We’re back from a wonderful Christmas trip to the East Coast which was equal parts fun and equal parts relaxing. Now Matt’s back to work, and I’m actually starting to feel a bit more human which is motivating me to get this house in order and finally hang up some curtains. While I was a tad bit sick during our travels, a switch has flipped and now I am ravenous all the time and able to move around for more than five minutes without needing a nap. I’m not quite ready to say that pregnancy is great, but this part isn’t as bad as that last part was.

I’m going to do that thing that all bloggers do at this time of year. And I’m sure you’re sick of reading posts like this, but be grateful that I have officially stopped writing Christmas letters to include in my Christmas cards. You no longer have to suffer through that, so you can suck it up and deal with one teensy little post about my 2009.

• At the beginning of the year I emotionally strong-armed Matt into buying a new car. While it was one of the best purchases we’ve ever made, we have both agreed that I am never allowed to emotionally strong-arm again. Female manipulation is the world’s worst character trait, so let it be said that the 2008 Nissan Versa was my last experience with it. Although, Honey, the baby really wants a Subaru Outback.
• I had to say goodbye to my last living Grandpa. I really do miss him very much. And now I’m watching as his wife fights cancer. It doesn’t make sense at all.
• We packed up our apartment in Taxachusetts and drove to the nation’s reddest state where Matt had gotten himself a nice new little job to pay the bills. I had never been to Tennessee before but decided before stepping foot across the state line that I would love it. And I do.
• I got pregnant and eight weeks later lost the very first thing I had ever loved as much as Matt. This experience changed me more than anything else I’ve experienced in my life. It might sound cliche, but there really isn’t a day that goes by where I don’t think about that baby and miss it.
• We met some awesome friends in our new hometown of Nashville that helped to overcome some of the sadness of leaving really great friends in our old hometown.
• We vacationed with family in familiar and beautiful places.
• We bought our first house.
• We demolished the kitchen in our first house.
• We rebuilt the kitchen ourselves.
• We bought a lawnmower and I learned how to mow a lawn.
• I got pregnant again. My first trimester sucked so much that I truly hope my terrible memory kicks in and blots it out of my mind forever. But, I got to see its little self on an ultrasound and hear its little heartbeat – easily some of the most incredible moments of my life.
• I used a barf bag on an airplane.
• I joined a gym.

There were so many highs and lows in 2009 that I’d be lying if I didn’t say that I hope 2010 is a little less eventful. Although we’ll be bringing a baby into the world which is the opposite of uneventful. Plus the final season of LOST is coming up, and they have a lot of action to cram in. So never mind. I guess 2010 will be pretty eventful as well. We’d probably get bored without all the action. And Mom always said we weren’t allowed to use the word “bored.”

Happy New Year, y’all, from Matt, Priscilla, Little Friend, Mojo and Berlin… bless her heart.

It’s been a loooong time since I squeezed into a pair of pantyhose and cleaned myself up for a night on the town. I mean a LOOOOONG time. I can’t even quite remember our last date night. As of late our Friday and Saturday nights resemble running to Home Depot to pick up that one little gadget we need to repair that one thing we’ve been dying to check off the to-do list, and installing whatever that little gadget might be. Or, in the case of last Friday night, a trip to the gym where we walked on the treadmill while watching a free movie.

But tonight starts a long string of date nights for the next two weeks. We’re headed out to hear the Grammy award winning Nashville Symphony performing Handel’s Messiah. I think this will be the third time I’ve gone to hear the Messiah, the previous trips were evenings spent as a little kid getting all gussied up in a taffeta Christmas dress, driving into Boston as a family and having dinner at a nice restaurant before going to hear the symphony.

Tonight will take a heck of a lot more work than the Messiahs of my childhood. I bought a pair of maternity pantyhose that are currently glaring at me from across the room. And I have a new version of the pregnant woman’s Little Black Dress that luckily requires less squeezing than is typical. I still haven’t unpacked my jewelry, so I anticipate a frenetic last-minute search through boxes in the basement for a pair of earrings. I also expect to BAWL during the “Hallalujah Chorus” because I am a Hormonal Christmas Mess.

