So Many Firsts

FIRST OF ALL, I apologize for the lack of posts over the past couple of weeks.  The weekends have been very busy.  The weekend before last, my mom came to visit Ian and I in our nest for the first time.  She drove by herself all the way to Albany...making a brief stop in D.C. to visit Ryan.  When she finally pulled up to our house, she could barely walk because she had been sitting in the car for so long.  Still, she mustered up the strength to take a tour of our home.  I was so excited to have her here and show her all of the work and love Ian and I have put into our place.  Ian and I took mom out for dinner to this very cozy and hidden gem of an Italian restaurant and got caught up.  The next day while Ian played golf, mom and I went shopping for fabrics and other things.  She brought a sewing machine with her that my grandma had given to me and had plans to sew some curtains and things for the house.  When we got back to the house, we started to prepare for a get together Ian and I hosted for mom and my internship classmates.  That night, mom met most of my "Albany friends"...we played board games and had drinks and appetizers.  Mom was a hit and got reviews like, "You're mom is hip."  The following few days, Mom spent hours sewing decorative pillows for the living room, a kind of curtain for a shelving unit in the kitchen, a runner for the kitchen table, and hemmed a couple pairs of Ian's pants.  Ian made jokes about running a sweatshop and would permit Mom to have scheduled bathroom breaks only.  We really enjoyed having Mom here (and not just because she made all of these great things for us). 

A couple of days after Mom left, Ian and I flew out to Kansas to spend Thanksgiving with his family.  This was the first time I had been away from my family at Thanksgiving.  It was difficult for me to be away from them as holidays have always been a very important and festive time for us for as long as I can remember.  Still, this was also the first Thanksgiving that I have gotten to spend with Ian and that was very special to me.  I was glad to be able to share this time with he and his family.  We got to see many of his relatives and spend lots of time with his mom, dad, and sisters and our nephew Malachi.  I am thankful for Ian's family and the way they have embraced me as one of their own. 

I am thankful, too, that everyone had safe travels over the holiday.   Ian and I didn't get back to Albany from Kansas until very late Monday night, only to find that my luggage had been lost.  We spent the next few days trying to catch up from having been out of town for several days.  We did manage, however, to get our very first "married" Christmas tree on Wednesday evening.   It turned out to be quite the adventure....hunting down a screw that would fit in the tree stand we bought from Goodwill that was short a screw...finding the best deal on interior/exterior white lights...locating the nursery that had been recommended to us for finding the perfect Christmas tree...then finding OUR tree in the dark and rain.  We agreed on a 6 ft. frasier fir from the Adirondacks and then Ian proceeded to engineer a way to (safely) transport the tree on the top of my car.  We got the tree home (safely) and Ian trimmed a few boughs and got it positioned in the tree stand.  In the light of our living room, we were so pleased to find that the tree was truly beautiful and healthy.  I can't wait to decorate it (and put presents under it!).

The latest "first" came yesterday when I looked out the kitchen window and saw beautiful, big flakes of snow pouring down from the sky.  This was the first snow since I moved to Albany and while I know there will be many many many more and that snow will eventually become something like my worst enemy at times, I was so excited to see that snow.  It was beautiful and came down lightly all day.  It really set the scene for last night's Christmas shopping trip!  I'm looking forward to many more firsts...