ho ho ho-liday wrap up

I have quite a few pictures to share from this lovely holiday season (which, by the way, can you believe it's almost 2012 already?! holy cow!), so I’m going to just put it all together in one big wrap up post.  Kind of like a present…just imagine it all tied up with a bow :)

So lets get this party started!

The holidays start in this house right after Thanksgiving, when the tree goes up.  After a marathon Black Friday, I managed to dig our tree out and get it all set up and decorated.

 

I personally cannot wait for the day when I have a bigger house and the room to set up several trees.  Matt on the other hand is not quite as excited for that…and I just can’t figure out why…

 

Once we (I) got the house all festive, it was time for the annual Family Christmas Cookie Decorating Adventure.

 

My cousins and I had a blast as always, and ended up with a pretty festive selection of cookies:

I of course came home and did some additional cookie baking and decorating of my own.

 

Along with these sugar cookies I also made Caramel Popcorn and my all-time favorite, Chocolate Covered Pretzels.  I swear I took photos of all the goodies I baked, but the popcorn and pretzel photos have disappeared… Just trust me when I tell you that they were pretty and very yummy. :)

Aunt Terri gave each of my cousins and I one of these adorable cookie trays.  When its not covered in cookies it also makes a great decoration in the kitchen. :)

After all of the baking came lots of shopping, wrapping, crafting, more shopping, more wrapping and more crafting all in preparation for the big Christmas weekend.

And then I failed as a photographer because I didn’t take a single photo on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day.  Can you believe that!?!?  I guess I was just too busy enjoying all of the family festivities.  On Christmas Day I was totally bummed thinking that I didn’t have a memory card with me (another major photographer fail, right!)… I later realized that I actually had 2 memory cards with me the whole time.  Awesome.

But we had a wonderful time with family, and were so lucky to be showered with amazing gifts.

 

Yes, that is exactly what you think it is.

I FINALLY GOT A KITCHENAID STAND MIXER!  I put one of these bad boys on our wedding registry (over 2 YEARS ago now!) and I finally got it.  Although I had to spend all day re-arranging my (tiny) kitchen’s countertops to make it fit, it now fits in just perfectly!

I got another great gift that I am super excited to play with…

Can you say A-W-E-S-O-M-E!  Once again this will require some re-arranging to get some use, but I am planning a nice little “craft corner” in our second bedroom/office, so as soon as I can get my butt in there and organize, this puppy will be getting a ton of use!

And thanks to my wonderful husband, I am now the proud owner of a Keurig Coffee Maker!  I also get 2 awesome girls adventures with my BFF (a cake making class and a girls night out) thanks to our guys working together for our gifts this year.  How clever are they!

In my usual fashion, I also want to share one of my favorite gifts I gave this year…

Not the best picture, but it says “THAMES” which is the family name on my mom’s side.  I have seen these letter art pieces floating around for a while, and I decided to try my hand at it.  I love how it came out, and my mom’s side of the family loved them too!  I also made one for a wedding gift recently, and another one for my sister-in-law for Christmas.  Now I want to make one for myself!

So there you have it.  Christmas in a nutshell!  It really was a great holiday season this year, even if it did sneak up on me and go by in the blink of an eye.  Next up is New Years Eve, and then we’re on to 2012!  I am hoping to spend a lot more time on my photography in 2012.   So hopefully that means this ol blog will see a lot more action!  I hope you’ll come along for the ride :)

HAPPY NEW YEAR to everyone, I hope 2012 brings great things to all!