October
#7. This post will actually make #55 (that's 3 more than needed!)

As you can see, while I didn't finish everything on my list I did pretty well! This year to keep myself accountable to my goals still I'm posting my resolutions at the beginning of the year! Here are my goals for 2014:

#1. Continue on my path to learn Spanish, ASL or both
#2. Get to 125 lbs and stay there (at least until I'm ready for baby)
#3. Get a road bike so I can train on it. Someday I would still like to do a sprint triathlon
#4. Have a blog post every week (total of 52 at the end of the year)
#5. Go Hang gliding or Paragliding
#6. Climb a Mountain
#7. Climb a Waterfall
#8. Pay off all of our debt (except Bob's new car)
#9. Save up at least $2000 by my birthday (to be used only as a down-payment on a house)
#10. Keep saving at that rate until we have our house
#11. Buy a house!!!

Here's hoping this year is better than the last!