Christmas, finally!

To say that Javi was a fan of Christmas, would be an understatement. He was a loving, maniac all of Christmas day. :) He woke up at his regular time around 7AM. Our normal routine is to change his diaper, then go downstairs and I pour milk into his bottle, we sit on the couch together and watch Mickey. So when he walked into the kitchen, with both me and Sean... to an audience of Barb and Christine (who couldn't wait to see his face on Christmas morning!) he was a little confused and started to cry. He quickly realized his new kitchen set was all his and he was ALL about it the rest of the day. He is obsessed with his kitchen... and his pots and pans... and tasting the wooden spoons. It's so funny. 

Sean's family joined us for the morning and my parents joined us in the afternoon. It was wonderful that everyone came to us and Javi stayed in jammies ALL DAY long. He also enjoyed that the gates were down and he had free range of the whole house (pretty much). There was a period of the day that he just ran from the kitchen to the dining room shouting. But, hey, it's Christmas! 

Sean and I gave him the kitchen set, with the dishes along with his Christmas Eve box (and then his stocking from Santa :) ) but that was it. We didn't want to go overboard! But he is so lucky and definitely got his fair share of gifts. Our families were incredibly generous and it's hard to remember what Christmas was like before Javi-man. He makes the holidays so much more exciting and full!

Christmas 2013

On Christmas Eve, we went to dinner with Sean's family. It was a lot of fun and a perfect way to see some family members around the holidays. We usually go out for Chinese food and this year we held on to that tradition. I chose to get a little dressed up for the night and decided to wear this navy lace dress I seem to sport at winter events. It was super inexpensive at Forever 21, two years ago and I was pretty happy to be able to wear it again.

After dinner, we went to my family's house to spend time and open one gift. One gift soon turned into a couple :) and then we headed home pretty early to watch Elf. It's so nice to only be 10 minutes away! On Christmas morning, we woke up at 6AM (the cat's wanted breakfast) and then we laid in bed watching Home Alone: Lost in New York. It was amazing! Christmas between the two of us was pretty low-key (we did just buy a house after all) so after a lazy morning we went to Sean's parent's house for brunch and gift-exchanging.

In the late afternoon, we headed to my family's house for dinner and gift-exchanging. At both houses we continued our tradition of taking a group shot. I already love looking back at the group shots taken with self-timers. I learned that I'm really bad at setting up the camera for such shots.

By the end of the night we were exhausted! We brought in all our gifts and admired them in the kitchen. We decided to find homes for all of our new things right away so they didn't get confused with all the other boxes in the house. I have to say things are really coming together! We're so fortunate to have families so eager to help us out on our new home adventure. The holidays have been really good to us!

Happy Christmas Eve.

This is our Christmas card from this year. Artemis makes a photoshopped appearance on the back of the card along with our new home address. I guess you can say that it doubled as a greeting card and "hey, we moved!" announcement. I had a different vision for the picture on the front, but two uncooperative animals had a different plan for the day. We had a friend take pictures of us, after last year's very difficult two hour long photo shoot involving a self-timer. Yup. So, here's what we have. I'm very happy with it. Plus, the point is there -- Merry Christmas!

It's been exactly two weeks since we closed on our house. We now live in a world filled with bad wallpaper, a billion built-ins, older door hinges, and some horrendous wood paneling. But the size is right, the location is perfect and paint and fixtures can always be changed. Right? Right. Here are some pictures from the day we closed all of which were taken with my really older iPhone. The house is really cute. It's a cape… a typical New England home, if you will; 3 bedrooms, 2 full baths, traditional first floor with a kitchen, a formal dining room, a formal living room and a family room. I'm just totally in love with it. 

We've had our fair share of learning experiences -- like trying to replace the older thermostat with a new one at 8:30PM on Sunday night only to realize the house isn't ready for said "hip" thermostat leaving us without heat in negative degree weather. Or waiting until after the snow storm to buy salt for the driveway. Or frolicking down the extremely cushion-y carpeted stairs only to totally wipe out and fall down the last 6 steps. Or leaving the screen porch door open during a snow storm. Or replacing 2-prong outlets with regular 3-prong outlets at night time only to be left without power in certain parts of the house because the electrical box is totally unlabeled and utterly confusing. This last one, by the way, is the reason for the lack of blog posts. Electricity around these parts can be slim… and the ability to use a 3-prong outlet is few and far between. I haven't charged by Mac, at home, in two weeks. Along with the learning curve, we're realizing why people who own houses are always so busy. There is just always something to be done. Sean's been replacing older items like bathroom fans, and tightening stair railings, and putting together our make-shift mailbox since the ground is frozen. He's been moving things and carrying things and I've been unpacking boxes and figuring out where to put all this stuff that we probably don't even need. I totally see how basements get packed filled with stuff. It's been two week and with every bin full of stuff that I can't find a place for I quickly ask "will you bring this down to the basement?" I'm sure it'll be this way until the outlets and switches are replaced and until the stacks of boxes are done. Then I'll be fixated on tearing down the wallpaper and painting all the wood stuff white. Then, hopefully, we'll be able to rest until spring time when the "outdoor" work begins. 

In between our Christmas shopping, which I started this past Saturday and finished Monday, we've been frequenting Lowes. Some days it seems we make it there more than once. It's crazy. But I'm happy to report that house shopping for the next few days will be nonexistent as we take in the holiday. I almost went to Target today to pick up some more curtains for the living room and then I thought… wait, Target on Christmas Eve? I don't think so.

