Baby's First Christmas Ornament

Christmas ornaments are pretty special to us, so when it came time to pick out the traditional 'baby's first Christmas' ornament, I was a teensy bit stressed. 

I loved so many of the beautiful, dainty ornaments in porcelain, but that always makes me nervous because...hello...breakable. Then there are ones you can personalize with names, plastic ornaments, wood or clay ornaments. Or I could just make it myself. Too many choices!

Here's a round up of a few of my favorites, I especially like the little deer family in the upper left corner. And the flower ball, because it looks like our wedding flowers :) 

Deer Family | Bell | Wooden Snowflakes | Stamped Aluminum Snowflake 

Baby Prints | Flowers | Wire Stroller | Penguin | Holly Fawn

After searching and searching, this is the one I decided on. 

It's porcelain, but we'll just have to be extra careful- after all, we're the parents now!

Holiday Gift Guide: Your Husband, Who Makes The Yummiest Mashed Potatoes And Is Going To Be An Amazing Father.

This week's gift guide is for the hunky man in your life...

Finally...Christmas Season Is Here!

How was your (hopefully, long) weekend?

Besides a minor, pregnancy-induced hormonal fit that I had on Friday, our weekend was great. I'm going to blame it on being overly tired from all the festivities on Wednesday & Thursday...that's okay, right? 

I've always loved the weekend of Thanksgiving because it is always filled with family and friends, everyone is so laid back and relaxed. It's just a good time! 

The next best part is decorating the house, inside and out. And we always end up getting our tree. 

We didn't see our favorite photographer this year, so these are Kelly's mad skills with an iPhone :) Here is our tree from last year. 

It's been funny these past few weeks, we've spent a lot of time saying "This is our last time ever doing this alone!" 

And nothing is more official than having stockings for the whole family, right? I got one for each of us last month at Hobby Lobby when they were having their 50% off Christmas sale. They ended up being only $6.00 a piece - score! Since we don't have a fireplace mantel, I'm going to screw some hooks onto an old piece of barn wood and hang it with the stockings above our pellet stove. 

When do you put up your tree? Real or fake (no judgements, it's the Christmas spirit that counts!)? To be honest, we have one real and three, small, fake ones :) 

Hope you have a wonderful day.

PS.

Don't forget, it's Cyber Monday. Make sure to check if there's something you've been really saving for! 

Happy Holidays

I have the next four days off of work I am just so excited to be able to relax and spend this Holiday Season with our loved ones. I'm wishing for lots of laughter and new memories. Whatever the Holidays may entail, I hope you enjoy them!

Wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas!

 

 

Gingerbread Houses

I slept like a rock last night...actually, I'm pretty sure it was a sugar-induced coma.

 

The culprits? A couple teenage girls and gingerbread houses.

 

Kelly's sisters came over and we watched movies, ate popcorn, and got crafty. We built the houses using chocolate graham crackers and hot glue, which Honey was very upset about because, "How am I going to eat them if you hot glue them together?!"

 

We watched a few different movies, but my favorite was Tyler Perry's A Madea Christmas. Kelly's mom has been talking about it we were finally all able to watch it together, it was hilarious. Madea is one funny lady.

Nicole made hers have a barn roof- and how cute is that little flower box?

 
And Allison's (yes, another Allison- we go by Thing 1 and Thing 2) gumdrop roof and necco walkway- adorable!

His grandma had been at his mom's house helping to make candles and when they were finished, they came over to visit.

You can't see Kelly, but he is sprawled out on the couch next to his mother. See, he likes to gripe and complain about the chaos- having to hook up the DVD player for us, moving the kitchen table into the dining room, us making a mess with all of the sprinkles, the dog's stinky breath while he's begging to be pet, his mother and grandma stopping over when all he wants is peace and quiet... but really, it's all pretend. He loves it. He had big manly plans to be out working in the pole barn, or upstairs wrapping presents, but where do you think he was all night? On that couch, watching movies and hanging out with us girls.  He gets all of the attention from all of the ladies in his life. He gets to pick on all of us and in return, we pamper him. And we just laugh because we've got his number.

When I took the girls home on my way to work the next morning, his mom sent me with a warm, fresh baked loaf of beer bread and homemade jam to share with the office. I tell you, between three of us we had that loaf gone before the end of the morning. Isn't that horrible? It was so yummy.

Christmas Ornaments

We started our first Christmas tradition last year while we were dating.

Confession: I stole the idea from a Hallmark movie.

We decided that, for a Christmas Gift each year, we pick out an ornament for the other person. The ornament has to represent a memory that we made together in the previous year. We open them together on Christmas Eve and hang them on the tree.

