Our Live Tree (Completing the Christmas Tour)

Okay, first of all, pictures are FINALLY up on yesterday's Shuffle post. It really was the weirdest thing. From about 9 p.m. on Saturday until 4 p.m. on Sunday, my computer would not upload at all. We tried everything. We restarted my phone, restarted my computer (which led to the three hour update no one had time for), restarted the building WiFi, tried new apps, tried multiple USB cords - and NOTHING WORKED. We even tried using Ryan's computer in case mine was the problem. Nope. And then, out of nowhere, after doing nothing for a while, it just randomly started working again. Weird. So if you came yesterday and read about our week in all its photoless glory, you can catch up now.

Secondly...it was back on November 24th that I gave you a tour of our apartment all decked for Christmas. But in all the Thanksgiving/anniversary trip hoopla, I never told you about going for our live tree and showed you that final piece of Christmas we added to our mix! So here you go!

Back on our 3rd wedding anniversary weekend, we stopped at a Christmas tree farm in Fort Wayne and picked out a tree we named Firby. Guess what? We live just down the road from this very tree farm now. WHO WOULD HAVE GUESSED? (God.)

This year, you had to make an appointment to go to the tree farm, so we decided to take a huge risk and schedule an appointment on Thanksgiving afternoon. I call it a risk, because we were on duty that day and we've learned not to try to schedule anything on an on-duty day. As soon as we do, something always comes up in that exact moment, and we have to cancel so we can tend to the emergency. But we hoped with everything in us that going just down the road for just a few minutes would work out...and it did!

We arrived, checked in, and Ryan scrounged up a cart for us so we could go hunting for the perfect tree!

We learned you can get trees of your color choice...even on the lot!

(Anyone see Ryan in that one?)

We finally found our keeper!!

We named this one Gra-billy (pronounced Graybilly) as a nod to what we've been told we are called now that we live in Grabill. 

We took him home and got him set up in the little nook we had left!

Typically our live tree holds our family ornaments, but we put those on an artificial tree this year in hopes that stronger branches would be better for it. (And it's working out splendidly.) So this tree became our Names of Jesus tree. We kept it simple - strands of lights, the ornaments, and that's it! Nothing to distract from the message! (Also, I'm super excited all the pictures below loaded in backwards order. I'm not deleting them and redoing it. I'm technologied out for today.)

And now your tour is complete! :) 

The Shafferland Shuffle

 

As I started writing this shuffle post, I was sitting in with Ryan and one of our tenants as we all watched a Christmas movie together. It wasn't a Hallmark movie, but it was cute AND funny - and I had hot chocolate, so it felt like the whole experience! :) Alas, the experiences were just beginning. I finished writing it and my computer wouldn't upload my pictures. So I restarted it. It is now a solid three hours later (and one in the morning, no less) and my computer is still restarting. So I'm borrowing Ryan's computer to add this note to tell you I'll be back sometimes on Sunday to add pictures. Womp. Womp. In the meantime, you can read about the week!

* Last Sunday after church I took one of our tenants out for her photo shoot. I had taken the other one back in the fall, and it was this one's turn. She had the BEST time, she said, and I loved hearing that! It was a chilly day, but it was pretty out, and for most of the time, I could feel my fingers! When we got back to the building, I did all my chores, and that night, Ryan helped me seal our Christmas cards, pandemic style. (ha!)

* While I was showering Monday morning, Ryan stuck his head in the bathroom and asked if I knew where Braeya was. I didn't...but I found her sitting between the shower curtains waiting for me to hurry up and finish so she could have a drink. #facepalm. Ryan spent the entire day fixing the broken gate at WillowBridge, and I was so proud of him for coming up with a great solution! Then he helped me in the kitchen that evening - he made a double batch of chili and I made peanut butter chocolate chip cookies!

* Tuesday was flat out CRAZY. I actually almost forgot to take pictures because that's how busy the day was. We were in meetings for over eight hours that day - including a couple of interviews for potential tenants. Ryan and I tried to be great hosts and keep everyone fed all day, including all the babies! The interviews went really well, and we marked another first off our new job list! 

* After that busy day, Wednesday was the first day of our weekend! We finished all our Christmas shopping and grocery shopping too! We thoroughly enjoyed our date at IHOP for Hoppy Hour! (Have you guys been to that? It's a great deal!)When we got home, we worked together to wrap all our gifts - while we watched Elf! :) It may have been a busy day, but it sure was fun!

* Thursday was our second weekend day, but we did have to go to a work related meeting that afternoon. After that, we squeezed in a quick coffee date before we had dinner with some friends who we haven't seen since we moved here! Thanks, Wayne and Shari, for treating us to GIORDANO'S!!!! We were so excited!! Also - Shari's cookie baking game is strong and delicious!