I think it's safe to say we're settling in a bit. The cats love the fresh air, the change in scenery, the stairs, being able to see us outside through the windows -- the whole thing, really. In our apartment, our windows didn't open, they never felt a breeze… and the only "scenery" was 18-wheelers at the factory next door. Now, they have trees and squirrels and chipmunks and people and cars. It's a whole new world.

Currently, I'm nestled in my bed with the cats… watching Harry Potter. It's perfect. 

Vacation.

We've had quite the vacation. Sean was off for a week, although he had to go in today. And I'm off until January 7th. What's that? You're jealous? I get that a lot.

I think Apollo is getting used to us being home. She's getting flashbacks of our summer together, I'm sure.

She's getting quite used to sleeping in until 9AM:

Waking up and having hot chocolate:

Helping with chores and putting away new gifts:

Taking a morning nap during ABC Family's 11AM showing of Gilmore Girls:

Around lunch time remembering the Christmas tree exists:

In the middle of the afternoon, finding a quiet place to take an afternoon nap. Preferably in a pile of my new clothes:

Helping with making some Christmas treats:

 Waiting for us to feed her dinner and becoming impatient thus turning into someone mischievous:

Playing with her new toys... for hours and hours after dinner:

And then waiting for us to bring her to bed.

...All to start it over the next day.

:)

We're spoiled.

It's taken two full days of cleaning, organizing, washing, drying, getting rid of the old and making room for the new... but I think all our gifts finally have homes.

I got a pile of clothes, things for crafting, beauty products, jewelry, a new iPhone case, gift cards, a new pair of Toms, and the Nexus 7.

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I'm actually pretty sure I'm forgetting to mention some things.

Sean was lucky, too. He made room for clothes, gift cards, a new case for his tablet, a contraption that allows us to watch movies and TV, tools, an external hard drive, cologne, and fancy headphones:

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I'm probably forgetting some of his things, as well.

Apollo made out, too:

For our house we were given decorations, ornaments, cookbooks, and various kitchen items including a knife set!

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Now we can have people over for dinner and not be embarrassed they won't be able to cut their food. 

Oh, and I'm on chapter 11 of the first Harry Potter book on my new reader. I hope to finish, at least, four of the books before I go back to work.

We'll see. Tablets are so fun!

Our Christmas.

We had a wonderful Christmas. 

We actually had four Christmases. Just like the movie... and coincidentally we watched that movie last night.

Luckily, our experiences at each house were extremely positive and unlike the experiences Vince Vaughn and Reese Witherspoon have in that movie.

It all started at 5:30 when my husband of mine woke ME up to get the day started.

We had our own Christmas at home.

Then we had our second Christmas at his grandmother's house.

Then we had our third Christmas at his parent's house.

Then we had our fourth [and final] Christmas at my parent's house.

This merging of two families gets busy.

Thankfully all the houses are within 30 minutes of each other.

Here are some shots of our day:

I decided that it's super important to take family shots and not allow anyone to skip out by being "the photographer". So we did one shot at his parent's house and one at mine.

By the end of the night, after lots of drinks, lots of food, and lots of hours awake... Sean and my dad started in on the puzzle my family had been putting together all day. 

It was truly a wonderful day.

One of those days that goes by in the blink of an eye.

Now, Sean and I are both sitting on our couch, in brand new pajamas [thanks, Santa] and we're surrounded by boxes, and bags, and tissue paper, and mounds of gifts that make us feel so, so special.

I'd say we're blessed, but I believe we're just really, really loved.

Lucky us. :)

Decorating and wrapping.

A few weeks ago we got our Christmas tree [our first tree being married] from a christmas tree farm near our house. They had a camel. So we had to stop.

It's a bit over 8 feet and Apollo has not really bothered it all, yet. Although, until today only the lights were up.. and few presents were underneath.

We wanted to start our own traditions. One being that we would decorate our tree on Christmas Eve day while watching Elf.

So now, the tree is up, the ornaments are on, the lights are twirled, the presents are waiting and so is she...

our wedding invitation.

our stockings.

So pretty!

I'm slightly nervous that when we get home from my parent's house later tonight the entire tree will be down, the ornaments will be smashed and I'll have a guilty kitten rubbing against me. 

Hopefully that won't happen.

This weekend.

This weekend will consist of eating reese's peanut butter cups, online Christmas shopping, a Twilight marathon with someone who has NEVER seen it, country line dancing, taking pictures for our annual Christmas card, cuddling by the fire and drinking hot chocolate.

Pretty perfect, huh?

Apollo is looking forward to it.

Enjoy!

Black Friday.

Every year I'm so excited about shopping on Black Friday. I'm not actually sure why because I'm not usually looking for latest and greatest toy or electronic item... so there's no reason to camp out for 2 days in line. And, this is Massachusetts... it's pretty cold and those people who do that are a little on the crazy side in my opinion. But I like a good crowd (call me crazy), I don't mind lines, and I like the hustle & bustle of the whole day middle of the night excursion in which I clip far too many coupons that I usually can't use because of all the fine print, listen to people complain and complain about said long lines, hear Christmas music for typically the first time of the season and start my holiday shopping. I can't think of anything better. Honestly.

I'd love to show you what I purchased on Friday (I was out from 4AM-noon and then went back to a different mall at 6PM -- I know, crazy), but since Sean looks at the blog I cannot ruin Christmas for him!

Instead I will show you what I'm asking for :)

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Now back to watching Home Alone. :)