Christmas With The Family

Christmas Eve, Ian and I wrapped up the workday and threw our bags and what seemed like eighty dozen wrapped gifts in the back of the cars, hitting the road for my hometown of Columbia, South Carolina. There was no way I was missing Christmas Eve dinner -- it is a favorite. We always have crab legs and shrimp and the best bread for sopping up the flavorful juices from the shrimp dish Mom makes.

The whole fam was there -- Mom, Dad, my two sisters, and my brother-in-law. And the dinner was as delicious as always!

Our Christmas Day does revolve around some long-standing traditions:
+ We get dressed and ready for the day to open gifts (I've never, ever opened gifts in pajamas)
+ We have breakfast and wassail in the morning, and later we have appetizers for afternoon grazing
+ We take turns opening gifts and save stockings for the evening
+ Christmas night dinner is just like Thanksgiving -- turkey, stuffing, and all of the sides

My sister Laura (who you may know as The Reedy Review) got a great new camera from my parents! Perfect for documenting all of the fun changes in their brand new home.

Our family dog Tipsy took her favorite spot and watched the gifts being opened.

(This is them in 2011 ... how cute)

We had a great long morning of opening gifts and listening to Christmas music.

Ian and I brought this new dopp kit back for Dad from Italy and it smells positively heavenly. He loved it!

 

One of my gifts from Ian was a new 50mm lens for my camera, so I've definitely had a blast putting that to use!

For dinner, I made the cranberry sauce and Paula Deen's green bean casserole. It's definitely a new favorite.

Christmas is always a big day of celebration in our family, because it's also Mom's birthday!

For her birthday gift this year, Ian and I ordered her a Caroline's Cakes 7-layer caramel cake. It was all sorts of divine. Pure bliss. They overnighted it to us on dry ice from their bakery in Spartanburg, SC. They ship all over! The caramel cake is their specialty, and it's been featured on the Today Show, the Food Network, and Oprah's Favorite Things. 

 

After dinner we opened stockings ... with cocktails/mocktails!

On Friday, our extended family on Mom's side came in for another round of Christmas!

We loved every bit of our time together and Sunday sure came quickly. Now as we gear up for New Years Eve and 2014, I find myself in awe of how quick but sweet the year truly was.

Cheers to you and to a fantastic New Year for us all!

Christmas Scenes Around Our Home

Christmas this year was great -- quick, but great. I'm racking my brain, trying to remember if the whole "this holiday season REALLY flew by" mentality is one we adopt in a cliche way each year (and then forget) or if this season really, really was as lightning-fast as it felt.

Luckily, Ian's cool with keeping our Christmas decorations up through my birthday this Wednesday. That's one of my birthday wishes each year. I certainly don't get tired of shuffling out of the bedroom each morning to fix a Sugar Plum tea and making a quick detour first to the tree to turn it on and admire its beauty. I love it.

This year we went with colored lights which I think really suits our eclectic ornament collection. As you can see, I'm not a themey-tree girl unless your theme is "the crazy look."

And the true reason why we went with colored lights is because our white pre-lit tree, only one year old, decided to only light up the very bottom row of lights this year. Too lazy to try to fix it, but too optimistic that one day the white lights may start working again, I just threw a strand of 600 colored lights right on top of the non-functioning white ones. If they ever do start working again, then we have a choice of colored or white! Problem solved.

We are rarely in our dining room so I didn't go all out with the decor, but I did keep it decorated simply with some white glittery pinecones, leaves and fruit on top of our hunting print and my beloved Swarovski ornament collection displayed on my gold tree. This year I received my twelfth ornament, and the 2013 snowflake is absolutely gorgeous. We have a lot of natural light in this room, so it's the perfect spot for these ornaments.

     

On our chest in our foyer, I have our mini-tree with some silver balls and crystal drops. I also decorated the botanical prints above the chest.

Our living room mantle looks so great and I know it will look so bare when the decorations come down! I may start leaving a wreath hanging over the mirror at all times.

The wreath is from AC Moore and the gold leaf garland and gold bead strands are from Michaels. The gold deer are from Target. My mom made our stockings! Once we have a name for Baby Girl, I'll get our monograms embroidered on the stockings. For now, wooden snowflake ornaments from Michaels hang from the stocking holders.

By the way -- most of my holiday decor is purchased at the end of each season for 75-90% off!
 

  

Our breakfast room table is kept simple with some gold deer (which remind me of my mom), ornaments with black and white ribbon, and some faux cranberry garland.

I already mentioned that we chose three different Christmas cards this year based upon sales going on ... the constant between all is that we used our photos that were taken by Stacy Reeves while we were in Paris for our second wedding anniversary. Best money spent ever!