* Friday we were back on duty and happy to see gorgeous sunrises back on duty too!! I was SUPER excited to get fun mail from my friend Abagail. Fun mail is the best! Want to hear what "other duty as assigned" Ryan had on Friday? One of our tenants lost her phone and was able to ping it to an area about three miles from WillowBridge. A full day and one search after it was lost, Ryan took her back to that spot and they looked again AND FOUND THE PHONE! It was on the road - on a bridge, no less - and was still operable. And rounding out our Friday, one of our tenants made chocolate covered strawberries and shared them with us!

* We worked yesterday, but we were also able to go wish our coworker's little girl a happy first birthday! She's so adorable! We spent some time in the evening with one of our soon-to-come tenants, and then we watched the Christmas movie I told you about earlier in the Shuffle! And then we waited on my computer. Oh wait. WE STILL ARE. ;)  (UPDATE!!!! It took until 4 p.m. on Sunday but we finally got the pictures to work.)

The Saturday Six

 

One.

I haven't made cut out sugar cookies (at Christmas) for a few years now. I adore eating them, but they really are a process to make. I know there are tons of similar-but-not-quite-matching recipes out there for both the cookies and the icing, but this post intrigued me - mostly because of the icing. (Do you call it icing or frosting? Or both?) This one looks so pretty - and not as hard to make as Royal icing, which I just cannot bring myself to begin messing with. 

Two.

I always love seeing bloggers' gift guides...because it's fun to get new ideas and learn about things I may not have known existed. Here's one with several sub-guides for all ages and interests! (I may have picked out a few things I liked for myself!) 

Three.

If you're in for a long winter's stay, and you need a craft project that is relatively simple and inexpensive, check out these wintry paper trees. I'm fresh out of room here at Christmas, but these would be lovely for the post-Christmas winter months!

Four.

Remember a few days ago when I asked if you had a moment to vote for Gateway Woods to win a disc golf course? GUESS WHAT!?!!?!? WE WON!!! And check out the final story, too, because it's even cooler than just winning!

Five.

I don't think I shared this before on here, but if I did, then I just guess it bears repeating! I found this list of cool cabin rentals throughout the US, and there are indeed some pretty neat ones listed! We stayed in a tiny cabin in Ohio this summer and LOVED it. Between that good experience and my undying love of A-Frames, I had all the heart-eyes over most of this list! 

Six.

Let's be honest: most of us are probably fortunate to get our gifts wrapped at all, and by wrapped, I mean dropped in a gift bag. I know in our home, Ryan is a FAR superior gift wrapper than I am, but I can still dream about someday being a fabulous gift wrapper. And to inspire me...and also you...check out some of these ideas! (Any of you especially good at wrapping?) 

Gateway Woods Staff Christmas Party

I've been so looking forward to telling you about the staff Christmas party we enjoyed last week! 

When I worked at IWU, they had elaborate Christmas parties every year. Employees could bring their families, get all dressed up, and come to a come-and-go evening on campus. (I've told you before about my embarrassing affection for the iced coffee punch at this party.) Santa greeted the kids and gave them presents, and the HR department greeted the employees with a little paper bonus gift. And of course - food for all!

I always enjoyed those parties, and this year I was able to enjoy a completely different kind of party here at Gateway Woods. I have no idea what their normal Christmas parties look like, of course, because this is my first Christmas here. BUT I can assure you that they win all the points (and more) for coming up with a creative party for the staff that was all pandemically proper.

The day before the party, Ryan and I (and every other employee or employee couple) received this delivery:

Okay first of all, isn't that SO CUTE? Secondly...they hand lettered and drew every single one of those. And to help you fully understand what that entailed, I borrowed this picture from Facebook:

Emily (pictured) and Cordin (behind the camera) were amazing party coordinators! 

Accompanying the box was this little snack tray, which we got to enjoy during the party:

We were all encouraged to wear our best festive/ugly Christmas garb, too, by the way. The party was held over Zoom, but we shared our Zoom with Tim, Justine, and Isla, since all of us were on duty together that day.

But before I tell you about the party itself, I have to show you all the contents of that amazing box. We were permitted to dig into it when the Zoom part began. Taped to the lid of the box was the agenda for the day. (I adore agendas, so that was a gift in and of itself.)

And then...all the little gifts! Wassail mix, hot chocolate mix, cookies, marshmallows, mugs and leather cozies, gift cards for the coffee shop, and a book! 

It's actually rather embarrassing to admit how totally toddler I became when I opened this. It was all SO MUCH FUN!

We were invited to have some hot chocolate and enjoy the snacks during the party. They recognized new staff and those crossing milestone years and then divided us into Zoom breakout rooms to play games! (We played one game where everyone in the breakout room shared a random and little known fact about themselves, and then we all guessed which fact was about which person. The second game was Scattergories.)

We know it wasn't the party they would have chosen to have, but we thought it was incredibly creative, and we had a great time, actually! 

Great job, Gateway!! You made a virtual Christmas party so much fun!