Things around here have been a little crazy. Why does this happen every holiday season? Anyway, I was beginning to have blogger's guilt from not responding to some recent tags. So instead of returning e-mails or wrapping Christmas presents, I wrote these. That's dedication, folks. Or just a need for something a little mindless and to get rid of that guilt.
__________________________________________________
This is from a tag by
Joanna. You're supposed to take each letter of your middle name and come up with a word that describes you. Wow, even with only four letters in my middle name (Erin), I had a hard time coming up with descriptions. Here goes:
E – Emotional. I’m not emotional as in crazy and all over the place. I’m emotional as in I wear my emotions on my sleeve…and on my collar, my buttons, everywhere. At times, I really wish I could change this about myself. If something gets me going in the tears department, there’s no holding back. I can’t stop them. And unfortunately, I don’t really have the sweet, pretty cry. I typically have the face-turns-red-lips-swell-up ugly cry. Wade says my cry stars with the lips first, so at least he has some warning that it’s coming. You can only imagine what raging hormones during my pregnancy did. Good times!
R – Relaxed. I hope this is accurate and I’m not just oblivious. Although after saying how emotional I am, you may wonder. I’d like to think that I have a relaxed and easygoing nature. I like to be adaptable, not too uptight, and ready for whatever life brings.
I – Introvert. In my last job, we took the Myers-Briggs personality test a zillion times. Ever single time, I scored as an introvert with a strong extrovert tendency. My boss and my team were always surprised. For my job as a manger, I had to be an extrovert. Things just worked better that way. But as the test tells you, your true tendency is in regards to what fuels you. For me, that’s downtime and quiet. A good friend once told me that when she first met me, she thought I was snobby. Of course, I was mortified to hear this. Unfortunately, this comes from the introvert side that gets shy and a little self-conscious when meeting new people. I’m glad she told me that, and I try now to be a little more assertive. But if I’m meeting you in person for the first time, help me out some.
N – Neutral. The word I really wanted was objective, but this is the best synonym that starts with an n. I’m sure it drives many of my family and friends crazy, but I’m one of those people that always likes to see the other side of the story. “Let’s give them the benefit of the doubt, you never know until you’ve walked in their shoes, etc., etc.” It may not be the answer for world peace, but it just seems to me that we’d all be a little better off if more people would take the time to think from someone else’s perspective. Sorry for the soapbox.
__________________________________________________
This tag is from
Wade. You're supposed to write 12 random things about Christmas for you. Again, this proved to be a little more difficult than I thought. You can sense the desperation for ideas toward the end.
- I was one of those kids that searched through the entire house (or my parent’s trunks) to get a sneak peak at my presents. Once I was a little older, I would even try to unwrap the presents under the tree to see what they were and then wrap them back up.
- I was also the kind of kid that woke up at 3:00 a.m. and ran to the living room (after going in to wake up my sister) to see if Santa had come already. One year, my parents had just finished getting everything wrapped and under the tree and hadn’t even made it to bed yet. Woops.
- While growing up, the only presents that were under the tree were ones from other relatives (maybe because my parents figured out #1). So Christmas morning was so much fun waking up to see two or three times as many presents. Too bad my dad would make us wait until about 10:00 a.m. to even start opening. Then we would have to open one at a time, so the entire process wasn’t finished until almost lunchtime.
- One of my all-time favorite presents growing up was when I got my own phone line and my own Garfield phone (hello ‘80s!). I opened the box to discover the phone, which was pretty exciting. But then, I heard a distant ringing in the back of the house. My mom was dialing my new number. I about lost it with excitement.
- Some close runners-up were the Barbie Cottage, the Cabbage Patch Kid, and even the recycled stereo with a tape player, record player, and 8-track player. I thought I was pretty big time.
- Our stocking presents were never wrapped. In Wade’s family they wrapped the stocking presents. We’ve decided to go the Strzinek route, and it is pretty fun.
- As an adult, one of my biggest holiday traditions is the day-after-Christmas sales. I am up bright and early ready for some bargains. I have just about the same route every year: Target, The Container Store, Crate & Barrel, and Pottery Barn (in that order). We have lots of Christmas decorations, and I don’t think I’ve paid full price for any of them.
- I’m excited to start some traditions with Tate. I want to buy him an ornament and Christmas PJs each year, pick out a Christmas book each year, and eventually have a special “Tate” tree in his room.
- I love Christmas music. Despite what my husband says (you know what I mean if you read his blog), I could shop in a Christmas-decorated store and listen to Christmas music from October-December.
- The first Christmas Wade & I spent together as a married couple was memorable. We both had a stomach bug. I have now officially referred to a stomach bug on this blog way too many times.
- I’m running out of randoms here. I’ve only had one White Christmas, and it was when we were visiting family in Oregon.
- I hate egg nog.
Tate's latest fascination is people's teeth. Here he is with Mo Mere counting teeth and realizing he has a lot more to go.
This past month also allowed for a lot of cousin time. He and 
Then the big day was capped off with dinner and birthday cake at Mimi and Grandpa’s house. This cake experience started like the first time around, but with some nudging, he realized that it’s some pretty good stuff.
Before Tate was born, I had read so many parents talk about how much they loved their children. Honestly, I sometimes thought you were just supposed to say that kind of stuff. Wow, I had no idea. I love this little person more than I could ever imagine. And, it’s truly an unconditional love. Even when he throws up on me, doesn’t take a long enough nap, or whines all day from teething, I still love him. It’s a mystery, but one that I’m forever grateful.
