Celebrations

Nathan and I had a very happy Christmas in Pennsylvania with his family. We drove to Erie with a box of wrapped gifts, and returned home with different, unwrapped gifts. And in the in-between time we had a relaxing time. We did jigsaw puzzles, read books, played games, and watched movies.

After our very happy Christmas we had a very happy first anniversary as well. We went and browsed at bookstores all afternoon and treated ourselves to some bargain-priced books - the first anniversary is, after all, the 'paper' anniversary. After book-browsing and book-buying, Nathan took me to Olive Garden for dinner, where we ate altogether too many breadsticks and had a lovely time. We thought perhaps we should talk about our marriage and take stock of how things were going, and that conversation went something like this:

SarahMarie: So, what do you think of being married?
FavoriteBoy: It's pretty great.
SarahMarie: I think so too. Anything I could do to make you happier?
FavoriteBoy: Nope!

We're pretty happy, you see.

Incidentally, two friends and fellow Schola students (and daughters of the big Schola man himself!), Emily and Kate Callihan, were married in a double wedding on the 28th, our anniversary. So in addition to the fact that they are lovely and wonderful girls, I felt a particular affinity to that wedding. Best wishes to the brides, and congratulations to the grooms!

After our happy anniversary dinner, Nathan and I enjoyed the top tier of our wedding cake, which my mother-in-law had very kindly frozen and kept for us.


Or I should say, others enjoyed it and I enjoyed watching them enjoy it. I had about two bites, since generally I try to avoid refined sugars - when I'm being good. I wasn't always entirely good about this in the few days prior to and following Christmas, but now I'm back to being good again.

On Sunday FavoriteBoy and I played at Stevedad's church in Erie, and then friends of the FavoriteBoy family took us all out to lunch at a Japanese restaurant. We all had hibachi. It was the most exciting meal I've ever eaten! Our chef was tossing and flipping eggs in the air with a metal spatula and throwing and catching knives! And the food was delicious.

Sunday afternoon we started our long drive back to Massachusetts. Nathan said nonchalantly, "Since we're getting a late start, maybe we'll stop somewhere for the night and finish the drive tomorrow." Little did I know he had already made reservations at the Marriott in Syracuse, NY. We stayed in a Marriott after our Erie wedding celebration last January, and it was so nice - I loved it! I loved this one too. We even had chocolate-covered strawberries and champagne awaiting us. And a beautiful view from our room window:





We finished the trip to Massachusetts on the 31st and got back in time to spend New Year's Eve with our friends Gregg and Cara.

I have all kinds of New Year's resolutions, most of which involve getting healthier and getting FavoriteBoy (The Boy Who Will Not Touch A Vegetable) healthier. Here's to 2008.