January Come and Gone, and a Meme

Hard to believe that January is over and done-with! I can't exactly say that I'm sad to see it go. I think that January and February are the two hardest months for me to get through each year (November too), but the nice thing about February this year is that we're going to the mountains! I'm looking forward to the break! Two more weeks before a blissful 10 days off.

I saw this meme at Crazy Cat Woman's blog yesterday. It's called "8 Things About Us" and consists of 8 things about WonderHubby and me that I haven't blogged before.

1. WH is eight years older than me, and I wouldn't have it any other way. I had dated a series of younger immature types in the years before, so it was such a joyful relief to find someone who was independent, mature and self-reliant.

2. When we eat out, we tend to eat at the same two or three restaurants, at which we always order the same thing. If we know we're going to enjoy it, why rock the boat?

3. WH = spender. Chorus = saver. LOTS of work on communication around this one.

4. If I had to identify one thing that has been hard for us, it would be the reconciliation of differing Christmas traditions. I know it sounds like a trivial thing, but as if the holidays aren't stressful enough, add competing expectations to the mix and you get yourself some grief. In our first Christmas in our little house, the day we put up our Christmas tree, there were tears, someone called someone else a jerk... neither of us really put our best selves forward. We laugh a lot about this now, and we did much better the second time around. I'm looking forward in the coming years to seeing what traditions we create that our OURS, and that we can pass on to our children.

5. I am grateful every single day that WH likes mowing the lawn. But it got to be a bit much when he suggested that we should come home early from the hotel the day after our wedding so that he could mow the lawn before family arrived for lunch.

6. WH has been like Superman in this week of miserable cold. Sidewalks have been shovelled, cars have been plugged in and started and brushed off and warmed up, and until this morning, he's done all the driving on the awful roads. Bless him for all of it!

7. My family very rarely barbecued when I was growing up. It is a syle of cooking that I am learning to LOVE from a man whose family's tradition is that everything, including breakfast, can (and probably should) come from the BBQ. I think that the ribs that he makes are better than those at Local Rib Restaurant. Yum.

8. One of my favourite pictures of the two of us was taken at Loch Lomond in Scotland last summer. I have my pants rolled up, my shoes under my arm and am walking in the water. WH is sensibly walking on the beach with his shoes on his feet. We are walking about 25 feet apart. And yet, despite the different approach and the distance between us, it is a picture of two people clearly connected.