twas the night before christmas

Yes, we did indeed celebrate Christmas, but lets just say from November until after Valentines Days it seems like its all a blur in our house. We start off with Thanksgiving, then our anniversary, then my birthday, then christmas, then new years, then 3 birthdays back to back (BIL, hubs & mom) and then finally valentines day. So please excuse me for the delay in a recap of all the wonderful holiday cheer that happened this past month.

We started off with Christmas Eve going to our childrens service at church at 5:00pm. I was scrambling to finish wrapping presents all day, and nearly almost missed going to church altogether as I didnt notice the time until 4pm. Somehow I managed to squeeze in a shower, dress Matthew in an adorable elf outfit my mother-in-law bought him, convince hubs to take a quick shower, pick up my mother (who was going with us), and make it on time for the service.

Now, I do admit, Matthews outfit was a lil over-the-top festive, but boy was it great to see all the smiles from the church members as we passed to the front to be seated. He had fallen asleep on the ride there, but as soon as he heard the childrens choir begin, he was all smiles. At one point it sounded as if he had joined in with the kids singing, to the point the pastor glanced our way with a large smile. Kinda ironic, considering my favorite part of christmas eve service is the fact that I get to sing off-key the entire time ;) Of course after the children had finished singing he went right back to being fully amused by the ever so large elf booties he was wearing. You see he thought it was a better idea to eat them opposed to wearing them.

We finished the service with my all time favorite tradition. The lights in the church were dimmed so low they were nearly off completely. A row of volunteers gathered at the front to light their candles. They walked throughout the church lighting others' who proceeded to do the same. The church was nothing but a glow of candle lights. And then softly you could hear, "Silent night, holy night, all is calm, all is bright......"  I turned to look at my husband, who was holding my son, and got the greatest sensation of overwhelming love I could ever feel. This was my family. These were the beginning of our traditions. And my face lit up even more when I saw the pure happiness my son expressed while staring at all the candles lit around him.

After the service we went back to my parents where we had a surprisingly low-key christmas eve dinner. It was just the five of us. My mom, dad, hubs, matthew and myself. We didnt spend long there, as it was past matthews bedtime. So my mother handed us a wrapped present and sent us on our way. I knew what the present was. I had been waiting for this moment for quite some time. Under that wrapping paper was Matthews very own "A Night Before Christmas" book. I remember my mother reading it to us every year, to the point where I could probably recite the entire thing without hesitation. I couldnt wait to read it to Matthew for the first time. I know he wont remember it or anything, but i surely will.

After I read it to him and tucked him into his crib for the night, hubs and I had some last minute wrapping to finish.  Stockings to hang and presents to rearrange under the tree. Plus a couple of our friends were going to stop by too. One of hubs good friends recently got married to a girl who I absolutely love. Shes from England and between her accent and continuous random sayings, she has me constantly cracking up. They seriously are so cute together and Ive never seen him so happy.

She insisted on bringing over one of her traditional holiday treats, mulled wine. It smelled absolutely delicious. Bringing me right back to christmas when I was younger and my mother would have the mulling spices set on the stove for the aroma to spread throughout the house. However, this particular treat was of the adult beverage kind. It was a mixture of wine (i think she said pinot noir), mulling spices (not the prepackages kind, more like the individual kind she had to search for), and brandy. She set it on the stove to keep warm and poured the four of us each a small glass. I took a sip of mine, gave a small smile and i told her it was "different." Different as in, i feel like im drinking a bottle of cough syrup, different.

We proceeded to move out onto the back patio where we relaxed, talked, and just enjoyed the presence of friends. I dont remember exactly where in the evening it happened (probably due to the amount of "cough syrup" i had just taken), but one of us had mentioned that we couldnt possibly drink any more of the mulled wine, maybe due to the beverage now sitting cold (trust me it doesnt taste any better cold, probably worse). Then it dawned on us, why not introduce her to one of our holiday treats. And thats when the spiked eggnog was cracked open ;) We explained to her, that considering it never really gets below 70degrees in south florida around christmas time, that we like to drink our adult beverages more on the cold side, opposed to the hot cider-ish cough syrup lol. Then, the kicker, she said she would have probably added more brandy if she had been home in England. lmao.

