Just hopping onto share some Christmas cheer! Rachel,Tausha and I all did an ornament swap via Instagram/blog. We paired everyone up and had the ornaments sent out last week. {Oops that it was the busiest mail days of the year! Oy! I stood in line for a half an hour to mail packages!}
I was actually matched up randomly with Rachel's sweet mama, Margie. She sent over this beautiful silver sparkly ornament!! It was perfect for our white tree! I love to put silver/gold/sparkles on it!
Brooke just adores it. It's so girlie and just perfect for us.
Her adorable card even matched. Love.
Thank you so much Margie, we love it!!
I think we should do this again next year, but maybe have it a little earlier in the season so that we are not rushed at the post office!!
It was "Small Business Saturday" last weekend and also Christmas in the Village of the town where I grew up. We were supposed to meet up with my step mom, but she's really sick and hopefully gets better soon!! I had my sister meet me there, in hopes of helping with both my niece and Brooke. It was bit chilly, but I think they had fun!
There were all these guys walking around and Brooke just adored them! She high fived them and Santa was there too. She didn't sit on his lap yet, but she did stare!!
Next up was Christmas story time at the library. That lasted about 3 pages and she wanted no part of it, so we went out and played in the other area…
Next up was Truffle Mac and Cheese from a food truck---YUM!
I did a little shopping on my dad's sale at his store!
The girls wanted to go on a horse drawn hay ride…..SO COLD!
Thanks again Aunt Brianna for helping out!
Sunday brought us tree shopping.
Come on Daddy!
Let's go find a tree!
Are you comin Ma??
Crazy bed head alert! On Monday we pulled out some decorations and I tried to put ones that weren't sentimental and mostly unbreakable at her level. She is obsessed with this little house, which reminds me of one I used to love that my mom had growing up. Except ours lit up and had our house address on it so I thought it was magical. This will have to do for now. :)
Monday evening, toes tasted good.
Tuesday she insisted on decorating me, her car, and everything in between with these beads!
I am feeling REALLY {insert: tired, sore, swollen, frustrated, feel like he's gonna fall out} pregnant. And then I go back and look at what I looked like with Brooke and realize, I really am 20 pounds smaller and somehow managed through it last time, so I can do it again!!
Decorating our tree. I was so exhausted, I really give it the hubs. He put all of our lights on the tree, most of the ornaments and helped me clean up. It was a bit much trying to keep her from breaking all of the ornaments but I believe we only lost one. We tried to keep the safe ones on the bottom half, and if you look closely, it's pretty bare on the bottom haha. #christmaswithatot
Oh, and hubby did have a full on grizzly beard for November. He then decided to shave it and have a mustache for two days. Here is proof.
He then sent my friends a photo of himself, while he used my phone as a flashlight to hook up our tree to a timer--sorry guys! It's creepy, am I right?!?
Slow and Steady my friends. I just keep taking it one step at a time and doing what I can. I am so slow and get easily frustrated, but I remind myself I am in the home stretch and it will only be like this momentarily. I'll share some tree photos later, when the house is a little more photo ready and I can proudly show it off haha!
While I am not someone who likes to rush the seasons, I will fully admit my favorite holiday is Christmas. I love Fall, Joe's favorite is Halloween, and Thanksgiving is great and all, but I am for sure a Christmas girl. I love getting a real tree and finding the "perfect one" to bring home to our living room.
My favorite tradition of all, is getting a Christmas tree and decorating it. I've loved it since I was a little girl. I actually blogged about this tradition back in 2011, HERE
Then in 2012, I was pretty pregnant with Brooke due Jan. 4, so we opted for a small tree and looking back, I barely blogged about it at all!! I did take a silly mini video of us finding our tree…HERE
In 2013, it was SO cold, but we ventured out and found our tree, decorated it and made sure not to leave anything too breakable at the bottom of the tree, worried Brooke would be into it. She actually was great and really didn't seem too impressed by the whole thing! HERE
So this year, we are pretty much in the same situation…I'll be super duper prego, baby due Jan. 10th. We also have a very active toddler, so while the spirit of Christmas will be lively and wonderful, I think we will downsize our tree again. It just makes life a little easier, since hubs will be the one really doing the heavy lifting.
I am that crazy person with like 20 totes of Christmas stuff. In fact, we even added to our trees last year; Brooke has a pink one in her room, and the dining room has a white one that I bought on a black Friday special. I shared a Holiday Home Tour HERE
It just takes me back to being a kid and the magic of Christmas and I cannot wait to have my own children make special memories around the tree. I just love the act of family gathering, and even more so when it's cold outside, the fire is lit and the tree is beautifully lit up. I know that I married the right man, as I had not felt so wonderful inside on Christmas, as I did that first Christmas in 2008. Each year gets better and better and I just love everything about that tradition.