I might need to pump the brakes on my mini-tree purchases but this one in our den is a favorite. It came from Michaels in a gold vase which accidentally shattered a few years ago. Rather than trashing the tree, I just bought a new base for it and stuffed the empty spaces with green moss. I love it even more now!

Tomorrow I'll share more photos from our Christmas with family in Columbia! I hope your holiday was nothing short of lovely.

Merry Christmas, Y'all!

May your Christmas day 

be merry and bright.

Cheers!

-April

Week 21 Pregnancy Journal

How Far Along? 21 weeks

Size of Baby: A banana (10.5 inches). Did anyone else notice that my little banana is now (according to my BabyBump app) 4 inches bigger than last week's measurement?! Unbelievable!

Gender: Baby girl.

Weight Gain: Lost a half of a pound from last week, so +3 from my pre-pregnancy weight since I'm reporting in whole numbers.

Maternity Clothes: Yesterday I treated myself to a few things at Pickles & Ice Cream, and boy, is it an adorable shop. I got a dress that is so beautiful and I can't wait to find a reason to wear it!

Nursery: Still an office, but I think I've got my color scheme nailed down. We saw an adorable dresser at Sleepy Poet last week that would make a great changing table.

Movement: Yes, a good amount! It's not uncomfortable at all (yet), just way cute.

Symptoms: One day last week I had a super-itchy belly -- must have been that 4" growth spurt she had. No stretch marks at all so far, which I attribute to a combination of genetics (thanks, Mom!) and three different belly oils that I use depending on my mood. :)

Sleep: Sleeping really well and waking up a little ahead of my alarm clock most mornings. Still going to bed around 10:30 or 11:00.

Cravings: My sweet tooth sort of subsided in the last week, noted mostly by my reduction in hot chocolate consumption. Probably a good thing -- it was getting a bit out of control.

What I Miss: Sitting down on the couch easily without sighing and grunting.

Best Moment This Week: My experience at Pickles & Ice Cream was so cute -- I was the only one in the store and the lady who was working there was just so sweet. She wanted me to model everything I tried on for her! She sat in an armchair outside of my dressing room and was just so much fun to talk with. It was such a fun way to spend an hour.

Looking Forward To: Baby's first Christmas (albeit in belly)!

Five On Friday

Today is Friday (obvi) but it is extra fun for me today because it's tacky sweater day today at work and there is some major money on the line. Keep your fingers crossed for me; I've got nursery decor calling my name and I wouldn't mind taking first, second, or third place in our contest!

Time for another Five On Friday and as we near the end of 2013, I just have to send hugs and a huge THANK YOU to all of y'all who consistently link up with us each week ... this fun link-up has been a true highlight of the year!

O N E

I (mostly) wrapped up Christmas shopping and wrapping yesterday on my day off, and what a treat that was! I had Miracle on 34th Street playing on television while I sat on the floor and got all of the gifts tied up in pretty bows. Anyone who knows me knows that I was in pure bliss. :)

 

T W O
We are big fans of stockings in my family and we get creative. I'm so giddy over this fun idea I did for Ian's stocking. The two of us are huge Breaking Bad fans (we're Netflixing it and on the last season now). I knew my husband would get a total kick out of a little baggie of his own "blue" so I got some cotton candy rock candy from Michaels ($1.29/stick) and twisted it off the stick into a little bag.

He's gonna flip. I can't wait.

 

T H R E E

Christmas food ... I'm so excited!

Here is a beloved holiday recipe from our family.

 

Bacon and Cheese Muffins

1 3/4 cups all purpose flour

2 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

2 TB sugar

10 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled

1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese

1/2 tsp chopped fresh parsley

1 egg, beaten

3/4 cup milk

1/3 cup vegetable oil

 

Combine first 7 ingredients in a large bowl; make a well in center of mixture. Combine egg, milk and oil; add to dry ingredients, stirring just until moistened. Spoon into greased muffin pans, filling two-thirds full. Bake at 400 for 20-25 minutes. Remove from pans immediately.

 

F O U R

Tonight is Friday which means pizza and couch snuggles. It's A Wonderful Life is on TV tonight and Ian has never seen it! I'm really excited about him seeing this classic for the first time. What about you -- is it a favorite?

F I V E

This is our last Five On Friday before the Christmas holiday so I just want to wish you and yours a MERRY MERRY! I can't wait to see you all back here after the big day!

I hope you will join this link-up along with me and my wonderful co-hostesses -- Darci, Natasha, and Christina. Playing along is simple! Just write a post about five things on your mind today, anything goes really, post the logo below on your blog, and then enter your post address below in the link-up section. It's a great way of meeting new friends and getting more eyes on your cute blog :)