I think right about midnight was when I realized I had forgotten to get eggs for Christmas morning breakfast. I quick texted my best friend who was on her way over, to stop at the quicky mart down the street and buy me eggs (what? youve never done that before?) She was a life saver and showed up about 15mins later with a dozen eggs for us. We then proceeded to introduce her to the mulled wine. I dont know how she did it, but by the time she left there was not one drop of the stuff left in the pot on the stove. She even claimed the next day that she liked it. We're still a little confused.

We realized it was well best 1am by now. And considering we were hosting christmas morning, we should probably already be all nestled and snug in our beds. ;) So we wished them all a merry christmas and off they went. I snuck into Matthews room one more time to make sure he was snug too. It looked like Santa had already visited our house and I knew there would be so much excitement in the morning.

babys 1st christmas: our christmas cards

Im a designer. so when it comes to absolutely anything that needs to be printed, i am extremely picky on the final design. my bridal shower invitations, i had to approve. My wedding invitations, I designed. My baby shower invites, I picked out. So when it came to our first christmas card with a baby, i knew i would need to start way in advance getting things together.

Enter my second obsession. deals. coupons. promos. you name it. Saving money, im in. So when I saw a groupon for christmas cards on zazzle.com i jumped at the idea. However, it was so far in advance the groupon actually expired on Nov 9, 2012. Which meant I had to get my act in order and fast.

I actually thought, this is perfect. Hubbys aunt is a professional photography and shes coming into town the weekend of Nov 3rd. It will be her first time meeting Matthew and she's already promised us since before Matthew was born that she would take some baby pics for us. So i started pinteresting away (you can check out my christmas board for my inspiration if you'd like) and set out on buying any props or clothing I would need for the photos.

Then as usual, plans never go as expected since having a child. I wont bore you with the gossipy details, but his aunt ended up not coming into town at all. And we didnt know this until 2 days prior to her expected arrival. Needless to say, now I was in a complete freakout mode that 1) we wouldnt have pictures before the groupon expired, 2) if I took the pics myself would they come out alright and 3) now I have to research how to actually take the pic I want with my own camera, and perfect it by this weekend so I can have everything in place to order before the expiration date.

So a quick trip to home goods for a textured blanket, kmart for some icicle lights and red and gold ball ornaments, and one desperate phone call to my sis to come over during my lunch break to help with my "photoshoot" and we were good to go. if thats what you want to call it.....

Here is a quick look at my makeshift photo set.

Pretty clever for never having done this. And after multiple attempts. And when I saw multiple I mean it. And a little bit of photo editing. We actually got a few good pictures.

 

 

Then came another decision to make. On top of picking the right photo, we would have to pic the right christmas card. And let me tell you, there are way to many options. I guess thats a good thing in general, but not to someone who is extremely indecisive.

 

We finally set on the one with the bundle of joy saying

And so far Ive gotten quite a few compliments on it. The only negative comments ive gotten were 1) from my husband that it doesnt show his genuine smile, but he cant complain because he was the one who chose this photo lol and 2) from my best friend who thought that since it was our first christmas as a family of three then we should have had a photo with the three of us on it. So not too bad. I can handle those comments. Next year I cant wait to be a little bit more creative since by then Matthew will be waaay more mobile and possibly have a sibling on the way ;)

babys 1st christmas: meeting santa

For as long as I can remember, Ive always had dreams of what it would be like to have my own kids to make holiday memories with. Im lucky enough that I have a sister who has 2 children who I've been able to take part in the memory making for the past 12 years with, but I would be lying if I didnt say I was always dreaming about when my day would come to do those type of things with my own children.

You can see that this isnt something I take lightly, as I even posted about our Christmas Bucket List  earlier this month. And boy, Ive been making sure to cross off as many of those items as possible in the past few weeks. One of my most favorite being taking Matthew to see Santa Claus.
Just like with his first pumpkin patch experience, I made sure to do my research and try to find a place where it wouldnt be just some fake looking Santa doing it to make the money. But more of an experience for our lil family of three to partake in together. Ill admit, I was tempted to go the easy route and just pop over to the mall, but I knew I wanted it to be more than "just for the sake of it" type of day. Unfortunately, when I asked my mommy friends for their suggestions I was disappointed that the one place I wanted to go, they didnt have good reviews on. They all suggested to just go to the mall.

