it's christmas time again

It's Christmas time again. We've seen snow fall from the sky already out here in Idaho. Thanksgiving is over, even if it's just a few days out. With the end of Thanksgiving it is time to put up the Christmas Tree. Luckily this is the first Christmas I have with my wife. We decide that it was time to buy a tree yesterday. We got a small four ft. tree from walmart and then decorated it last night.


Here we are getting ready to put the ornaments on:

I was lucky this year. I got to put the star on top of the tree. I've never got to do that before.

Unfortunately the first try was not the best. Poor little tree didn't like the weight of the star.

Luckily we finally got it all together and Allison was able to light the tree! Now that is just awesome.

Look it's the McLean's in front of their very first Christmas Tree! How awesome is that.

Christmas has come to the McLean home a little early in my opinion, but it's still the best thing ever. Merry Christmas to everyone.

one month

One month today. I have been married a whole months as of today. It’s strange to think I’ve only been married to Allison one month today. It feels like we’ve been together so much longer than a month. I would have thought we were at a year almost, but that would be impossible. So here we are one month into our marriage. I remember our single ward bishop telling us that if we could make it through the first five days we could make it through anything. Another person told us that if we could survive the first five years we would be set to go. I really don’t believe either of them though. The first five days with Allison were to amazing to even think about leaving. I was in total bliss. How could I not make it through the first five days? I know that’s the honeymoon stage and I’m sure I’m still in the honeymoon stage because I can’t imagine a world without Allison. In five years I have no clue how I’ll feel. I will be a different a person. I will be future Michael and future Michael is not me. It’s a Michael that could be a better husband and person all around or he could be a new jack the ripper. Future Michael is a scary thing to think about, because I should know him, but I don’t. That’s not the point; the point is how does making it through five years guarantee that you’ll never break up? It doesn’t. That’s all I’m saying. I know marriage isn’t easy and that I’m always going to have to work at it. That doesn’t make me mad or sad. It’s just a fact of life. I’m really happy for the fact that I am married, that I do have a wife. My wife is amazing. I couldn’t ask for a better person to be married too. The future can hold so many things. I never saw myself married to Allison two years ago when I first meet her, but past Mike had no clue who future Michael was going to be and who he was going to love. I’m so lucky that I did decide to fall for my love. She has brightened my world a hundred time a million. I never want to be without her again. This past month has been the best month of my life. It hasn’t been perfect, but it has been better than anything I’ve ever experienced before. To Allison, thank you for one magical month. I can’t wait to spend the rest of all my months with you. I love you, Michael.

the weight

One week ago I was married to my wife. It has been one of the most amazing weeks since then. I consider myself the luckiest guy in all of Idaho right now. With marriage comes a new ordainment to my body. I am now wearing a wedding ring. I’ve never been much of a jewelry guy in my life. My senior year in high school is the only other time I’ve ever really worn a ring. It was a small one I wore on my middle finger. I wore it for about four or five months before I got sick of it and it broke on me. I never replaced it, because I no longer felt like wearing jewelry. My wedding ring is very different than that ring. For one it’s on my ring finger instead of my middle finger. Second it’s much heavier than that ring. It feels like my finger is getting a work out all day. By the end of the night I can barely lift my hand. I’ve never felt like this before. It’s just a ring on my finger and my whole hand is sore. I want to just put my finger into a sling because it’s so heavy.

This weight is more than just physical weight. The soreness is also a reminder of the fact that I’m married. I have never been one of those guys who believe that marriage is prison or the end of my life. I am now seeing why people might say that. My wife is amazing, but this ring is a huge weight. It’s like I have a ball and chain to my finger. The weight helps me remember my wife too. It helps me remember how much she loves. It’s there to help me remember that I have someone to go home to every night. It’s there to show me that I’m no longer alone. My finger might feel like it has a weight on it, but my soul feels as if a weight has been lifted off it. It’s such an odd feeling. My hand feels weighed down, but my soul is feeling like it’s in the heavens. Only my wife has been able to make me feel the way I am. I’ll take a sore hand for a while to be with the most wonderful woman in the world.

