Merry (salt shack) Christmas!!!

So this is what the outside of my house looks like right at this very second. why? because the girls in my house are redunkulously obsessed with christmas, and have fiances who are way too whipped and will do crazy things like climb up on our roof to spend 2 hours stapling christmas lights to spell "salt shack" in cursive.

and im ok with it :)

today was our house family christmas. i bought kate, my secret santa gift recipient, an amazing gift- a pair of shoes and matching skirt! i might steal them though. and i got a baby mummble stuffed animal, made by allyson at build-a-bear. his heart glows red! awww!

exams start tomorrow, but ive had stuff due all week. it really drives me crazy though when class is over, but im busier than ever cause everyone decides that since classes are out, everyone must have time for meetings. no. i dont. and i need a solid block of time for working. i really cant stand not having that, it kinda drives me crazy. so today was kinda frustrating.

on the upside, i went to the mexico team meeting (im going there on missions for spring break) and was pretty excited cause i followed god in choosing this trip over others, and i dont even have boy ties on this one. so i was amazingly freed up to go without boy issues. however, i found out today that we will be accompanied by a guys small group from JMU. HA!

PRAISE THE LORD!

i hope one of them is a handsome black man named jerome who is lookin for a wifey. but seriously, i had to laugh. how amazingly ironic. its my favorite.

...ps, im in my living room and im sitting on the couch where i normally sit to do work, right. well, our basement flooded tonight and so mary and allyson, the girls downstairs, have to sleep in the living room. mary is going to bed now, and shes engaged, and her fiance was tucking her in when he said "and sydney needs to leave so mary can go to sleep"...
WHAT? excuse me? did i hear that right? he was trying to tell me to get out of my own living room so she could sleep. it would be different if she asked, but he told me! i mean, im here cause i dont get internet in my room. so. and then, once more before he left, he said "sydney you better not keep mary up long" and he was serious.
whatev.
im totally giving them a crappy wedding gift. ha.

one more thing- so tonight, my friend christina was over. she used to live in the house, and i really respect her, and now shes married and teaching in charlottesville. anyways, tonight we were talking about xa break ups, and ben and i came up. and she said, gently of course, that my husband will "be exceptional, and i will look at ben as a hot dog." that is a reference to the analogy that "god wont dangle a steak and throw you a hot dog" as far as spouses and boyfriends go.
i mean, she said it, i think, as a compliment. and basically she was saying ben wasnt my best. which, i guess, is mildly apparent, but i dont know. i hadnt completely ruled out us being together again. not that i had planned on it by any stretch of the imagination, but i mean...and not even that, but just that she didnt think ben was that great. and people have been telling me that lately. but that hurts. i mean, he made me so happy and we were so entirely perfect together. like, our relationship was better than some married/engaged couples i know now. and i cant imagine any better. so when people say that he wasnt that amazing, it hurts. does that make sense? i still love him. really. so i guess i want to know if and how much it matters what your friends and family think of your significant other. i know that common advice is to listenand heed that advice, but what if they dont know the ins and outs of your relationship? is what they see a good basis for judgment. i dont feel like my family liked ben all that much anyways so im beginning to think its not all the important. i just dont want to be blind and rebellious and stupid.

anyways, have a good night!
merry salt shack christmas!!!