However, against all their opinions, I decided to go with my gut and we planned to go to Bass Pro Shops like I wanted. To me, I just felt like the Santa there would be more authentic, plusalso you get a free 4x6 of the image no matter what. I figured why not, if I didnt like how it ended up then I could always resort back to the typical mall santa. To my pleasant surprise, we had an absolutely wonderful experience. And? Santa was awesome! Like really jolly, with rosy cheeks, and a REAL beard too!
We had planned on being at Bass Pro Shops around 9:30am  since they opened at 9am and the Santa area would open at 10am. Well, like with any of my plans since becoming a mom, we ran late. Like we didnt even make it out of the house until 9:50am, which put us at Bass Pro around 10:15am.

When we got there the parking lot was already packed, but thats to be expected at this time of year. We walked in and went straight back to Santa's Wonderland to see how long the line would be. Instead of being faced with screaming children and a long line, we were greeted by one of Santa's elves who ushered us towards a little stand with a sign displaying "Bass Pass." Lets just say BEST.IDEA.EVER. Just like at Disney Parks where you can get a fast past to return at a later time for a shorter line, you could get a Bass Pass to return to see Santa at a particular time. And while you wait? Shop the store! It was like a dream come true. And to our surprise, our Bass Pass read 10:30am. It was 10:20am. That meant we literally only had 10 mins to wait. I told hubby to go check out the fish tank so I could go change Matthew in the restroom. And by time I returned, it was our time to go see Santa.

 
I promise, we really only waited about 5 mins in the next line. Which actually kept us occupied by Matthew staring at all the decorations hanging on the ceiling and hubs playing some virtual fishing and hunting games, conveniently placed next to the line.

While we stood in line, I happened to notice that their were a few people holding their own cameras around their neck. I wondered, was I allowed to take my own pics? I mean, from my recollection, at the malls, you dont have the option of using your own camera. Heck, they practically scream at you for even the slighted motion of a cell phone snapping a pic, let alone whipping out your DSLR. I waved down the nearest elf and asked, "Out of curiosity, I see some people have their own cameras, is it permitted that we can take our own pics too?" How pleasantly surprised was I with the response I was given, "Of course! We just ask that you wait until our photographer is done snapping a shot so that we can make sure your child is looking our way, because once you try to take a pic the kids tend to only look at you."  Seriously? I get a free 4x6 that you take, plus I can take my own afterwards? sounds like a good comprise to me. I handed Matthew to hubs and quickly snatched my camera from under the stroller.

 

Once it was our turn I was actually a little nervous. Would he scream? Would he be scared of Santa? Would he cry? Would we even get 1 picture?.....We all walked up to Santa. Hubs handed Santa Matthew.

 

Funny thing, I specifically remember what Santa said to us, "Wow we got a big boy here, let me guess, hhmmm, about 10 months?" To which both hubs and I began laughing hysterically, "Umm no Santa, hes only 6 months," to which we all began laughing. Yes thats my chunky lil boy. 

We slowly walked away to get out of the picture. It seemed like Matthew was intrigued by Santa. Just staring at him. Then we tried for a smile. "Matthew, over here, look at us, *kissing noises*clapping*" there it is, hes looking. snap.snap.snap. We got it!

He may not have been completely smiling in the one pic, but we did get a few. Then he grabbed a hold of Santas beard. (like literally, we found white hair in his fists a few moments afterwards)

 

 

Then started crying, but Santa shushed him a little and he stopped.

