Month: December 2005 Page 1 of 2

Girl Version

On December 29, 2005

In events, pictures, Sites Worth Visiting, thoughts

I can’t stop smiling…Last night Joel took me into the city. We took the train up and then went out to dinner and had the best meal I’ve had in a long time, mmmm. From there we walked down Michigan Ave and over to Navy Pier where we walked around and saw the Winter Wonder Fest.

After that we went into the theatre and saw Much Ado About Nothing.

The ring and the theater are beautiful.

We got great box seats on the third level and sat back to enjoy the show. The first half of the production was very funny and excellently done and then came the intermission. Everyone around us filtered out and we were left alone. That’s when he told me to close my eyes and when he said I could open them again…

Of course I said yes…in about five different ways as a matter of fact, hehe. I was absolutely blown away by how beautiful the ring was and what a perfect moment it was…it was just perfect. I spent most of the second half of the show distracted by how gorgeous my ring is. I’ve never seen a ring that sparkled so much and it looks perfect on my hand. It was just like a dream, Joel couldn’t have picked a better moment. *happy sigh*

So yeah, I’m so happy right now I sparkle just about as much as my ring does. God couldn’t have blessed me with a more perfect guy and I’m so excited about our future together *big smile*

…and to all a good night!

By Abigail

On December 27, 2005

In holiday, thoughts

For those of you who don’t really know me I’ll give you the short version…I’m a scrooge, a grinch, a…however you want to say it, I hate Christmas. There are a lot of reasons as to why but I won’t go into all them right now. Let’s just say that for me Christmas is usually a time of stress, disappointment and waste. I hate the idea of giving presents to someone because I have to or getting one because someone felt like they had to buy it for me…what an awful idea! I hate the stress of getting everything in the house to look perfect because someone may come over for a couple hours. I hate the stress of getting everyone together so that we can be here or there or where ever on time…or the stress that happens when we’re late. And trust me, trying to get eight or more people together and somewhere on time is not easy. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not that I’ve never had a good Christmas or that I’m looking to ruin Christmas for anybody else, I’ve just had enough bad holidays that I’d just as soon skip it.

So, this year I’m sure you can imagine I was not looking forward to Christmas at all. But, since there was no way for me to skip it I bought all my presents (I’ll admit it, I got all excited about wrapping them and couldn’t wait to see them be opened) and braced myself, planning to just survive this holiday without too much damage…

….and somehow, I had a wonderful time. It was so wonderful going to my Grandparents house Christmas Eve and seeing some of my Aunts and Uncles. Then, when we got home late that night, there wasn’t any of the usual last minute stress of wrapping presents because it was all already done. In fact, I stayed up having a really nice conversation with my mom and sister Naomi until 1:30am. Around 9am (not too early, thank goodness) my excited ten year old sister Anna woke me up and we had a great time opening presents and eating breakfast. Then I took a nap, hung out with people and then helped with Christmas dinner. The one sad part of the day was the fact that my brother Greg and his family are in Brazil and therefore couldn’t be with us, I really missed seeing them like we usually do on Christmas. Other than my holiday could hardly have been better.

Next Christmas I will probably celebrate Christmas at my own home, but I will never forget this Christmas and how perfect it was to just be with my family. *big smile*

Merry Christmas!

By Abigail

On December 27, 2005

In Family, holiday, pictures

Here are a couple pictures from my Christmas Day:

Abigail, Rebekah and Millie
For Christmas I gave Rebekah my cat Millie. First of all because of the uncertainty of how my life’s going to go over the next couple months and years and second of all because she’s taken care of her and loved her the last year and a half when I was gone. She was really happy about it.

Hunter eating his present
This is the first thing he did when handed his present…”If I can’t eat it, what good is it??” lol

Hunter's killer smile
“Will smile for food”

Christmas Eve

By Abigail

On December 24, 2005

In Family, holiday, pictures

We celebrated Christmas Eve at my Grandpa Bart and Grandma Carolyn’s house as we’ve done for just about as long as I can remember. I hadn’t been able to come the last couple years for different reasons so it was so nice to finally be back.

