Decorating our first Christmas

In preparation for this special time of year, two major decisions had to be made... #1-Real tree or fake tree and #2- Colored lights or white lights. Well, after long hours of debating cutting down a tree in the wilderness, buying a well overpriced tree from a lot in town, or taking advantage of riduculous low prices on fake trees at our local big box stores... we decided to go with a fake tree. We know, we know... those of you who have never had a fake tree in your life are wondering how in the world we could start off our first Christmas with a fake tree. However, those of you who have grown up with fake trees, you're probably thinking "I'm so glad they made such a smart decision early on in their marriage". Think of all the mishap fires and water we are saving! Not to mention JT's excitement when he saw how evenly and neat the branches spread out to make the most perfect Christmas tree you've ever seen. And yes, Macy won the second decision by default, because our pre-lit tree came with white lights! Oh, I almost forgot to mention our first established Christmas tradition: our Santa hat tree topper.

Since all this decorating happened a few weeks ago, here's a more recent picture of the finished product. Complete with presents under the tree.

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'Tis the Season

This past weekend we bundled up and braced ourselves for the bitter cold of downtown Denver. The annual Parade of Lights made its way through the streets and we watched in awe as the floats and commercialized icons of Christmas came strolling by us. Some in attendance that night were baby Jesus, Rudolf, Kermit the Frog, & Santa. At first, we were going to go by ourselves, but then were invited by good friends of our's, Tom & Christy, to join them in their annual tradition of watching the parade. This was a first time Christmas event for Macy, however JT had seen it many years ago as a kid. It was really fun to hear Christmas songs ring through the streets and watch little kid's faces light up as various floats went by.

(Above: The Manger float surrounded by Angels)

(Above: Macy & JT, Tom & Christy, Braden & Megan)

(Rudolph)

Afterwards, our group headed to the Old Spaghetti Factory to thaw out & fill our stomachs with good 'ole fashioned spaghetti and bread. The evening was filled of great stories, fun food, and plenty of Christmas cheer. All in all it was a great night out on the town & a good kick off to the Christmas season! (Even though the Christmas Season started well before that when Macy started listening to Christmas music on Nov. 9th :)

We hope you all are enjoying your December's as much as we are. Stay tuned for our next story to come... Decorating our 1st Christmas tree!

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Married Life

September 10th, 2007

So we have officially been married for 58 days... "honey, can you believe it's been that long?" Words cannot describe the joy and excitement we have every day. As JT says, "I wish I was born married". God has blessed us beyond measure in every way possible and we are eternally grateful and full of praise.

Five weeks into marriage we were still jobless, sleeping in, taking care of wedding aftermath duties, and loving each other to the fullest extent. Daily we would seek God's wisdom on a variety of things: JT's decision to plung into a seminary master's program, our employment opportunities (or lack thereof), our career paths, our family, our future... and the list goes on. Day by day He started bringing answers to those prayers. Macy decided to get a full-time job, while JT would start online courses for his master's program and also look for employment. After Macy had 4 possible leads for jobs, none of them were shaping up to anything... then came the phone call. It was an territory manager of the Denver Newspaper Agency calling to say that they had a territory position available and would like to offer her the opportunity to "come on board". After discussing it with her husband, this was an opportunity they both couldn't refuse. The following week she started work and is now ending her third week at the Denver Newspaper Agency. Meanwhile, JT's desire to go to Seminary grew and he signed up for 6 online credits through Dallas Theological Seminary. Those 6 credits are made up of two courses: Intro to World Missions and Intro to Theology. And from what we've been told... 6 graduate credits equal about 12 undergrad credits which equals a lot of studying. JT had also been looking for possible job opportunities and last week National Cinemedia called him and offered him a full-time position in support sales. They do all the advertising proposals for AMC, Regal, and Cinemark theatres. JT accepted the position and started today! It is surprising how quickly you "grow up" once you're out of college and start your career path.

Today was a whopping 65 degrees outside and Fall is just around the corner. We're excited for the season to come and lite our first fire tonight... Can you believe Macy's favorite holiday is almost here?! CHRISTMAS!! Before you know it, Christmas tunes will be filling the house.....

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