We scooped him up and off we went. Stopping at the counter first for our free 4x6. It came out so cute, I just had to order some prints right then and there. And for $20 i think I got like 6 sheets (some wallets, 2-5x7's, and a few others). Still cheaper than any packages I can remember at the mall. And I dont have to worry about getting them printed for christmas presents to grandmas ;)

All in all, I was extremely happy with how the whole thing went down. And Im truly surprised that so many of my friends and tried to discourage me from going there. I think it was by far the best place to take him to meet Santa. And plusalso, even though Matthew wasnt able to get involved with the other activities, Bass Pro also had kids workshops available at specific times to make holiday crafts and also stations to play with some of the bass pro toys (you know 4 wheelers and such lol). I will definitely make it a tradition to go there every years and I cant wait for Matthew to one day make me an ornament or frame or something from one of those workshops! hehe

twas the month of christmas...

sorry just had to share this. a friend of mine recently posted this as her facebook status and I absolutely loved it

Twas the month before Christmas
When all through our land,
Not a Christian was praying
Nor taking a stand.
Why the PC Police had taken away

The reason for Christmas - no one could say.
The children were told by their schools not to sing
About Shepherds and Wise Men and Angels and things.
It might hurt people's feelings, the teachers would say
December 25th is just a ' Holiday'.
Yet the shoppers were ready with cash, checks and credit
Pushing folks down to the floor just to get it!
CDs from Madonna, an X BOX, an I-Pod
Something was changing, something quite odd!
Retailers promoted Ramadan and Kwanzaa
In hopes to sell books by Franken & Fonda.
As Targets were hanging their trees upside down
At Lowe's the word Christmas - was no where to be found.
At K-Mart and Staples and Penny's and Sears
You won't hear the word Christmas; it won't touch your ears.
Inclusive, sensitive, Di-ver-si-ty
Are words that were used to intimidate me.
At the top of the Senate, there arose such a clatter
To eliminate Jesus, in all public matter.
And we spoke not a word, as they took away our faith
Forbidden to speak of salvation and grace
The true Gift of Christmas was exchanged and discarded
The reason for the season, stopped before it started.
So as you celebrate 'Winter Break' under your 'Dream Tree'
Sipping your Starbucks, listen to me.
Choose your words carefully, choose what you say
Shout MERRY CHRISTMAS,
not Happy Holiday!

Please, all Christians join together and
wish everyone you meet
MERRY CHRISTMAS
Christ is The Reason' for the Christ-mas Season!

That is all. Hope you all are having a great weekend!

 

our chirstmas bucket list

ill be honest, when I saw "our" bucket list, i really mean more like "my" bucket list. hubs and matthew just get to put up with lots of photo taking and memory making events. And since its matthews first christmas it has to be way better than all our previous ones ;)

note: boxes with snowflakes in them mean we've already done it

so a couple of these im extremely excited for. #1 being that for the first time ever, we will be hosting christmas morning at our house. up until I was about 20yrs old my parents always hosted because well they are my parents and quite frankly they have the largest house. then my sis took over because she had kids and finally had her own house. And now, since we have added our own lil munchkin to the mix, we get to host! although i am excited about this Im also kinda nervous, its a big responsibility to host this event in our family. i have to make sure i have coffee, spam (dont ask lol), bacon, cinnamon rolls, christmas music playing, clean house, wake up on time, and so many other small details.

im also so excited to be able to start christmas traditions with matthew. my favorites being reading the night before christmas, watching christmas movies, and singing lots of christmas songs! We actually do the last everyone morning, evening, and whenever we're in the car. :)

And y'all i cant wait to send this years christmas cards out. I totally go inspiration from pinterest and created a make-shift set in my back yard. And OMG it came out so good. Post to come about that experience. lol

And then, there are a couple new things that Ive added to my list this year that ive seen mentioned on a couple of other blogs that I think are awesome ideas. Like the whole christmas pj thing, so cute! And making a babys 1st christmas ornament! dont tell anyone but there are lots of people getting one of these wrapped up under the tree!

Ok, so whats on your christmas bucket list this year? Any new traditions youre starting? Any great DYI crafts that I must do? Please share! Id love to hear them all (and possibly steal the ideas for my own family!)

show & tell: my christmas wish list

I honestly thought that I wouldnt have many things on my wish list when I started putting together this post. Boy was I surprised when low-and-behold, I came up with 11 decent items I am wishing for this Christmas.