a new mclean

There is a new McLean in my family, no I’m not talking about Hattie (although I can’t wait to meet her). I’m talking about my new wife. This last weekend I was married to my love. It was one long weekend with so many things that needed to be done, but it’s over now. I am a married man and I happy. I never thought I could be this happy for this long. I’ve never felt such joy and love in my life. I love that I have a wife. Someone I can talk to and just be with. Life is excellent. She makes everything better. I’ve know this for awhile now. That is actually why I decide to marry my wife. When I am with her she makes me feel a hundred times better than I had ever felt before. I knew she did this to me long before we got married or even dated. Insert awesome story now: I remember last October she got my full attention for the first time. I had known her for about a year before that, but didn’t really have an interest in dating her. Like people say it wasn’t the right time yet. We were at this church Halloween dance. I was rolling (rolling means to go with as a friend) with Dan to this dance. I was trying to help hook him up with this a girl he liked. At this dance was my (future) wife. My wife was amazing that night. She dress up as a gypsy and was looking pretty hot. She kept getting close to me, even though I wasn’t dress up at all. I dance at least three slow songs with her. If you’ve been to a church dance during this period you would know that they only play about six slow songs the whole night, if you’re lucky. I danced every slow song I heard with her (oh yes I was lucky). Then during fast songs I was working to help Dan out and she still ended up near me. At one point she got really hot and took off one of her million layers she was wearing. After doing this she came up to me and said I just took off my jacket (or something like that), what else should I take off? That comment made me think this is the girl for me. At the same time, I was like no way, this girl is way out of my normal league of dating. She was so beautiful and fun. That dance is what started a one year quest that made her my wife. I didn’t start out with that in mind. I was just looking for a girl to date. I didn’t start dating her till January, but I started to talk to her at church and school. I started to get to know the most amazing person I’ve ever met in my life. To think it all started because she kept standing next to me at a Halloween dance and ask me to dance. Now there’s a new McLean that is way awesome. No offense to the pervious McLean women in my life, but I love my wife. I love the fact that it took me a year to realize she was awesome and then another few months to even get the courage to ask her out. As Mary Jane Watson says, “You hit the Jackpot, Tiger.” Oh, I hit it hard.

sold out

I grew up in a nice little college town out in Indiana. I love the town I grew up in. If it had it my way I would never have left Bloomington. Nothing stays the same though. I had to leave my beloved town to search new goals and discover new horizons. I would love to move back, but at the same time I discovered a new love; a new love for a town that is so different, but at the same time so much like my old town. I talk of my Boise. A little city nestled in mountains. I never thought I would fall for this town. It’s not my beautiful Midwest town I grew up in. It doesn’t have the beautiful trees that I grew up with. The air is morbidly dry and makes my delicate thumbs and lips split wide open. I bleed more in this little city than anywhere else I’ve lived. After two years of living in the city and two more years living in the surrounding towns, I’ve slowly fallen in love with my Boise. How can this be? How could I part with my beautiful humid Midwest town?

What would make me forsake my home? A place I’ve called home since I was eight? That is something I still don’t know. Today I was talking to one of my friends over pizza about Boise. She too is leaving Boise soon. She has to return to the dreadful Utah. She started talking about how she hated Utah and why Boise is wonderful. As we spoke in amazement of our adopted home, I came to realize how much I really do love this town we pass off as the big city. I use to hate how people made Boise the big city when it was not a big city, I’m not even sure it’s a city at all. It’s a quaint town that has sucked me in. This town has given me a university that I’ve thrived at and discover who I am. I love the green belt, a long walking park that I rode my bike on so many summer days; a place where I took my love to show her nature’s beauty. Boise is the town where I found the love of my life. I’ve grown to love the big city feeling in this town, maybe it is a small city. I will always cherish the fact that I found my wife to be in this town. Going to picnics in Camel Back, eating pizza in little pizza dives. Now I have my first home with my future wife. Not just an apartment, but a home. I hate to admit that Boise is my home. I will cherish this town forever. I love Boise just like I love Bloomington. I hope in my future adventures I can find a town like Boise or Bloomington to cherish as I have loved these two cities.