But tonight is just the kick-off. Tomorrow night is Matt’s office holiday party. Then we have a fun New Years bash to attend where I have been enlisted as the designated driver, a position I am more than disgruntled about accepting. To all of these celebrations I intend to wear painfully high heels because the one plus of being the pregnant woman in the crowd is that nobody makes you stand for very long. If I can’t have champagne, at least give me a seat.

So cheers to the holidays and the obligatory holiday parties. Because I need to wear something other than a hoodie at least a few days a year.

I’m wishing that I hadn’t already purchased all of my neices and nephew’s Christmas gifts, because I just found out about the greatest new children’s book EVER. My dear friend, Ginette, has just published her first children’s book entitled My Mommy is a Mermaid and you can pick up the hardcover here.

I took a look through the preview, and the illustrations are just gorgeous. Great work, Ginette, and I can’t wait to read it for myself!

It is 1pm and I have eaten nothing but chocolate chip cookies today. If things weren’t crazy enough, they’re going to get even crazier this next week. We have one more full week before we pack up and head off to the East Coast for our Christmas vacation. We’ll be spending a few days before Christmas in New Jersey, then taking the train up to Boston on Christmas Eve (NYC and Boston on Christmas Eve! Does it get any better than that?) and then flying home from NH a few days after Christmas.

This means I need to finish all of my Christmas shopping, my Christmas cards, do all of the wrapping, go to various and sundry Christmas parties, hit Handel’s Messiah, visit my BFF in Louisville, put together a gingerbread house and eat it, bake Christmas cookies and eat them, and pack up clothes and breakable gifts for extensive traveling – all within the course of a week. I also could use a haircut. Oh, and check in with the midwives office to see if they have the swine flu vaccine yet. And maybe buy a few more maternity clothes?

But the light at the end of the tunnel is a snowy New Hamsphire. And a belly full of my mom’s Christmas cookies which put all other Christmas cookies to shame. And fires in the fireplaces at night. And staying up late with my sisters to talk about everything under the sun. And nieces and nephews in footed pajamas. And snow angels. And caroling. And grandmothers.

And in the middle of the night when I get up to pee and I realize that I’m hungry, I’ll tiptoe downstairs into my mom’s kitchen and I’ll pull out some leftovers from the fridge. Or steam two lobster tails that my dad has received in the inevitable Omaha Steaks corporate Christmas gift. Two because I’ll wake up my sister to eat one – we’re both pregnant and due a month apart – the only people who could get away with eating the prized Omaha Steak lobster tails. Although it’s been a bad economy – the lobster tails might not arrive. PLEASE SEND THE LOBSTER TAILS! TWO PREGNANT WOMEN’S LIVES DEPEND ON THEM!

There will be many conversations around the living room – all going at the same time and escalating at the same time until we wake up a napping baby because of our volume. And it will all be my fault because someone (most likely my brother-in-law) will have me so politically riled that I will shout out something dreadful like “I WOULD HAVE TAKEN THE MORMON!!!” And perhaps that’s what I look forward to the most? The great conversations about politics and religion where our minds are constantly being sharpened.

In the afternoon the guys will all go into the music room and sit by the tree reading through their new stack of books that they have received as Christmas gifts. It will be completely silent in there except for the swishing of pages being turned in unison. And the girls will muse in the kitchen about how we always wind up asking for practical household items that our husbands will also benefit from, while they still get to be kids and ask for books and cds that they want. There will be much eye rolling and then the conversation will turn towards whether or not a Boppy pillow is really a necessity.

I’m living for this Christmas break, not just to visit home, but also to finally spend some time with Matt who’s been working like a madman. And it will all be made even more perfect by the fact that my parents home is not a construction zone. We can put the hammers and reciprocal saws in the rear of our memory for a little while and enjoy not having to remember when was the last time we took the dog out to pee?

Does it make sense now, why I love Christmas so much? Why the lights and snow and tradition are so important to me? I grew up in New Hampshire, the place where Christmas is perfect.

