Merry Christmas to all!

This is my first time blogging, but I love to write and read and would love to have this so that I will have something to chronicle my life and see how I grow and learn over the next few years. I got married on Aug. 12, 2006, to my high school sweetheart, Joe. He is the love of my life and is such a supportive husband. I think that we have both come so far since we got married. Our dog, Maddy, is our baby for now, despite the fact that my entire family is hinting that we should reproduce in the very near future. Well, I hate to tell them, but 24 is hardly the age when women should quit having children, and we aren't ready quite yet. My family isn't too pushy, just pretty anxious.
We are currently celebrating Christmas. We are Catholic, so we celebrate well into January, and I love it. We still have our decorations and gorgeius tree up, and will keep it up through mid-January. I really love it. This year we did things a little differently. We spent Christmas Eve Day at home and enjoyed the day. That evening we ate spaghetti and meatballs at my parents' house before attending Christmas Eve Mass together. Dad, Kayla (my sister), Derek (my brother), Joe (my husband) and I are all in choir, and we had so much fun. Then we went back to my parents', who live three doors down from us, to celebrate with family and friends. We ate and drank until well past midnight, when we then read "Twas the Night Before Christmas" as a group,a nd then went home to get ready for the big Christmas celebration. It was a fantastic night. We even got to spend the evening with my friend's sister Erica, who I really like visitng with. It was so enjoyable and relaxing.
The next day we got up at 7:30 a.m. and opened our presents for each other. We spoiled each other rotten. Joe got me: a new camera, DVDs, a cupcake carrier, clothes, scrapbooking supplies, CDs, books, workout equipment, art, decorations for the house, gym clothes, lots of other things and a LAPTOP...wow, and a lot more. I got him: clothes, shoes, Blue-ray movies, a bunch of video games, a disk doctor, a camera case, a GPS system and more. It is so nice that we can do this for each other. After opening gifts, we got dressed, and we went down to my parents' house to exchange gifts and have breakfast. We got a chandelier for our dining room, clothes, movies, beautiful serving bowels and a platter, shoes, Joe got a creeper, and toins more. Two of my favorite gifts that I gave are Celtic Woemn tickets for my dad and a scrapbook of our wedding for my grandma.
We celebrated Saturday, Dec. 27, with Joe's family. It was wonderfully relaxing and fun. His family is getting so huge with all the children. It is so much fun to watch the kids opening their gifts. We spent the day there.
We are now resting up for our bug New Year's Eve party at my parents'. I can't wait. I will have family in from Indiana and Texas, and I am so excited.
Well, that is all for now. Sorry, it was so long. If you got this far, congratulations. You are a real trooper. I am looking forward to blogging more. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all!