Christmas with the Hensons

Ho ho ho... another Christmas come and gone for the Hensons! This year we celebrated Christmas four times, once on the 21st with my family, and three times on Christmas Day with Brooke's bunch. This was a new year for the Henson clan, with an equal number of guys and girls present thanks to Christina. I predictably got movies, and Brooke got lots of books that she is already halfway through. And of course, we ended the day with the traditional viewing of "While You Were Sleeping," while Dad struggled to stay awake. Ah, the holidays!

Christmas Day's Yeiser/Thompson marathon was full of fun, family, and calories, as usual. After a hearty breakfast at the Yeiser house, we moved on for a lunch at Granny's before dinner at the Thompson's. Lots of presents were exchanged, and the most ironic gift I received was at the Thompson Dirty Santa exchange, when I received an electric razor. Combined with the beard trimmer Granny gave me, I have no excuse to look like a terrorist or homeless anymore. Brooke cleaned up as usual in the gift department, but I'd like to think those diamond earrings some awesome husband got her are her favorite. I'd take a picture of my gift to show off, but since it is a camera that gets tricky.

And my favorite part of the weekend can be summed up in this last picture. Brooke was very happy to be able to spend 4 days at home, which she hasn't done since the week before the wedding. I like going home with her (and where else can you get breakfast cooked for you 3 morning in a row?), but here is something you'll probably never see at the Henson Christmas:

And that's because our family prefers shotguns after Thanksgiving dinner.

Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year!!

Signs of Marriage Appear

So last night Brooke and I are driving home from here work Christmas party. It was a pleasant evening at Chaffin's Barn Dinner Theatre, literally a barn that houses plays while serving dinner. It was nice, but horribly ironic that Brooke's company, NHC, runs nursing homes, and there just happened to be a busload of retirees there that night. I told Brooke they should hand out business cards at intermission.

Anyway, so we're driving home and talking about Christmas and presents and what we have left to get people. Somehow the conversation turned, and we started talking about what we got last year. That is when it hit us: we couldn't remember what we got each other last year. The drive home took an hour. We spent at least 45 minutes trying to piece together the past two Christmases to figure out what the heck we got. I knew I had received a watch at some point, and Brooke got a robe, but we seriously thought the rest of the crowd at the play infected us with Alzheimer's or something.

What does this tell us we have to look forward to in the coming years? I mean, we've got a year and a third down and we already can't remember things. Now I know how Mom feels when she yells out fifteen different names when trying to get my attention before she finally settles on Tyler. Which, by the way, is degrading when she picks out our dog names when yelling at me.

Things I Know Now That I Didn't Know When I Was Single

You know, me and Brooke have been married for one year and four months today (and yes, I counted the months on my fingers to make sure that was right). Being married is fun, way better than dating or being engaged. When you are dating it is so stressful and expensive. You take the girl out, you try to be creative, and your always wondering "Does she like me" and "Is there something hanging out of my nose?" Then of course you meet the parents and the friends, and they meet your friends and family (which in my case was always a scary proposition, but luckily I didn't date much). Dating is fun and exciting, but it wears you out.

Being engaged is like dating, except you are throwing out even more money for tuxes and flowers and rentals and bachelor parties (the latter being the most important aspect of an engagement). You are planning the wedding, figuring out the honeymoon, and trying to figure out where you are going to live and whose stuff you will use for the furniture. Actually, that last thing is usually easy, it's the girl's because a leather couch and a set of rails and a mattress usually don't work as "furniture" for a girl. Other things that don't work: bright green dishes with chips in them and movie posters for wallpaper. Just my observations though. Engagement is fun, but it sure is busy.

Then you get married. Yeah! The wedding is fun, but you always need to refer to the videotape to remember it all. The honeymoon is a blast, especially spent in Disney World, but over too quick. Then you come back and it is just you and the wife (or husband, depending on who "you" is). At first it is funny, you do your best Ricky Ricardo impression coming in the door at night and feel awkward that you don't have to go home at the end of the night. You spend a good two days trying to figure out how to fit all your clothes in the same closet and come to the conclusion that you might just need two computers, because you can't both be on Facebook at the same time with one. It starts to sink in a bit.

After a while, Ricky Ricardo loses his accent and you sound more like Dick Van Dyke coming in the door, sans the 50's clothing. Life becomes comfortable as you get used to the way your permanent roommate does things. Luckily, we both agree that the toilet paper should always go over the top, but I still believe you put groceries in the trunk and not the backseat. It takes a few trips to Wal-Mart and Kroger, but you finally compromise on what groceries to get so you aren't buying Jif and Peter Pan because that is what you are used to. All we heard before we got married is how hard the first year is, and while it wasn't all roses and puppies, it was a pretty good time. The only time we fight is apparently while we sleep, as I wake up with an elbow in my side and Brooke has an armpit in her face.

When I was single I thought that being married was like dating, except it is every day instead of just on the weekend. But we definitely don't eat out as often, because apparently 2 paychecks do not equal 1 + 1 paychecks, somehow. Go figure. And now we are just part of each other's families, instead of just a guest in the house (and Mama Yeiser definitely likes me more than Brooke... I'm not the second favorite child). I no longer worry if she likes me, I know she does, and I use her to check for things hanging out of my nose. It's pretty cool to have someone to share everything with, your good stories and bad days, your worries and fears, your money (especially when you are still in school and don't make enough in a month to pay for rent).

When I was single I worried about the unknowns of marriage, kinda like you worried in elementary school what high school would be like and if you could ever survive there... and when you were the nerd in elementary school that was an even bigger concern. But just like high school, marriage has turned out to be better than I could ever have imagined. Single life was good at the time, dating was pretty fun, engagement was rather stressful but exciting, but marriage, so far, is the best. I know, I know, we have lots of time left. But so far so good!

Pictures of the house decorated for Christmas coming soon! (read: when Tyler stops being lazy and finishes hanging lights)