My Thanksgiving memories are all wrapped around my maternal grandmother’s dining room table. Each year that we were with that side of the family, we’d have the world’s most amazing feast. I plan on making this exact menu the next time I host my own Thanksgiving dinner.

• We’d always start off the meal with fruit cup, really a great way to begin
• A big ole honkin turkey roasted by my grandmother and carved by my grandfather
• Homemade turkey gravy
• Mashed potatoes
• Green bean casserole
• Corn casserole
• Pureed turnips
• Sliced yams
• Mashed squash
• Creamed baby onions
• Rolls
• Stuffing
• Jellied salad
• Cauliflower casserole
• Cranberry sauce – sometimes two kinds
• I’d always have a glass of milk and a glass of cider
• Grammie’s homemade pumpkin pie, apple pie, and pecan pie
• And then we’d finish off the meal sitting around the table cracking nuts

Tomorrow for our Thanksgiving meal with friends, I’ll be making a turkey and a sourdough stuffing with sausage and pears – a little bit different from the stuffing Grammie used to make. But I’m going to make her turnips the same exact way.

For me it’s turnips – what’s that one dish that MAKES Thanksgiving for you?

I don’t know why, but tonight I’m inspired to share with you some of the charitable organizations that Matt and I like to support. It’s that time of the year where people start ramping their giving up for the year, and this year proves to be a tough one for non-profits hoping to break even during a recession. Maybe you’re looking for a new place to give back? All of these would be great choices.

1. Habitat for Humanity. I’ve recently started volunteering with Habitat, and let me tell you, I could not be more impressed with this organization. The biggest misconception is that they give away houses for free. On the contrary, they provide interest-free loans to families who have worked very hard to be fiscally responsible. The programs and classes that they provide to support these families are truly amazing. And the families themselves are even more amazing. I’m really psyched to see how working with Habitat changes my perceptions and pushes me outside of my comfort zone in the next year or so.
2. Mosaic Community of Faith. This group is essentially our dear friends Robert and Michelle, the couple who gave us pre-marital counseling and married us. Two greater people I have never known. They have done loads of community outreach in their neighborhood in Columbus, OH, and have opened their home up to anyone and everyone in need of a place to call home. It’s really hard to describe everything they do, but they live a missional lifestyle that is all about serving and helping others in their community. To find out more about them or to send a check, you can reach them at: 1358 N 5th St, Columbus, OH 43201 or info@breakdividingwalls.org . They are non-denominational and will basically rock your socks off.
3. Elim Christian Services. This is an awesome organization in Chicago that educates kids with all kinds of disabilities including Autism. They do it in a really respectful and empowering way, and let me tell you, the kids send us THE CUTEST artwork in the mail. It’s worth giving to them just to have something to hang on your fridge.
4. Compassion International. Compassion is a highly-regarded organization for international child sponsorship. We’ve been sponsoring a kid in Burkina Faso for about two years now, and it’s been really fun. We get letters from him in French which I embarrassingly try to translate on my own, and he always includes adorable drawings (more fridge artwork!). We’re hoping to take a trip to Burkina Faso in the next few years to meet him in person.
5. Fidelco Guide Dog Foundation. Now for a great organization that isn’t faith-based! Fidelco raises German Shepherds with very strict breeding and training to be world-class guide dogs. They place a high priority on community involvement and are changing the lives of people with disabilities by providing exceptional canine companions that significantly improve the standard of living of their owners. Can you tell that I HEART THIS ORGANIZATION!?!??!
6. National Parks Conservation Association. As you’re probably well aware, our national parks are SHAMELESSLY under-funded and many are falling into disrepair. The NPCA works hard at raising money and fighting for better legislation to protect our national parks. They have a pretty great magazine that comes along with your membership, and is well worth a small donation. The national parks belong to US and it’s OUR job to preserve them for our own enjoyment as well as for future generations.

So that’s the list that I can think of at the moment. What are some of the organizations that you love to support and how will you be spreading cheer during this Holiday season?