Grandma Carolyn and Grandpa Bart
My Grandma and Grandpa Vander Velde at who’s house we spent Christmas Eve

Abigail and Hunter
Me and my sweet little nephew

My Family
Here we all are, back together again…amazingly enough, it’s wonderful *smile*

Ah Christmas…

By Abigail

On December 22, 2005

In holiday, vlogs

[click on the image above to view this QuickTime video]

Just a little something to get you all in the Christmas spirit. Merry Christmas Everyone! *wink*

Orange belt, woo hoo!

By Abigail

On December 15, 2005

In events, Family, pictures, thoughts

Some of you who know me may or may not believe this but since I got back from The Netherlands I have been taking Taekwondo. I absolutely love it! It’s such a great work out and a wonderful way to relieve stress. It’s a lot of high kicks and turns and things to so it’s more like dancing than a lot of other kinds of martial arts so that appeals to me as well obviously. Tonight I tested for the first time and got my orange belt. My mom and sister Liz also tested for their yellow belts (they started about 2 months before I got back) *smile* Here are some pictures, enjoy!

My mom, sister Liz and Me waiting our turn

Hiya!

Our teachers judging our work

Sledding Fun

By Abigail

On December 13, 2005

In Family, pictures, thoughts

As a special treat for getting all their work done early Joel and I took Anna and David sledding today. We had a blast. I haven’t been sledding in ages and of course no longer had snow pants or any snow gear in general. My coat’s not even water proof! lol. It worked out for me to borrow stuff from my mom and sisters (being around the same size as your mother and three of your sisters definitely has it’s benefits, hehe). We went to a golf course near my house that has a really great hill. It’s actually open and they rent sleds and things on the weekends but we were smart and went during the week so we had the whole place to ourselves. It was just so much fun and we got to bond with my two youngest siblings really well.

Anna, David and Me

A very cold couple, hehe

After about an hour and a half we headed back to the house for hot chocolate and watched Elf. *smile*

Little Mustard Lover

By Abigail

On December 13, 2005

In Family, pictures, thoughts

My nephew Hunter is about nine months old now and LOVES food. Absolutely anything you give him he takes a minute to think about and then makes mmmm noises while signing “more” (yep, he speaks some sign language). Today we were having hot dogs and just to see what kind of face he’s make I gave him a little taste of the mustard on my plate. He liked it so much! He kept signing “more” so I got out his little spoon and gave him the rest that was on my plate, hehe.

He’s so adorable!

Christmas Shopping

By Abigail

On December 12, 2005

In holiday, Sites Worth Visiting, thoughts

I went Christmas shopping today finally. I put it off until now…but seeing as the big day is less than two weeks away I figured I’d just get it over with. The problem is, I’m not a normal girl who loves to shop. Nope, I’m a weirdo who is finished on a normal day after an hour or less. Then, when you throw in the hundreds of crazed Christmas shoppers, I would MUCH rather just stay home… However, I realized that the closer to Christmas you get the the worse it is so, I finally sucked it up and went. I took Joel along with me to drive (because I don’t drive anymore…long story.) and to keep me company.

Unfortunately, Joel hates shopping more than I do so after the second store he was very done and a little cranky because he was hungry. Luckily for him I was pretty done as well so we went to one more store and were off to Taco Bell. I even got a free t-shirt out of the deal cuz Q101 was there doing…I dunno some promotional stuff I guess, I couldn’t participate because I’m not 21 yet (geeze I miss Europe) but they did take my picture so who knows, I may end up on the site somewhere, hehe. After that we headed home and wrapped everything.

So I’m half done, yea! Tomorrow I should be able to finish up almost everything and then I can just relax and try to actually enjoy the season.

The End

By Abigail

On December 10, 2005

In Uncategorized

My time as an au pair is over… as is this blog. I’ll be keeping all the posts up still but there will be no new posts here. If you want to read about my current adventures you can check out my new blog on LifeLoveTruth.com. *smile*