I'm sure as the children grow, we will make more traditions. I would really like to start having weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly dinners with family/friends. Time slips by so fast, and I want my children to grow up in a social atmosphere with lots of good food and laughs with people that we love.
I wanted to share some of my Christmas decor this year. I decided to try and keep it simple; I didn't put out a lot of the breakables simply because, sweet miss Brooke is into everything! I just absolutely love Christmas. I don't like to decorate until the day after Thanksgiving. I love all the different themes people do too--from all white, to gold/silver, red...and of course traditional colored lights. Sometimes I wish I had a "Pottery Barn" living room, but with two dogs, a baby and a fun and energetic hubby, white twinkle lights and silver decor just aren't our thing.
Maybe some day in my spare, formal room {whatever that may entail} but for now, it's a hodgepodge of fresh Pine, colors, sparkles, and stuffed snowmen.
Most of all, I adore sentimental Christmas tokens. I wonder what will stick out in Brooke's mind as she gets older. I remember a ceramic tree that lit up and a snow covered house that plugged in. I wish we still had it!
Let's start outside, shall we? To the right of the door, you'll see a large, real, wreathe. Too big to hang on the door, oops!
Inside looking out.
Foyer.
Table decor from the Dollar Tree and gold chargers from Walmart. I am looking for cute Christmas dishes, but haven't found any I'm in love with. Ideas?
Our dining room. {Pardon the crooked star topper ha!}
I decided to go with a "glitter" theme. I put all of our glittery, gold or silver ornaments on this tree.
Buffet table with my adorable serving dishes!
Brooke LOVES all of these.
Snowmen galore!
In the kitchen.
My view as I do dishes.
Merry Merry.
You'll find holiday scented soaps in all 3 baths & the kitchen.
Yes, I have these on each and every door!
A little tree for our bedroom.
Brooke's first tree! Nana bought her a sparkly pink one.
How is it December 10th?! I cannot believe it. I am so happy to report that our house is MUCH happier, healthier, calmer and so much better this week....Sadie girl is doing well and is more like our puppers every day!! Thank you again for all the prayers and well wishes. I believe they worked! Our little Christmas miracle.
Joe had the weekend off and it was a tad stressful [with the dog] but we made the most of it and enjoyed our time! Friday we went to his grandma's house to "help"make some Italian cookies. I didn't bring the pack-and-play {stupid}and so she was rather difficult to entertain and try to help bake. It was so nice to see his family and spend some time there. I was a rather stressed from Sadie and worrying about her, so I do hope to get some more cookie baking enjoyment in!
An Italian lunch...
Grandma feeding the babe....look at her belly!!
A *fraction* of the cookies made!
Great-grandma & Brooke {and Holly's sister Roxy!}
Saturday was kind of a "catch up" day. Cleaning, laundry, {mostly towels} and taking care of the dog. However, we snuck out for sushi and saw a movie---thank you Alison for babysitting!!--- I just love love love getting all dolled up!! I don't really wear super pretty and nice stuff when caring for Brooke all day. I'm mostly covered in slobbery and food bits. Our dogs shed a ton of fur and heels just aren't manageable with an 11 month old!! I really wanted to wear my new lace top from Express. I paired it with a black cami, black skirt [from Urban Outfitters--never worn! I bought it right before we got pregnant!] black tights and my Aldo boots. I. Felt. Like. A. Million. Bucks.
Debating on how to wear this....
It was cold. Threw on a faux fur vest.
---As for the movie--OMG if you haven't seen Hunger Games 2--Catching Fire, you have got to do yourself a favor and go see it! We really enjoyed the first one, but we were at home and watched it. I believe it was the summer time and I was prego. This time seeing it on the big screen was so amazing!! Joe and I couldn't believe that it was over when it was. A great release away from our hectic and crazy [seizure dog] week.
Sunday we got up early and grabbed Panera breakfast sandwiches and headed to the Public Market to look for a tree. None were big enough, but we did get a wreathe. We headed back to our trusty tree place and found a winner!
My fur babies!
Doesn't it look like Sadie smiled?
We couldn't watch the game on cable, so we had the NFL Redzone on and the game pulled up on the internet!
My perfect Sunday Eve.
We enjoyed a cozy fire, decorating the tree, a Niners win, and delicious venison steaks on the grill.
Oh the holidays, you can't beat home, sweet home!!
