Happy Christmas! And a Merry New Year!

I love how in the Harry Potter movies they say Happy Christmas instead of Merry Christmas. I don't know why but I guess it's because it just fits with the British accent better. At any rate, I hope you had a Happy/Merry Christmas. :)
My Christmas was grand as it is every year. I love that it was on a Sunday. It just seemed fitting that on the day we celebrate the birth of Christ we should be at church, focusing our attention on and worshiping the God man that came to earth to be born to die for us. My wonderful sister and her lovely family got to be with us Christmas morning and we had a big yummy breakfast. We were supposed to have Pioneer Woman cinnamon rolls...but...ummm...I kinda ruined them. They were pretty stupid....and I don't mean the good kind of stupid. I was supposed to half the recipe because the original recipe feeds 12,263 people (exaggeration). I halved everything but the milk so the dough was more like runny cake batter rather than dough that could be rolled. :/ It was too late in the game to start over so, alas, we settle for pecan squares at breakfast. Tragedy, I know. :P Any-hoo, after breakfast we opened stockings. I don't know why, but stocking have to be my favorite Christmas tradition...next to food that is. Stocking stuffers are just sooooo fun and stuff that I wouldn't buy myself but love to get. Mine was full of owl stuff along with a couple other things that weren't owly. :) I think I'm set for owl stuff for a while. I am by no means tired of them but my collection is growing fast. :P After stockings, we all donned our church apparel (fa la la fa la la la la la), and headed to church. It was fun seeing all of our church family on Christmas day. There was a fun festive feel in the air and all the kids were giddy with excitement and eager to tell all who would listen what presents they opened that morning. My cousin Olivia didn't even say hi to me. She just ran up to me screaming, "JESSIEEEEEE!!!! I GOT ROLLER SKATES!!!!!!" :) After church, we headed back home to don our comfy apparel (fa la la fa la la la la la), pack up the presents and food, and head to Aunt Cheryl's and Uncle Kirk's for the evening festivities. My ridiculously cool Aunt Cheryl had a hot cocoa bar along with the rest of the typical holiday finger food feast. Super fun! For some reason we ate before we opened presents, which I didn't mind much, but I think Ross was about to hyperventilate. We draw names at our house instead of each person buying a gift for each person. It's super fun to focus on one person to get a gift(s) for and waaaay cheaper than buying one for each person. I had my Sister's name. She's kinda hard to buy for but easy to please....don't ask me how she manages that. However the brilliance of wish lists helped me out :) My mother had my name and just wait till you hear what she gave me!!!! Actually, you probably already know since everyone this side of the equator heard me scream with glee. She got me the......wait for it....Owl City album Ocean Eyes on.......(drum roll please)......VINYL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  As many of you know I am A) Obsessed with Owl City and B) obsessed with my record player/records. So needless to say this was THE BEST GIFT EVER!!! It's kinda cool how they still make vinyl. I even found a Michael Buble' album on Vinyl too. Mom also got me a new iPod docking station. Score! My old one was shot and this one is way cooler. My aunt pointed out how ironic those two gifts are together :P My awesome brother-in-law just happened to have his record player he just got in the car so he brought it in and we played my new record.  I'm sure I don't have to tell you how insufferable I was....singing every word and swaying back and forth to the music, with a stupid, giddy grin on my face.
The evening wore on and we ate till we said, "Ugh I'm never eating again" and played games that made us do embarrassing things we won't go into, and pretty much had the bestest, happiest, merriest Christmas ever! :) 

Overloaded with sugar,
JRae

Best Birthday Ever!!

Every year on my birthday I always say that it's the best birthday ever. They just keep getting better...or maybe better is not the right word. But each year my awesome family finds a way to make the day extra special in some way or another. And this year was no exception. :) My birthday was Sunday, November 20, and while I was getting ready for church I heard the soundtrack from The Sound of Music coming from the dining room. My thought process went something like this, "What? Wait...I don't own that soundtrack....unless you count the record I have of it...but my record player has never worked because the stupid cartridges and needles are extinct.....wait a minute!". I then proceeded to run into the dining room to find my record player working just fine and Julie Andrews voice coming in loud and clear!!!!!! My brilliant mother had done some serious research and found the right cartridge and needle for it so now Skippy (that's what I named him) works beautifully :)
After church my Aunt, Uncle, cousin, and best friend came over to open more presents and eat dinner. I received a plethora of wonderful gifts, the majority of which had something to do with owls....owl measuring cups, owl recipe card box, owl ornaments, etc etc. I also got a couple of new records and a new hat that had nothing to do with owls.:)
Then it was time to eat! We had homemade fajitas, with homemade tortillas, homemade salsa, and...wait for it...homemade guacamole. YUM! We finished it off with the Laura Scott's famous chocolate cake and ice cream. It was the best birthday ever and it made me so thankful for such an awesome family!

Hope all you peeps in blog world had a fabulous Thanksgiving! Thanks for reading my blog. :)

The Owl Gal,
JRae

Speechless....

The Pioneer Woman posted this on the Home and Garden section of her site today. They are the most adorable owl pillows ever seen on the face of the planet. I kept shouting "O MY WORD!" as I scrolled through all the pictures. The sad part.....you can't buy them because someone just made them for her out of the goodness of her heart.....and she doesn't sell them. Sigh. But you should go look at them..SO STUPID CUTE!!!! If you know how to sew, and were planning on getting me a birthday present, feel free.

I realize this post is polar opposite of my post earlier today. I'm a yo-yo. What can I say?

-Owl Obsessed,
JRae