A Piece of Cake

Okay, so maybe not - but we did it. And I say we, because I couldn't have dealt with half of the stress of this semester without Cliff and I am sure I added undue stress on him in the meantime. The paper is in, and I am done for the semester. It's Monday, December 17th, and I am finally done.

Meanwhile, I've started to feel like the "big baby" that always emphasizes and whines about how much stuff she has to do. It comes to the point where it's so repetitive, and all my grown-up friends who work real jobs everyday are probably past the point of caring. But that's silly, because this stuff matters and it has been quite a challenge.

It's silly in the same way it's silly for my husband to think he was childish for having a hard time with the fact that he chose to accept our brand new camcorder over trading another guy for an XBOX 360. Over and over again I insisted that he could trade because you could just see how badly he wanted it, but he wouldn't let himself do it. And while it was miserable, seeing him so internally frustrated, I was just so... proud. He didn't take it for a lot of reasons, most of which included it being a drain on our already minimal time together and time with the Lord, as well as having something to capture the memories we have yet to make.

Either way, we were so blessed on Saturday night by Cliff's company. It was a night of great food (the BIGGEST SHRIMP I have ever seen) and good company, as well as a ton of unexpected turns throughout the evening. Every company employee walked away with one of any of these items (digital camera, camcorder, $300 best buy giftcard, iPod touch, xbox 360, nintendo wii, playstation 3, garmin gps system, or a 32" flatscreen television), a $50 giftcard to their choice of a couple of places (include Bonefish - YES!), a Dave Ramsey Show Softshell Jacket, a Lampo ornament, and an extra-large profit sharing check. It was crazy and at one point, felt mildly like a version of Oprah's "favorite things" episode. My favorite part (besides getting dressed up), though, was singing "Silent Night" in a candlelit room of about 400 people. So refreshing...

In other news, we survived all of our festivities for the weekend and are excited for the next two weekends spent with family (especially a long overdue trip home to Virginia Beach).

This week, I am braving the masses and actually doing our Christmas shopping. I always tend to save it for later, and rather enjoy the pace of last-minute shopping. We have managed to buy for three of our nine nieces and nephews and for my mom, so that's a start, right?

Okay, so besides that, I'm reading and while I have a few ideas of what I'd like to take a gander at, I'm open to suggestions. So, if you've got a moment, shoot me a comment and recommend five books you think I should read over break, because the more variation, the better. I plan on revisiting some Donald Miller, maybe a little Elisabeth Elliott, and then the sky's the limit. I'd love to hear your thoughts!