Out with '10 and in with '11

It's that time of year again people. Time to think of what you want to do/see/change/be in the New Year. People have already started asking me if I have a New Year's resolution. Me? Heck, I've made resolutions all year long. I don't need to wait till the clock strikes midnight and we're suddenly in 2011.

And then I got to think about 2011. 2010 was a busy year for me and maybe 2011 will be the year to slow down and pick up the messes of 2010. I wouldn't say that there is just one thing that I resolve to do this year. My husband, or anyone who knows me for that matter, can tell you that I always have a thousand things going on at the same time. A project here, a project there. I was never very good with montony.

So what are some of the things that I want to do in 2011? Well let's see...

• I want to build something. Most likely a piece of furniture. A headboard for my bedroom to be more specific.
• I want to try out the whole going to the gym in the morning thing. Although I am the opposite of a morning person, my lack of gym time over the last 5 months has taken a toll on me. It's time to get my butt back into gear and 5:30am seems to be the only time I can fit it into my schedule.
• I want to start crafting more. Wedding crafts were one thing. I want to make crafts that maybe can turn into a business one day.
• I want to spend more time with the Lord. Spending time in His word has been the best relaxation lately. It's calming and I don't think that there was ever a better Teacher.
• I want to see the happiest of days in people's lives - three of my best friends to be exact. 2011 will be the year of weddings for us and I can't wait to see the days that Emily, Michelle, and Kaitlin get married. 

But most of all, I want write more. I think that the blog is ready for a face lift too. This is my outlet and my way to stay in touch with the people who mean the most to me.

So will 2011 be a better year than 2010? I'm not sure how it could top one of the best years in my life but I'm sure as heck gonna try!

Where are you radio Christmas?

One of my favorite parts about Christmas is the carols. Back in Connecticut, Star 99.9 was the only station played on my car radio from Thanksgiving through Christmas Day. It was non-stop Christmas songs. Various versions, various songs, and even a few parodies. As I was driving to work this morning, searching the very limited number of radio stations for one that was playing a carol or two, I stopped on one that was playing "Angels We Have Heard on High".


"Ah, finally a Christmas carol that I can sing to." So I began belting out the words until I realized that the people on the radio weren't singing the same words as me. Upon closer listen, I realized that they in fact were singing the same words as me, just in Spanish. Channel changed.


Yes it is sad that I haven't found a radio station that compares to the Christmas caroling of Star 99.9. I have resulted to flipping through station after station hoping that I will catch one that is playing a holiday tune. But I have yet to find one that plays one of my favorite Christmas parodies of all time. Here, have a listen...

Ah, the joys of Christmas. Well until I can coax a radio station here to play their Christmas music non-stop from Thanksgiving through Christmas, I guess it's Pandora Radio for me. Thank God for the N*SYNC Christmas Radio : )

Merry Christmas from the Hofmans!

In my effort to do less this year, I opted to not send out Christmas cards to everyone. Plus I'm trying to work on all of the thank you's we need to write and send!

But of course, we didn't want you to think that we weren't wishing you and yours a Merry Christmas...

It was a little struggle to get Tana to sit for the picture but with a little help from Jameson and his funny faces, Lindsay's quick fingers and Peyton's skill with dog treats, we were able to get a nice family photo.

And once again, from the Hofman family to yours, have a very Merry Christmas and a blessed New Year!

Doing less gives you time to be more

As I have been scouring my ever growing list of blogs, I have noticed that so many people have been talking about keeping it simple this year. Of course, I kept it simple due to the sheer fact that I didn't have a lot of time to plan the Christmas holiday or to even do a lot of shopping for that matter. But now I'm seeing that as a blessing.

September, October, and November were crazy months for us. A new house, a new dog, a wedding and a honeymoon; all took up my time and seriously strapped us for cash. So I decided that presents would be smaller for this year and that I wasn't going to go all out in my decorating. I decided to keep it simple.

A few days ago, I got an email from my mother-in-law letting me know that it was going to be a simple Christmas at their house this year, something that my mom had also mentioned on the phone a few times. And I was relieved.

This year, it is my hope that the Christmas weekend in our household will be less, allowing us to be more. What does that mean you ask? Well it's quite simple actually. I pray that doing less of the glitz and glamour will help us to recognize the reason for the season and to celebrate the birth of our Lord, Jesus Christ. After all He is the star of the show this weekend.

So in that spirit, my house currently features a tree in my living room, a wreath on the front door, and a few small Christmas lights on the outside railings. And that's it. I'm not baking cookies and I'm not making pretty packages.

As Griff and I celebrate our first Christmas as husband and wife, and actually our first Christmas together, I pray that this might become a tradition for us, putting more effort into celebrating the joy and love of the season rather than putting the emphasis in other places. Of course as our family grows, my decorating and my baking and my present wrapping might grow but for now, I'm very content with doing less to allow us to be more this Christmas season.

Cards and Cookies, Trees and Tinsel

Oh how fantastic this time of year is! It's like every day is filled with so much joy it's unbelievable. I know that so many of you have been wanting to see pictures from Hawaii and hear all about it. I swear, I will get some pictures posted (we have wedding pictures to post too!).

But with Christmas only 11 days away and the rush to wrap presents, ship things, and get our cards out the door, the only think that I could think about was decorating my tree and making my wreath for the year. So as I sit here and decide which cookies I'm going to bake this year, I wanted to share with each of you our little bit of Christmas here in Montana.