1. epiphanie stella camera bag // 2.  kitchen aid stand mixer cover // 3. kitchen aid flex edge beate

4. belkin kitchen stand and wand for tablets // 5. bra case for traveling 

6. infinity ring with wedding date engraved // 7. kitchen aid glass bowl // 8.  hd camcorder

9. 50mm nikon lens // 10. riding boots // 11. willow tree - child of my heart

They arent numbered in any sort of order, so dont use that as a relavance of which I want more. These are all actually just wishes. I think I might get 3 maybe 4 of these in actuality.

The thing I want the most off this list is actually the 50mm lens for my Nikon.

And although I really have been wanting the riding boots as well, I cant seem to find ones that fit urgh!! i have wide calves that i absolutely hate and none of the riding boots ive tried on fit well in that area :(

As for the rest, they really are just "nice-to-haves," but i think some of them are really cool. I mean come on, isnt that travel case for bras like genius? that would be perfect for cruises! ;)

And the willow tree figurine I just love. My mother in law started giving them to us a few years ago and we've gotten quite a lil collection going on. We even had this one for our wedding cake topper. I forgot to show a pic of it, but they also have a nativity seen, and I absolutely love it!!! but each piece is kinda expensive so I doubt Ill get it. Maybe 1 piece each christmas till I have the whole collection? *wink*wink*

Also, i dont really know how badly i want the camcorder. I keep going back and forth on it because i have an iphone that can record, a dslr that can record, and a olympus rugged digital camera that records as well. Do i really need a camcorder as well? I want to be able to catch matthews first steps for sure, but how badly do i need a separate device for that? I dunno. Would love to hear anyones suggestions and opinions on this subject.

Whats on your wish list this year? Anything you cant live without? Any good amateur photographers gifts you think i should ask for?

Dont forget to link up with Becky and get some great ideas for gift-giving and your wish list this year!

fridays letters

Happy Friday Y'all! This week just flew by!

dear hubby, thank you for my beautiful roses, our family night out at Christmas on Las Olas, and just a wonderful 2nd Anniversary! i love you so much and cant wait to celebrate many more anniversaries with you!

dear matthew, you're finally back to your normal happy self! the doc says your 2 ear infections cleared up and youre not congested anymore, as for the spitting up, well weve decided to put you on zantac to help with that, but mommy and daddy are just so happy that youre not sick anymore!

dear christmas on las olas, i love the festiveness you bring to south florida, the fake snow, christmas carolers, 1/2 naked santa sluts serving beers :/, santa claus, and lots of decorations, but can you try to maybe spread your event out over 2 nights? because you see it gets extremely crowded on your lil street, and almost impossible to maneuver a stroller through the crowd

dear friday night, aka wine night, i really love that its basically become a habit that everyone gathers at our house on friday nights to hang out. its so much cheaper than going out, plus we dont have to worry about finding a babysitter, plus we have a great time and there is so much laughter its almost contagious, thanks to the best prankster in town (that'd be me) who decided to marry our two friends, via facebook by updating their marital status, without one of them knowing, it was priceless watching as she couldnt figure out why she was getting so many congratulations comments and texts, even from her family up north, lmao

dear pinterest, please dont let me pin anymore christmas crafts, there are way to many projects i want to do  and I just dont have the time to do them all!

dear holidays, its technically not even december yet and you are in full swing, our christmas tree is up and has been since 2 days after thanksgiving, normally i dont get a chance to put it up untill 2 weeks into december (go me!), but we still havent decorated anything else, i have a feeling this month is going to just fly by

dear hubby, because you and matthew always get two, as I mentioned above, we havent decorated the house whatsoever, can you please, pretty please, with a cherry on top, help me decorate the front of the house this weekend? i want to be able to enjoy the decorations the whole month of december!

dear matthew, we have you 6 month pics tomorrow at Sears (using my groupon!) and I really hope you cooperate with us. please dont spit up on your cute outfits, try to smile, and dont fall asleep, ok thanks!

and because I can never leave you without a cute lil photo :)

Dont forget to link up with Ashley