Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Since I didn't take any pictures from this holiday season, I thought I'd share some from last Christmas..It's crazy to think how far we've come in one year.....

Christmas Eve 2010, Our Engagement :)

We were incredibly fortunate to spend a good portion of the holidays at home in Wisconsin with our family.  It was absolutely wonderful to see everyone and spend time with the people we love the most!  Before going home for Christmas, we embraced our first Christmas season as a married couple and continued many of our family traditions here in Pittsburgh.  Our holiday season started off with an awesome package from St. Nick.  St. Nick is a very special tradition in my family, and it was a really great surprise that St Nick found us all the way here on the east coast ;)

Unfortunately during all the hustle and bustle I forgot to take a picture of our Christmas tree and our decorated apartment.  I absolutely love Christmas and I make every attempt to help Chris love it as much as I do!  So we had lots of fun decorating the apartment and tree (thanks for all the decorations Mom and Dad!), listening to Christmas music 24/7, lighting our Advent wreath every week, and watching tons of Christmas movies together!  I think I have definitely converted Chris from Christmas scrooge to Christmas lover. 

We flew back to Wisconsin on Friday, December 23 and flew back to Pittsburgh on December 30.  It was SO wonderful to be home for a week and spend time with family and friends..we certainly feel very loved and extremely blessed!

I was on call for work New Year's Eve and New Year's Day.  So, our New Year's Eve was spent on the couch watching movies and eating Chinese in our sweats...it was very low key but also very nice!  Reflecting back on 2011 I can't help but feel exhausted!  This has been a very busy but amazing year: our wedding, my grandpa Valentyn's funeral, my cousin Leah's wedding, a honeymoon, a new job, a new school, a very big move to a new city, and lots of other "new" things.  Every day we talk about how lucky we truly are; sometimes it's very easy to lose sight of our abundant blessings when I am missing my family and wishing we were closer to home.  However, we trust that this incredible journey we are on is all in God's plan, and His plan is greater than anything we could ever understand.  We are so thankful for all of YOU, our wonderful family and friends who have shown us so much love and support this year especially!  THANK YOU!

We wish everyone many blessings in 2012.  Know that you are in our prayers, and that we love you all!

Much love,
Chris and Rachael

"Tell among the nations his glory, and his wonders among all the peoples, for the Lord is great and highly to be praised." Psalm 96 (95) 3-4 

Finals Week

Chris's first semester of dental school was completed on December 16.  He has worked so hard this semester and finals week was no different.  There were a lot of 2-hours-of-sleep nights, not too many showers, and lots of facial hair, but he did well on all his finals and ended up with good grades.  After a nice relaxing break, he is ready for semester 2!  I managed to get a few pictures from the week....

 I came home to find these towels taped to the chair for better back support..and of course one of our pillows for extra comfort.  He spent a lot of time in that chair during finals week!

 Taking a break to enjoy a delicious dinner ;)  The camouflage sweatshirt was worn a lot that week...

 Even during his crazy week he took time to make me this sign.  It was strategically hung on the door leading in the house from the garage so I would see it first thing when I arrived home from work.  Such a good husband!

Pittsburgh Light Up Night

In mid-November Chris and I attended "Light Up Night," a night of Christmas festivities in downtown Pittsburgh.  The giant Christmas tree is lit on this weekend, and there are a variety of vendors, bands, and activities for all ages.  The downtown area is decorated beautifully for Christmas, and right in the center is the giant Christmas tree surrounded by an ice rink.  It was so nice to spend time together and it was a great way to kick off our first holiday season in Pittsburgh!  Here are some pictures from that night:

 This beautiful tree in one of the buildings was surrounded by homemade gingerbread houses.

Ice skating rink...this whole scene reminded us of New York City..

Trying to get a good one in front of the tree!

I think Light Up Night will definitely be a new tradition for us!  The Christmas season in this new big city is actually pretty cool...lots of beautiful lights and decorations.  It was definitely very difficult to be far from home during the holiday season, but we tried to embrace Pittsburgh and all it has to offer this time of year!  :)