 



We've added a few more presents since the picture was taken. Tana seems to be leaving it alone which makes me very happy. She is very much into tennis balls right now so I was a little nervous about her confusing the ornaments on the tree with her toys. Thankfully she has heard "no" once and that's all that it took.

Of course I had to add in an "H"..I'm very proud to have my little family this year and to know call ourselves "The Hofmans" so I couldn't resist. Of course my wreath is completely made up from items found at Dollar Tree and attached with a few twist ties. Nothing special but it sure is special to me!

Oh and there's a little sneak peek of our new leather couches. A little wedding present to ourselves and worth every penny : )

Now it's time for some cookies...pizzelle anyone?

The Newlywed Game

As the Christmas season begins, so do the parties, the get-togethers, and the festivities. Last night was the first of many parties that Griff and I will attend and this year it seems a little different being newlyweds.

As the games commenced at Griff's squadron Christmas party last night, we enjoyed watching party-goers scramble for items on a scavenger hunt list and watched the real Christmas spirit come out in everyone as the fights ensued for the last remaining seat in the lineup. And then they announced that we were going to play the Newlywed Game.

It was like slow motion watching the heads turn to the table in the back where Griff and I were seated. Of course everyone knew that we we had just gotten married. Some people in the room were invited to nuptials, while others were quietly envying our tans fresh from Hawaii (sorry, I had to put it out there). But needless to say no matter how many shades of red our faces turned, Griff and I weren't getting out of the game.

Now I didn't mind playing the game so much. I only know a handful of people in the room and how embarrassing can the questions, thought up by the squadron commander, be anyway. We'll come back to that statement.

So as we went down the line of couples, the introductions began. "Hi, what's your name?...And your husband is?" Followed by the obvious question, "And how long have you been married for?"

10 years was the first answer...I thought that this was the newlywed game? But as we continued down the line the marriage times weren't getting any smaller. When the Colonel finally got to me and Griff my sheepish answer was 1 month..."1 month? Is this part of the honeymoon?" I thought to myself do we have any shot at winning this thing without embarrassing ourselves? Of course we did. It's me and Griff.

And let me tell you, we held our own. Now back to embarrassing questions. After being asked "What part on your body would your husband say has aged the most?" and dragging out the skeletons in the closet with "How many girlfriends did your husband have before marrying you?" (which we both answered correctly) I thought that Griff and I could handle anything. And we were in the lead too. And then the dreaded bonus question - "When and where would your husband say was your first date?"

Stumped. And we thought we had this one in the bag.

With the way that our long distance relationship worked out, every time we saw each other, there were always other people around. Friends or family, we tried to combined visits with as much as possible. So what were our answers? Mine was Christmas Eve dinner, 2008. His was Applebees the day after we first officially met, in August 2008. And we were the only ones to get that question wrong. Now that's embarrassing.

Needless to say, we lost. Although we came away from it with a nice bottle of wine. And when we got home that night, we discussed where and when our first official date was in case that were to ever happen again. After all, you can't get stuck in that predicament twice. And you never know...we could still be playing the newlywed game after 10 years of marriage. 

A day which will live in infamy

I couldn't think of a better way to kick off my recap of our time in Hawaii then with a small tribute on such a large day. Of course this is a little out of order but with today being December 7th, I'm not sure it's so wrong to go out of order. I'll jump back to the rest of the trip a little later.

December 7th, 1941 in the small harbor off the south shore of the island of Oahu, was a quiet morning and that's just how it was for us when we arrived at Pearl Harbor that morning. There is nothing more sobering than to enter what is now a national monument that is visited by over 2.5 million people.

Most of those people aren't there to see the things that are happening in the Welcome Center of the complex. Sure there are facts that line the shoreline and small monuments to some of the fighting forces but everyone wants to head out into the harbor and see the ship that is eternally on patrol of the waters below.

From the shoreline, the USS Arizona Memorial looks a little like this:

So as we boarded our navy taxi boat, the memorial began to come a little bit more in view.

The memorial is made up of three sections, the first holds the flags of the branches of the armed services, the US flag, and the Hawaiian flag. And then you enter the viewing room. Laying perpendicular across the hull of the USS Arizona, the memorial is open on all sides and even on top.

Looking over the sides, you can see parts of the ship, mostly covered in coral and home to some fish that find their food source there everyday.

The most amazing part though is the oil that still lingers on the surface of the water. Just before the attack on Pearl Harbor, the USS Arizona was refueled to it's maximum. When the attack happened, 1/3 of the oil in the ship blew up, 1/3 of it burned for 2 days straight, and 1/3 still remains on the ship. 69 years later, 2 gallons of oil still escape from the ship each day and probably will for the next 50 years. The smell of oil is prominent from the deck of the memorial, a constant reminder of the tragic events of that day.

Lining the walls of the last room of the memorial are the names of all of the men that lost their lives on the ship. As I stood to say a small pray of thanks, I thought about the men who survived the attack on Pearl Harbor. There were even a few survivors of the Arizona. So far 33 of them have opted to be cremated and have been returned to the Arizona to forever lie with their shipmates - their urns taken by divers and entombed in one of the cannons of the ship.

It's hard to do this place justice by showing some photos because of the gratitude and humbleness you feel when you step onto the memorial. As we left that day, I felt saddened by the events of that day but happy that it is something that this world will never forget as we always remember the day which will live in infamy.