Only Wanted To See You Dancing in the Purple Rain

Well, Josh totally won this year! For Christmas he got me the 2 Glee soundtracks, the 70th Anniversary 3-disc blu-ray set of GONE WITH THE WIND, and a new ipod! This new ipod is PURPLE (hence I call it Purple Rain), has a video camera, and is 16GB! Holla! Quite a spacial improvement on my current ipod. I am pretty stoked!

Christmas was GREAT! We definitely had a Hatch Christmas and it was fun to hang out with everyone and learn lots of new games. We are crazy about new board/card games up here! Here's what we are currently playing:

1. Ticket to Ride Europe
2. BANG! (thanks to Matt Earl!)
3. Guillotine (thanks to PJames!)
4. Pictureka
5. Zeus on the Loose
6. Loot

Let me tell ya, it's pretty exciting up here in Davis County!

I also got to hang with my girl, PJ, and James and baby Jesse. She is due with her 2nd baby in March! Cuh-razy! But really exciting, and I know she will be great. Too bad we never think of taking cameras to such occasions.

2010 is definitely starting off with a BANG! My job is really about to kick into high gear, Josh goes back to school, and we have a car to fix, or scrap... who knows!

I have plans of eating healthier, with my new Cooking Light subscription! And my current internal debate is: should I do Boot Camp?? 5:30 am?? I really need to kick my but into gear if I ever want to really lose weight and get fit. Self-motivation? It's pretty petite. But with my homegirl's support... I think I could do it! Stay tuned!

Our "Secret Santa" gift was from awesome Rachel and Jason, and it was tickets to the Nutcracker! It was great, but I don't think we'll be seeing Swan Lake anytime soon. Josh was ready for a musical, and he was quite disappointed. =)

Much love! Happy New Year! More joyous news to come!

Tradition, TRADITION!

I love the holidays and love all of the traditions that go with them. As a young married, sometimes I wonder when did our parents & grandparents start their traditions. I want to start our own family traditions, by smooshing some of mine with some of Josh’s, and adding some new things in. But when do we find the time? We’ve got family over here and family over there, and it seems like we are always participating in other people’s traditions. It is great to have family around and people willing to feed you, but sometimes I want to do my own thing. I hope that doesn’t sound bad… =)

I am finding all of these yummy cookie recipes, and I am reading to put on baking shoes! Or maybe my apron. ;) And then, we don’t have a full house, so it’s to justify us keeping all these goodies to ourselves, but then everybody we know is trying to eat healthy (us included!), so I feel like there is a little bit of a predicament going on. Maybe I should find healthy alternative recipes? That’s not a bad idea, but a little indulging is good, too.

This year I know will be a mish-mash of traditions, but maybe that’s what we need to propel us into our own. Josh’s mom is gonna teach me how to bake some of her specialties, and I plan on recreating my Grandma’s Mexican Christmas Eve extravaganza. Which reminds me, I better call and get that enchilada recipe…

There is something magical about traditions. It makes me feel tied to the people and places that I love. As I get older, and the people I love get older, it’s even more important to me to keep these relationships strong,, even just through food, song, movies, and sharing memories. Man, do I sound like a cheese ball! Even though I’m not in California with Christmas by the beach, and Josh isn’t in snow covered Chicago, we can still celebrate family style. A new Hatch style.

In related news… we got a new Christmas tree! We opened ours and there was only one leg, thus the tree would not stand. So we got a bangin’ one that was on sale at Wal-Mart and it is pre-light! MAGICAL! I also got some BOOTS-- I’ve been wanting boots for years, because it’s pretty awful getting the bottom of your pants all soggy and slipping around in Converse. I have joined the ranks of the winter-ly!

My mom introduced me to the Diana Krall radio station on Pandora.com, and now my favorite station is Diana Krall Holiday! It is so nice and fun and jazzy! The PERFECT holiday station! Another good one is Mariah Carey Holiday, but I’m sure you already knew that.

MUCH LOVE! HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

T-R-O-U-B-L-E

The results of living with a curious cat... It's always entertaining over here! Bono is quite the acrobat!