Snowflakes and Smiles

This weekend held a great surprise for Jesse and I....the annual Manitou Springs Snowflakes and Smiles Parade! Maybe the corniest name for a parade ever, but is was great to watch.

Here's a glance at the band practicing before the parade began. They sounded great except for one horn player who made their sound a little... off. VERY off. Still fun :)

Our view from the balcony. It was pretty darn cold and windy, but the blankets made it perfect

SANTA!! There were a few Santas there, perhaps a little confusing for the kids.

The end of the parade- a street sweeper

After the great Saturday, Jesse and I were able to spend together, we ended the day baking Christmas cookies with our good friends Sarah and Ash. Every Christmas my mom, Becka and I spend a whole day baking dozens and dozens of sugar cookies and decorating them as best we could (Becka's are always the most creative). Since we're not able to continue the tradition again this year with my parents in Florida, Jesse and I continued the tradition here at our home. We had a blast and all the nurses at my work who enjoyed the cookies raved about them. We hope next Christmas we will be able to continue the tradition in Florida :)

"And when life gets you down, don't forget to [snowflakes and] smile[s]."
-Jesse and Kate Marble, 2008

Christmas 2008

We love Christmas time. Not for the cable channel that shows Elf 24-hours straight (which is great) or all the exciting holiday events, gatherings, etc...but rather for the spirit of giving that is ignited in everyone. Also, for the fact that I'm sitting out on our front balcony and the trumpet band is wandering Manitou playing Christmas songs. Unfortunately the positive aspects of that giving spirit gets hijacked by the frenzied shopping and a common feeling of being overwhelmed by the sales, commercials, and materialism.

So we're doing something different this year. It's pretty simple: no gifts. Well, not in the normal sense. We've called our families (some of you reading this) and told them we're not giving them gifts. Also, we don't want any gifts. Instead, whatever amount would have been spent, we'd like to donate to a good cause.

We'll be donating that money to World Vision. They provide countless services to needy areas around the world and we want to donate towards providing clean water to a village that doesn't currently have access. To read more about World Vision, their Clean Water programs, and other things they provide, check our www.WorldVision.org

We would love participation by anyone else who's interested as well. Please pass this along, recruit friends, and consider participating yourself. We already have several friends/family members who are going to be donating money instead of scurrying around trying to think of gifts that aren't really necessary.

So instead of receiving gifts on Christmas day, our loved ones will be receiving cards that simple say: "Merry Christmas. We didn't buy you a gift this year. Instead, $X has been donated to World Vision in your name. With this gift, World Vision is able to provide clean water to X people."

Let us know if you'd like to participate. If we can raise $5390 for World Vision, that would be enough for a 60' well that would provide 600 gallons of clean water per day. That's enough to provide for a village of 150 people, year round.It's a huge goal, but we'd love to make it happen. Please consider taking part. Call or e-mail me at jessemarble@gmail.com if you have other questions or want to participate. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays :)

**This wasn't our idea. The youth pastor at our church has challenged the high school and middle school students to do the same. Read the article from the Colorado Springs Gazette here.
$450Billion (with a "B") will be spent on Christmas this year. Wow. Consider that noted economist Jeffrey Sachs believes we could effectively eliminate abject poverty worldwide if developed nations increased current aid from $65B/year to $135-195B/year by 2015. We could do that twice in one Christmas season.

A couple of bonus things:
1) Watch this and I dare you to not smile. I just like to smile. Smiling's my favorite.
2) This if funny if you've never seen it. Elf Yourself.
3) Santa Claus is coming to town. Well, he came to our town today. On a Harley. With a police escort. Followed by about 500 other bikers doing their annual Toys For Tots ride. Very loud. Here are a couple pics and a video.

You can see why this woke Kate up. (She worked her final night shift last night. For a couple months at least. Her husband thinks this is a good thing. )

6 Months of wedded bliss

Today was our 6 month anniversary! Here's a quick look back at the most wonderful day of our lives...

To celebrate, Jesse went to work and I played on our new computer :) Just kidding. To celebrate I made a delicious dinner and we enjoyed a walk around Manitou. To top it off, I was able to take the night off of work because there were so few patients! Jesse also surprised me with a very pretty wedding band that I absolutely love. I have to say that I married the most amazing and thoughtful man alive and I have loved every moment of our marriage and feel incredibly blessed. We've heard so many people say that the first year of marriage is the hardest, but it has flown by with ease and we can't wait for more.

Chicken Parmesan, pasta and sparkling cider for dinner


While we were walking around town, there was a fair trade market at one of the restaurants. Inside we met a man who started a local Colorado organization who raises support for several villages in Africa. Their website is www.africabags.org. Among many things, they sell "africa bags" which raise enough money per bag to purchase over 40 punds of maize, feeding a family of five for at least a week. We purchased 5 bags and several cards made of recycled paper. Jesse and I are realizing more and more how important it is to help those in need during this Christmas season, instead of thinking of ourselves. We hope you take the time to help someone else this Christmas season.