I'm feeling more jovial

So the last couple of months weren't the best. I suppose it was a combination of things. But, on a happy note, ever since December hit, I've been feeling more into the holiday spirit.

Here is a recap of some of the high moments that happened in the last couple of weeks:

Made lots of snowflakes and snowmen, along with other miscellaneous Christmas decor to hang in the windows.

And when the sun hits in the morning and in the afternoon, it casts beautiful snowflake shadows into the house. Brings a smile to my face.

We had a leftover pumpkin from Halloween so I told Vessie he could paint it for Christmas. I told him to make it wintry and festive. This is what he produced.

Meet Montgomery. Montgomery is a 2005 Chrysler 300 ltd. He took the place of "Bling Bling" (a.k.a. the white Cavalier.) Bling served us well for many years, but it had come time to say good-bye. Mike found this beaut and the day before Thanksgiving we traded in Bling for Monty. Mike did TONS of research on cars and car buying, so our experience this time was much, much better than the last. It has been hard for me to feel "okay" with this car. I don't feel like it defines me as a person. It is like a rich old man's car. Nothing like sporty Burple. Although, it has a hemi V8 engine, which Mike is pretty stoked about. (Must be a guy thing!) Actually, since driving it around for a week, I'm starting to get attached to it. "Cheerio. I'm off to go sail my yacht."

We were pretty sad that we weren't able to spend Thanksgiving with family this year. We thought about making a trip to Missoula to a fun resort so we wouldn't have to think about the fact that it was Thanksgiving and we were lonely. But that plan fell through since Mike had to work the day before and the day after Thanksgiving. So we spent Thanksgiving day just hanging around the house. We ate tuna fish sandwiches for lunch. A pretty non-traditional Thanksgiving feast if you ask me. And for dinner we had Indian food (Mike's favorite.) Tandoori chicken, chicken tikka masala, and naan. The chickens thought they would get off easy this Thanksgiving, but they were wrong.

My dear friend Rachel gave us this delicious cheesecake with a brownie crust, which we ate for dessert.

After dinner we put up our Christmas tree and decorations whilst listening to holiday tunes. Vessel was pleased as punch about this. He is actually really excited about Christmas this year. When I tried to explain that Christmas is Jesus' birthday, he said "I will share his birthday cake with him!" So cute.
But anyhoo, the tree and decorations have lifted my mood quite significantly.

Lights onLights off

The Christmas table full of things given to us over the years.
Meet The Admiral. Our old washer gave up the ghost after only a year. We bought it used, but it should've lasted longer, don'tcha think? Of course, we had to replace it right around the holidays, because that's just how the cosmos like to rear their ugly heads and screw with your life...or something. We got this low-end washer (and by low end, I mean the lowest of the low) and still it felt like we had to pay a huge hunk of cash for this thing. Nothing like buying a really "cheap" expensive appliance, am I right? At least I no longer have to go to the laundromat! Praise the heavens for that. That's why I put this on the "highs" list.

That's about it for now. Here's to a great new month!