the shannons: Ok, NOW it's the most wonderful time of the year!

Ok, ok. That wasn't all I wanted to say. I've just had that pent up all evening. Recap of the story was that some guy in an SUV had pulled up after us in line I guess thinking he had claimed the spot we were directly perpendicular to. When I backed up a bit to let the guy leaving out of the parking spot so we could take it (and had a right to in the first place), the guy waiting behind us honked like crazy, then rolled down the window to scream profanities at us, then raced around to park by the sidewalk and get out when we ignored is angry taunts, THEN followed us and threatened to beat us because we continued to ignore his obvious desire to fight over it. We walked quickly into the restaurant and a crowd of people to hide from him. Some people are CRAZY! We were both shaking with anger, offense, and anxiety for at least half of what should have been a lovely birthday dinner out. Thanks, psychotic jerkface.

In other news, the Provo Tabernacle burned down, and I am really sad about that. It was a beautiful, 120+ year old building that looked more like an old Catholic church than an LDS church meetinghouse and was a big piece of Provo heritage. I have distinct memories of great Stake Conferences there both in my single days as well as my married days, a lovely Handel's Messiah sing-in at Christmastime, not to mention BYU Women's Chorus concerts. One really great memory I have of Sam and I from our Freshman year happened there: he came to my concert all dressed up and carrying a bouquet of red roses. I heard girls in front of me giggling to each other and debating over which of them some cute boy below them was looking at. I leaned over to see who all this giggling and fuss was about only to see my Samuel looking so handsome and searching the balcony of singers for me. He smiled when he saw me and the group of girls in front whipped around to ask if he was mine and proceeded to tell me how lucky I was. But I already knew that. Wow, sorry to gush. I'm just sad.

But on a happier note than either of those things, Christmas Break is here! Like the last leg of a marathon, we made it through finals and work and sleep deprivation to 2 weeks of freedom! Yesterday was Samuel's 24th birthday and, sure enough, he had to take a 7am final. :( I still got up early with him to make him his favorite breakfast of Raspberry Cheesecake Stuffed French Toast (yes, it's as amazing as it sounds). Then after his final he got to take a long nap, be exempt from dish-doing, enjoy some decadent brownie-ganache birthday cake made by yours truly, and play some basketball before hunkering down for more studying. Tonight we went out for dinner at our favorite La Jolla Groves and did some window shopping in the mall. Now we just have to finish laundry. And pack. And pick up the house to be ready to leave tomorrow. It will be a late night, but who cares. Tomorrow we'll be on a plane to my beloved Georgia and to CHRISTMAS!