Christmas (Pt. 2)

OK, so that was the tree and the living room rearrangement. Next I have to confess that my favorite part of holiday decorating is wrapping the presents. That's right, I consider wrapping part of the decorating, and I think I'm pretty good at it. DH is totally perplexed by this quirk, but there you have it. So here are some of my pretty packages.





This year I did all of them in red, silver, and gold. I think they turned out great. I'm not big on themed trees, and I love having all of our memorable ornaments, so the matching packages are even cooler to me. Plus I haven't bought new paper in years, and I was getting tired of what I had. Thank you Garden Ridge for your great prices on paper and ribbon!

The dining room table also got the star treatment. It was a red and white year there too.



The candles acted as our Advent wreath.

Finally, I love to make a big, special dinner on Christmas Eve. In accordance with the red and white theme, I got a cute bowl and fun Christmas plates from Crate and Barrel.



This year we had lamb, a green salad with craisins, feta, and walnuts, and a rice pilaf. It was yummy!

Finally, here are a couple Christmas photos of the family. Unfortunately we couldn't get all the "kids" together, so here are two pairs.

"Silent Night"


This one was our Christmas card. Doc, the old dog, looks so excited!


I hope you all have a wonderful holiday.

Christmas (Pt. 1)

This post os obviously a little late, but I just couldn't find time to do it at home. I keep all my pictures on my home computer, and this is going to be a picture heavy post. You've been warned.

In conjunction with holiday decorating this year, we also ordered new living room furniture. The new couch was scheduled for delivery the Tuesday after Thanksgiving, so we took the holiday weekend to rearrange the room and set up for Christmas. We decided that we needed good snacking food for the event.


Then the real work started. Let me tell you, that bookcase is beautiful, but it is HEAVY!

Isn't the old furniture ugly?

In the process, we put up the tree.

Yes, it's a tinsel tree, but we have fun with it.

Here is the tree skirt I made this year.


The puppy was kind enough to pose for a holiday photo. If only we had Santa. :)


And here are some of our favorite ornaments.

The bird always goes in first and comes out last for good luck. That's a tradition from my family.

These are from each of our childhood trees. I got the ballerina at the Nutcracker and my parents always held her aside so I could put her on the tree each year when I came home from school. DH loves trains, that is one of his first ornaments.



The next couple we got during our first years together. The pottery snowman is from a trip to NM while we were still dating. The artist put our names on the back of it. The other is obviously our real first Christmas ornament.



Decorating is always fun, but I think the puppy appropriately describes how we felt at the end of the day.


More later.

There is no 'R' in Washington

There is a commercial for a Washington University Program that runs several times a day. In it, the woman talks about "Warshington" University. Seriously? Wash U is a top tier school. Can't you find someone who doesn't sound like a total rube to voice your commercials?

Love/Hate Relationship

I have a love/hate thing going on with lotion. As winter gets in full swing, my skin is getting dry and gross. I love that we have great lotions that keep my skin from getting all scaly. I hate that after I do my legs, my pants are kind of sticky. This was particularly true today since it was a jeans day at school. I don't know what it is about denim and lotion, but man do they ever stick. Yuck.

Also, Mary has this great thing that she does on her blog where she pit two pop-culture icons against each other. "Hot or Not" for the guys. Cage matches for the pop culture stuff. Anyway, I've started reading the Sookie Stackhouse books on which the HBO series True Blood is based. I'm halfway through the first one, and it is fun and junkie. This brings me to my poll.

Bill (Stephen Moyer)


OR

Eric (Alexander Skarsgard)


I'm all about Eric, and rumor has it that Sookie and Eric will be together more this season. Yummy.

Wednesday Happiness

Today is shaping up to be pretty decent. I haven't done a grateful post in a while, and I love reading he ones other people make, so what the heck.

* I have a space heater in my office to put under my desk. I'm sitting in my own little cocoon of warmth.
* We just found out we get Christmas bonuses this year. Independent Schools just DON'T do this, so this is supremely awesome.
* I have a couple of tutoring gigs as finals approach, so that money will go well with my bonus.
* My horse is looking more sound than he has in years. It costs a pretty penny to get good shoes and joint injections, but I like to see him looking comfortable and happy.
* ONLY 6 MORE DAYS OF SCHOOL AFTER TODAY!

WWYD

So, I firmly believe in supporting local businesses. I try very hard to follow the suggestions made by the 3/50 project, and my business is a member.

Here is my current dilemma. I know that we are going to get at least a couple books for people for Christmas. There is a FABULOUS local book store that I was planning to visit and ask them for advice. Buuuut, this weekend is my school's book fair at Barnes and Noble. They are having signings by some local writers whose books would be great gifts for these folks. To top it off, a portion of all the sales goes directly to the school. What do I do?

I feel like either way I'll be supporting local folks, but at the same time, I hadn't planned to buy books at these big stores really if I could help it. What would you do?