It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...FINALLY!

Salaam-Alaikum, Blogistan!

Yup, your fellow Muslim gal here again. 2008 and I’m celebrating another beautiful Christmas season with my Catholic man. Oh, now I can say “Catholic hubby”! Sweet.

Since 2003, we’ve picked up our tree either on the first weekend of December (Army-Navy gameday) or sometime shortly thereafter. This year, we have obviously fallen waaaaaaayyy behind. We went to the tree lot last week after work. It was decimated. Wow! Looked like a bomb had gone off in the lot. We managed to find our perfect tree though. A 7 foot Dougie. Smells spicy and fresh. Love it.

I’ve gotta say, even though this will be my 6th Christmas celebration, meaning that there is a tree, decorations, ornaments, lights, etc., it is still something I’m getting used to. Obviously, growing up in a Muslim family, we didn’t have Christmas trees and everything. That doesn’t mean that we didn’t observe the holiness of the season. We prayed and attended services at our mosque since Jesus is a prophet of God in the Quran. But, like I said, there was none of the red-and-green-and-gold madness in our home.

Since I went and got all googley-eyed and fell in love with Sir Edward, Christmas traditions have now become a part of my life. However, like I said, it is still a little strange for me to wander through a Christmas tree lot searching for just the right one. Our tree was supposed to soak in a bucket of special “sweet solution” for 24 hours....well, that ended being more like 5 days!!! We FINALLY got around to bringing it into the house this weekend, and last night we began to decorate it.

My sweet, sweet old boy, Achilles, sat in this spot watching attentively the entire time we were decorating. He was enthralled. God bless his Golden soul. And to think that earlier this year I was afraid he wouldn't even be here for Christmas because he was so sick. :-( I pray and pray that God will keep him healthy and happy for as long as he wants to enjoy life on our Earth. I had to grab the camera and record a little video...


Patiently watched...

And watched....

He was pretty enthralled with the lights...

His smiling face told me he approved!

Then it was time for the ribbons...

Finally, all the ornaments, the angel topper, and the manger scene...

Our baby boy, Nick, in his very own special ornament...I miss your sweet triangle face.

And where was Milo through all of this? Why, sleeping of course! Nothing puts this boy to sleep like the sound of Christmas carols....don't you just want to bury your face in his giant soft mane?!!! I do!

Come to think of it, that's what Achilles and Milo BOTH did on Christmas Eve last year!

http://kbl2ord2san2luv.blogspot.com/2007/12/christmas-2007.html

Since winter 2007, we've added our Newport, Rhode Island lighthouse ornament:

And a "Just Married" ornament from Disneyland!

For those of you recently tuning in, last year I won 2 annual passes to Disneyland, which expired this year. http://kbl2ord2san2luv.blogspot.com/2007/12/disneyland.html

When I think of last year's trip , one of the things I remember is stopping by Laura's house afterwards with a gift for Wrigley....please see here:

http://kbl2ord2san2luv.blogspot.com/2007/12/wrigs-christmas-present-2007.html

Well, this year's trip to Disneyland will be remembered because were upgraded! (Take that Beyonce!)

After work on a Thursday, we drove about an hour north to Anaheim and checked into the Disneyland Hotel. When the lady at the front desk found out we were recently married she upgraded us to the Honeymoon Suite!

Now, if you know anything about Disney, not only do they take care of the kiddies....they also go OUT OF THEIR way to indulge adults. Soooo, let's just say that the Disney Honeymoon Suite can rival any luxurious hotel's best offering.....Carrera marble tile throughout the bath, silk sheets, you name it!

Keep in mind that we checked in at about 9 p.m.....but the girl called housekeeping and then she asked us to wait a few minutes....guess what was waiting for us when we arrived?....

We couldn't believe it! Actually, we kind of felt bad that housekeeping had to scramble to do this for us so late at night. They were probably all cussin' us out down there. But, we appreciated everything. The room was magnificent!

We dined in Downtown Disney...

We also got special "Just Married" pins that allowed us to have a more "magical" experience, i.e., Minnie stopped to admire my wedding ring and took a picture with us:

On many of the rides we were also given the first choice on seats or a first row, which was cool. Our first water ride of the day and Ed got S-O-A-K-E-D!!! Here he is staring up at the scary bear with his soaked shirt and wet jeans. Poor baby!

So, at Disney everything costs a jazillion buckaroos. One of the things that seem like a total rip-off to me are the pictures they sell you after you've been on a ride. I'm sorry, I just can't justify paying $22.95 for a picture of me screaming on a ride. Being devious and clever, I take a picture of Disney's picture....voila!

Here we are on California Screamin'. I HATE roller coasters and I haven't been on one since the 6th grade, but this time I went not once, but TWICE. It was just so much fun with Ed that I couldn't help myself.

Funny story.....while on California Screamin', my gum flipped to the back of mouth and nearly gagged me to death, so I coughed it up, which made it come flying out of my mouth and hit the person behind me....if you look real close, you can see him behind Ed with his hand on his face!!!

Ok, this was by far the scariest fucking ride I've EVER been on. It's the Hollywood Tower of Terror. 'Nuff said. I was crying I was so scared. Can you tell? Ed couldn't stop laughing at me. Can you tell that too?
A mini San Francisco Bridge by day...

...and then later on by night....

We also did Splash Mountain something like a hundred times. We love that ride...

....see? :-)

I particulary enjoyed the Toy Story game ride, the one where I beat the pants off of Ed 71,500 points to 49,400 points....yahooooooo!!! (Ed was piiiiiiiiiiisssssed off!)

Sun setting over the pier in the park...

So that's the long story of how we came to own a "Just Married" Disney ornament. :-) Thanks for coming along on the pictoral ride.

You know, for a Muslim gal, I’ve come into quite a collection of ornaments in just 6 Christmases. I'll never catch up to Ed, who has been collecting them since childhood:

http://kbl2ord2san2luv.blogspot.com/2007/12/christmas-memories.html

I wonder what little trinket we'll come to find to symbolize our 2009? Stay tuned...