Christmas 2013

Merry Christmas! I hope you all have gotten to spend invaluable time with friends, family, and loved ones this week and that you were able to slow down and truly enjoy the reason for the season.

We decided during the summer that Will and I would host my mom and brothers at our house for Christmas this year. They haven't been down since we moved into our house almost two years ago, so we all felt like it was their turn to make the 11-hour drive down here.

We put up our Christmas decorations the weekend before Thanksgiving since we knew the three-week sprint between Thanksgiving and Christmas would leave hardly any time for us to do it.

We splurged on a new beautiful 9-foot tree this year, since the 6-foot  hand-me-down from my mom wasn't quite cutting it. We used all the same ornaments we had, but I added a few gold and brown bulbs, the red sprigs of berries, and the burlap garland. And yes, our pathetic star looked like that the entire season. Womp womp.

 Cozy blanket from Homegoods.

Next year there will be three stockings hanging!

We moved the bookshelves from where they normally stand to by the back doors to make room for the tree.

I had put all the extra bulbs in a basket by the small tree in the dining room. One day I came home from work after we left the dogs in the house for the day to find the basket overturned and bulbs all over the room. Lucy wanted me to know that she had nothing to do with that.

While I always knew in the back of my mind that we were hosting Christmas for my family and Christmas dinner for them plus five other people, it didn't really hit me that we were *hosting* people in our house until about Sunday before my family arrived on Monday. I was still sick at that point, so Will had to do most of the getting our house ready. I was originally supposed to fly to Amarillo first thing Monday morning and then drive back down with my mom and brothers, but I didn't think I would be able to get through the car ride considering how badly my back had been hurting. Three cheers for my mom, who got the call Sunday evening that she would be driving the whole thing herself.

Will came home from work early on Christmas Eve, saying I had gotten him sick. Poor guy battled through the worst of it that day and the next, taking just enough Dayquill to get him through the big parts of opening presents and later having everyone over for lunch. Otherwise he slept a lot, as you'll see in the pictures.

Also, I got to use my new camera lense for the following pictures. I LOVE it with all my heart; Will surprised me with it for Christmas after I used it on a friend's camera this summer in Honduras and I told him I wanted it before the baby gets here.

Will's friend from high school and his fiance just moved to Texas from Florida. Since they don't have any family down here, they joined us for the festivities.

Family.

 Dawson and I enjoyed some craft time Christmas night. I had picked up some ornaments from Hobby Lobby before they came for us to decorate. He loved it!

Will slept while we painted...

We were sad to see my family pack up on the 26th, and for the first time in four months, our house is quiet again.

We have packed up all the Christmas decorations, but they're still stacked in the dining room, waiting for us to take them back out to the attic. Since both of us have been sick and we both really needed a break after a long, stressful semester, we have been taking the break really slowly and enjoying our time together and with friends. Normally we would be "we have to get this done now!" but we've been content to do a little and then watch a few episodes of Law & Order or Property Brothers while the rest waits. I am so enjoying this quiet time in our lives before we have to kick everything into high gear before the semester starts again, we find out the gender of the baby, and get started on the nursery.

What was your favorite part of the week?

Megan's Bridal Shower

My beautiful sister-in-law is getting married at the end of this month, so last month Will and I had the honor of hosting her bridal shower with a few other lovely ladies.

I started planning this back in the summer- just getting some ideas together for a theme. I didn't want it to be an over-the-top theme, but I definitely wanted it to have something to tie it all together. With Megan's help, I eventually chose a "linen and lace" theme. Before they chose their wedding site, a lot of Megan's pins on Pinterest were inspired by rustic, outdoor weddings with lots of natural elements and burlap and those kinds of things. Once they decided on a venue, she realized a lot of those previous ideas she liked wouldn't fit with the more elegant decor of the venue. So I thought pulling some of the things I knew she liked would be a great way to make the shower feel very "Megan."

I designed the invites in Power Point (I know, I am awesome ;) ) and had them printed from Vista Print with a coupon. BTW, I've used Vista Print for numerous things (including our wedding invites), and I am always pleased with the quality for the price you pay. As a bonus, there is almost always a coupon code out.

Will and I went a little crazy cleaning the house for this event. I know that no one would be looking at my floors and the curtains and the blinds, but honestly those big things hadn't been done since we moved in last March, and it was time. We were just glad it coincided with a big event so that it would feel like all our hard work was worth it.

I didn't have a chance to snap a ton of great photos of all the decor and of the event, but I think overall the shower was a great success. The day was really all about Megan and her future with Brent, and I think that was accomplished :)

All the food was in the dining room.
(and sheesh, it's about time we paint and get some artwork in that room!)

For the food table, I used a white table cloth with a lace curtain I got at a thrift store a few years ago over it to tie in the "lace" part of the theme. I "made" a table runner out of some linen fabric from Hobby Lobby. The candles in the center are sitting on a plain piece of wood that I sprayed ORB.

Petit Fours are one of Megan's favorites, so I asked her grandmother to get some for the shower. 

The little chalkboard signs were made from some small wood signs I've had for a few years. I almost got rid of them this summer since I never used them, but then I remembered this shower and decided to save them. I sprayed them with ORB and painted the top with chalkboard paint. Unfortunately, I decided to use a new chalkboard marker on all the chalkboards in my house that day, and when I went to clean up the marker would not completely come off! These little signs are ruined (unless I want to sand them down and repaint). My big chalkboard in the kitchen faired a little better, but if you look at it the right way you can still see "Congrats Megan and Brent!"

Will and Megan's grandmother helped me get a lot of the food together. She made these awesome croissants- some were chicken salad (one of Megan's favorites) and the others were pimento cheese.

Will made these mini pumpkin bread cupcakes for me.

We also had a cream cheese/raspberry perserve dish and sausage balls.

The entry table- guests were supposed to grab a tag and write their "key" to a good marriage/relationship and sign it instead of signing a guest book. No one did it, but my great MIL saved the day and made it into a kind of game and passed it out to everyone before we ate.

I'm sad I didn't take an actual picture of these favors. I found a big box of assorted holiday teas at Marshalls a few weeks before and grabbed that, knowing we wanted to have a lot of tea to serve since Megan is really into tea. Since there was so much, I figured it would make a good favor for everyone. I found small pockets made out of brown craft paper at Michael's and got some washi tape (also from Michael's) to put on the front of each pocket. I labeled each with the kind of tea that was inside.

One of the other hosts

I cannot wait until the big day!

I'm Alive!

Last time I posted I was eagerly awaiting my trip to Houston. Well, I made it down here and I am having an absolute blast!

I won't be really posting about my trip until after I return home in another two weeks because my time here is precious and I want to spend it with the people I love and not my computer. As weird as it's been not checking my email email five times a day and reading all my favorite blogs (and logging into Pinterest!), it is so important to unplug sometimes and focus on what truly matters. For me, right now that means working on all the little projects that will make our house into a home and spending time with Will, my beautiful SIL, and our pups.

In the mean time, here are a few sneak peaks of what we've been up to:


P.S. I'm blogging from my phone for the first time, so sorry for anything that looks really weird!