Christmas Present Love From Grandma

These were all of the presents that we wrapped and brought to Christmas at my parent's house. Over 30!

My grandmother got Ryan and me this really cute Precious Moments figurine. It reminds me of our wedding in that we went to Disney World for our honeymoon. So cute!

Finally my grandmother brought me this beautiful pink star sapphire and diamond ring. Although it wasn't a Christmas present, I loved it! She gave it to me when she got into town, but had purchased it for herself 30 years ago. I love gifts with history behind them!

We also got our very first Kitchen Aid mixer. The first thing we decided to make was beer bread. Yum.

Of course there were many other great presents, but these were just a few of the most special ones!

Because It's Christmas Time

I know that I say this every year, but this was the best Christmas ever! For the first time in almost 24 years, I got to spend this Christmas with my Grandmother (Dad's Mom). Ryan and I had seen her at the Wedding last year, but as anyone knows at your wedding you may see a lot of people, but it is such a blur after it is over. Having her here, along with getting to spend time with my parents and Ryan was the most amazing thing ever! I am so blessed!

As you can see from the picture, we had about a gazillion presents to open. In my family it isn't always about having big ticket items to open. It is more about dragging out the time it takes to open the presents, thus elongating Christmas. It is also about the food, and this year was some of the best. We had quiche and orange cinnamon rolls for breakfast. We then snacked on a few things throughout the day to tide us over to Ryan's great dinner. He made some great ham and fresh green bean casseroles. We then topped off the night with my homemade pumpkin and rustic pear pies. Delicious!

We had a simply amazing time and the presents were great too, great enough to deserve their own post, that wasn't even what it was about. It was truly about time with family, which is always my favorite!

Gifts from the Mos

I absolutely LOVE getting gifts from the Mos for Christmas! They always get us the nicest things, most especially a Christmas ornament from Crate and Barrel. I was really wanting this penguin ornament from C&B, but I didn't want to spend the money for it. Around this time of year, I try to use all the disposable money we have for gifts for others. I truly enjoy giving others gifts that make them happy more than I like getting gifts myself.

Anyway, this little penguin ornament is SO CUTE! I named him Hubert. (Yes I have a pathetic habit of giving everything with eyes a name. Oh well.) He will be a great part of our family tree for many years to come.

Thank you Mos (Mike, Amanda, Zoe, Barnaby and Henry). We love and miss you much!

1st Annual Thanksmas Gathering

Last night was the 1st Annual Thanksmas Gathering. My mom, dad, Ryan and I went to have dinner at the amazing Tower Club in Downtown Dallas. The club is located on the 48th floor of Thanksgiving Tower and the chef there is absolutely amazing. Ryan and I went there for our one year anniversary and decided we had to go back again soon. So, we visited again for a new tradition we are calling Thanksmas.

Every year for Thanksmas we will go to have dinner and drinks at the Tower Club followed by looking at Christmas lights around town. Last night we went to drive around and see the lights in Highland Park. They had some very simple displays as well as a few more elaborate ones. Overall the decor focused mostly on lights and elegant lawn ornaments. There weren't a lot of kids type decor, which was fine by me. I am an elegant Christmas decor kinda girl. There were tons of horse drawn carriages with cold families in them clopping around the neighborhoods. Although I thought this would become annoying, it was actually great because we could travel slowly behind them and gawk.

I can't wait until next year's Thanksmas!

Other Christmas Guilty Pleasures

Christmas Tree Cakes and Cherry Cordials are pretty gross, but I have had Cherry Cordials ever since I was a little girl and Ryan picked the Tree Cakes. Also, Sierra Mist Cranberry Splash, which is only available during the holidays sadlly, is AMAZING!

Rowdy, Proud and Loud

Ryan and I went to the Mavericks game yesterday, thanks to a board member at my office donating some tickets. They happen to be on the 8th row, so they were pretty great seats! The Mavs won against Golden State 105 to 100.


I had to rock the Dirk jersey. He played pretty well, but the whole team seemed to really jive. We saw Mark Cuban a few rows down from us, which was neat.

We were even on TV! It was so funny, my mom texted me this pic while we were at the game. You can barely make us out, but neat nonetheless.

360

I downloaded a new app for the iPhone that allows you to take panoramic pictures. You never know with an app if it will be any good, but I think it does a pretty good job. I hope to find some great places to take pictures with the new app. Yay!

Christmas Time!

The first snowflake of the season in my car means that Christmas time is coming! I am so excited as Christmas was always the biggest holiday in my family. We always had decorations everywhere from the Christmas tree to nutcrackers to holiday wreaths. We even had this decoration that was a Santa you screwed on the top of one of your lamps above the shade. Needless to say, Christmas abounded at my house as a kid.


One of my favorite things about the holiday season is getting to buy holiday smelling soap. I always go to Bath and Body Works to pick out some awesome soaps. This year, and for years to come, my favorite scent will be Winter Candy Apple. I also bought Winter Cranberry, Twisted Peppermint and Vanilla Bean Noel. Love!

Also, the tree is up. Not my most favorite thing to do, but always worth the effort. I love stuffing as many lights as I can onto the tree. Ryan, not so much. He was trying to get me to just hold the lights and walk around the tree in circles. That wasn't happening. I think the end result is pretty nice.


Also, I bought us matching Christmas stockings this year. Although last year was our first Christmas together as a married couple, I just didn't have time to get these ordered after returning from our honeymoon on December 1 and having food poisoning for a couple of days. I really like these stockings though, and so does Ryan, so they were worth the wait. I also got a them really cheep, which is always a plus. I think they will last us for many years to come.

I just can't wait for Christmas with my family!