How was your Holiday Season?
Ours was fun, crazy and of course, always... BUSY.
Every year I get so excited about the Holiday Season. Starting with Halloween and ending with New Year's Eve. It's my favorite time of the year.
One thing is for sure though. I always seem to forget that this very fun time of the year is a lot of work.
My family (My husband and my two kids) and I spend the Holidays at home. This often means that all the preparation and projects of the season fall on my shoulders. I remain pretty excited about the whole thing but sometimes I do start to feel the weight of it all.
Let's start with Thanksgiving.
Because my husband works in retail. Often times we can't really plan anything until we know for sure what his schedule is going to look like. I had already discussed with him that I would just go for a buffet style and we would eat earlier in the day. After eating, he would leave and I would watch movies with the kids.
That's exactly how it went. I did all my prep ahead of time and cooked everything the night before Thanksgiving. I must say it was the most relaxing Thanksgiving EVER!!
I took my time doing all the prep, took my time cooking everything and on the actual Thanksgiving day I just put everything together and we ate. I was pretty tired but nothing compared to previous years when I am running around all Thanksgiving day and we ate very very late. Ha ha!
THE MENU:
Chipotle Turkey
Ham
Garlic Mashed Potatoes
Gravy
Corn
Dinner Rolls
Pumpkin Pie (I cheated and bought it at Costco)
Apple Pie
Snicker doodle Cheesecake
Cranberry Punch
My table set up was very simple. I didn't fuss with it.
In previous years, I have made my husband and Kay dress up for Thanksgiving but this year everything was very casual and informal.
Ashton wore his Turkey outfit a few days before Thanksgiving and we completely forgot to take pictures of him in it. I do regret not taking the time to take a picture of him in his "My First Turkey Day" Outfit. Maybe I will have him wear it again and take pictures for his baby book.
~
A few days later, My husband found out that Walmart was selling real Christmas trees and we went to check them out. I know what you are thinking... It doesn't really give you the whole Christmas Tree experience that you get from either cutting it yourself or buying it from a charming Christmas tree shop, but it made my wallet very very happy ha ha.
We found and bought our tree there at Walmart. Trimmed it a little bit to make it more appealing to our taste. Before I move on, let me just say how happy I was that my husband put it all up on his own. The day we bought it he had to go back to work so we put it in our backyard and the next morning the tree was all set up in our living room, just waiting to be decorated. That totally made my day.
We ended up taking a good three days before we got to decorating the Tree but as always... once it is all done, It sure captures the spirit of Christmas.
Since we now have Ashton, I had to switch our Christmas stockings. To be honest, it just gave me an excuse to get the ones I always wanted.
We found these awesome white knitted stockings at a local craft store. I need to either find a place to embroider our names on it or do it myself but I will leave that project for next year.
Here are a few more fun pictures.
Baby's First Christmas ornament.
I made this wreath a couple of years ago. I love it!!
Ashton was trying really hard to get some hot cocoa from his sister :)
Poor Kay. She thought it would be a good idea to read a Christmas book with Ashton. He took over!
Kay's school treats. We made Christmas Trees and Gingerbread Men out of Crayons.
I put together a little Christmas design on PS to staple to her treat bags.
The kids tree in the background.
He is such a littler charmer. I adore him!!!
My failed attempt to take Christmas pictures. I learned a few things not to do when attempting a self portrait ha ha. #FAIL
This one, however... turned out awesome and made it all worth it.
Alright... I will end this post with some "selfies" and on my next blog post I will share our Christmas Eve and Christmas dinner story and pictures.
Besides Photography, one of the few other things I'm passionate about is makeup. I love applying makeup on myself and other people. It is something I truly enjoy doing.
I have a few dream jobs I wouldn't have minded having. One of them being a Professional Make Up Artist.
Don't mind my crazy hair on this one. My Kay took this picture. Both Keith and I thought she did an awesome job.
She said she wants to learn more about photography. Nothing would make me happier. I hope she explores all her talents and discovers them all.
Okay. This post is long enough. Stay tuned for the fun Christmas table set up post as well as some more cuteness from my little farty.