Last year was so fun. I loved opening this:

And remembering one of our first dates. We went with friends to an outdoor concert where they shut down the main four-way intersection in the middle of the town and set up a big stage. My cousins were there and they met Kelly for the first time- he also gave me one of our first kisses. You see- I hate PDA, so I should've known something was happening in my heart when I didn't even flinch!

From there, we all went on to the casino for gambling and a little 3am breakfast. I don't even know what time we ended up getting home, but I'm pretty sure everyone but the driver was asleep for the ride!

Then for his ornament:

Kind of weird and not very Christmas-y, I know. This represents the giant, thunderstorm-of-the-century that we got stuck in while on the lake that summer. Our pontoon was anchored next to my mom's out in the bay and we were all lounging in the water on our floats. All of a sudden out of nowhere, the wind kicked up and it started to sprinkle. As we doggy paddled back to our boat, the sky went black started pouring buckets. I hid under a towel while someone pulled up the anchor, then we booked it across the lake- rain pelting us like airsoft ammo. All of a sudden, my mom's pontoon comes speeding by us at mach 10 and we're all looking at eachother thinking how the heck are they going so fast? Turns out, we didn't have just one anchor down- we had two.

So we laughed and laughed and that summer, it kind of became the norm that most of our best times together happened in the rain. It was funny to take out the ornament this year, decorating our first tree together, and realize that on our wedding day, one of our best days, it rained and poured the entire day. I guess rain really is our thing!

I already have his ornament wrapped and ready for Christmas Eve... I can't wait to see what he picked out!

Until next time,
xx

Gift Guide: Your Best Friend Who Flies Across The Country For Your Wedding, Matches Her Underwear To Her Shirt, And Loves A Good Cocktail.

This week's Holiday Gift Guide? Your bestie, of course!

Festive, Simmering Potpourri Recipe

Scents are one of my favorite things about the holidays. The smell of pine needles and mistletoe. Peppermint sticks and hot chocolate. Sugar cookies and cinnamon pine cones. All of it. As a young girl, when our family decorated the house we always had a pot of potpourri simmering on the stove.

This year I tried my own recipe. It was kind of a 'find-anything-you-have-in-the-kitchen-that-smells-festive' kind of recipe, but oh did it smell yummy!

First, I peeled some Cuties, then added a couple cinnamon sticks. Then I cut two sprigs of evergreen from our Christmas tree and sprinkled in some allspice. I usually like to throw in an apple cut in half, but there weren't any at home and I wasn't all about running to the store for an apple.

Heavenly, I tell you. Honey came home and the first thing he did is ask what smelled so good.

To leave it simmering all day, I suggest making your potpourri in a small crock pot and leave the lid off. Just remember you'll need to add water at different intervals, please don't forget about it!

Have you tried this before? What do you throw in your pot?

Our First Christmas Tree

Together, that is.

I've always had a Christmas tree because I'm a normal, Christmas tree loving kind of gal. Kelly, on the weird other hand, was a nice mixture of Scrooge and the Grinch (I can say was now because his heart has grown three full sizes).

During the first year that we became friends, Christmas rolled around and he told me that he didn't plan on getting a tree. I understand maybe that's normal for a bachelor, but I went on to tease him about being a Grinch. So much so that one day he asked me to stop over. He met me outside and covered by eyes while he walked me inside. As soon as I stepped through the door, I could smell it. Greens! Not of the medicinal kind. I opened my eyes to a beautiful, freshly cut Christmas tree! That might have been when I started to fall in love.

Last year we were still living separately and went tree hunting with a few of our good friends. We cut one for my house and one for his. But this year, this year, we had the full tree-hunting experience, horses, bonfires and all!

Meg Day Photography

After we (Kelly) cut our tree and they shook off all of the loose needles and tied it up, we waited for the horse and wagon to load up our tree and ride back to the barn to pay. As the wagon pulled up, who should jump off but our wedding photograher! It was so nice to see her and her mom, and she was sweet enough to take a picture of Kelly and I to remember our 'first' tree cutting.

 

 

I try not to compare myself with others because I think it can be a nasty habit to get into, but sometimes it's so hard! On Instagram, I'm seeing all of these beautifully decorated trees with tree skirts and lovely wrapped presents underneath. Well, this tree has been up and decorated since Thanksgiving weekend. Notice the lack of tree skirt and wrapped gifts underneath? So that's on my to-do list tonight because this poor tree just looks so sad underneath! I am so very ready for a quiet night at home and I think a little spicey spiked eggnog will hit the spot and keep me nice and warm :)

 

How is this Holiday Season treating everyone so far?

 

 

 

 

  

**PS.

I am sorry for the lack of posting lately. Life has been crazy busy (hello holidays!) I've been at the barn overtime lately and have finally started teaching! More on that soon....

Until then...xx