However, when Christmas occurs almost a week later- I tend not to be home for the real Christmas Eve and Day. It can be a little depressing.
This year, however, I got to have Christmas with my family last weekend, and then we spent Christmas with Jacob's family today and yesterday, which is something we haven't gotten to do yet. It was nice.
Anyway- more about the lack of Christmas spirit: Mom and Dad have been lacking on the Christmas decorations the last several years as well, which, I think, contributes directly to Christmas apathy. However, this year, as we were coming home from the airport, I saw my childhood home DECKED out in Christmas stuff!
It made for a very happy Ashley. Christmas spirit came back! (It also helped that I sent out really cute Christmas cards to friends and family, and decorated my own apartment.)
We had our family Christmas party on my dad's side. It was a $20 White Elephant gift exchange. It was HILARIOUS. The items that got stolen the most was a handle of Vodka (naturally) and a plaid fedora. The cousin who brought the vodka got to take it home, and one cousin paid another cousin for the fedora after it was all over. I stayed out of the craziness... I got a box of chocolates, and then a bonus gift quesadilla maker (that I brought). I thought I did pretty well.
My family celebrated Christmas while I was up there, complete with a Football Sunday smorgasbord (with another embarrassing Chicago Bears lose... :( ) and opening presents. It was a nice time. My mom got a Bears Snuggie- we feel that if she wears that from now on during Bears games, they absolutely cannot lose! (...right...)
Then it was back to Kansas City. I flew out of Milwaukee instead of O'Hare this time because southwest has $49 one way tickets from KC to Milwaukee. It was my first snowy take off...
But once we got in the air, and past all the snow and clouds it was really pretty!
I landed in KC safely, and then after a day and a half of work, we headed to Jake's parents house for Christmas. It was a nice time- and one of the first times I really felt like I was part of the family. It only took almost 3 years.
Talk at Jacob's parents basically revolved around the house we so desperately want to buy (see previous post- Searching for Home). We have been able to save quite a bit of money in the last month, just by not going out to eat as much, and not spending money on superfluous things. We are in a much better place now than we were a month ago, but still not there yet. (And Christmas probably set us back a bit...)
Jacob's dad was actually really helpful in finding out exactly how much the current owners have left to pay on the house and how low they are willing to settle for. There were a few questions left unanswered, but we felt we were in a better place to negotiate if/when it comes to that time.
We also decided that we wanted to go look at the house again, and ask more questions with our new found knowledge. Just as I was opening up my email to email the owners, there was an email from them in my inbox! They were writing to tell us that they got a very generous gift from his parents, and are lowering the price of the house by $10,500! They also wanted to know if we were still interested in it. I wrote back immediately and said that yes we were, and we were just talking about contacting them for another showing. They sent 2 more emails back, which makes Jake and I think we are their only prospective buyers- which makes me feel a little better.
The house is more within our grasp than it's ever been before, and we're way to excited about it. As much as I try to deny it, if we don't end up with this house, I will be absolutely devastated and heart broken, which is not a healthy place to be.
Nevertheless, it was the best Christmas email I could have ever gotten, considering the context of the past 48 hours.
All we can do now is hope.
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