12 Days of Christmas Challenge: Day Six

Six Geese a-Laying: Gifts Galore

This Christmas will be quite different for us with the gift-giving because now it's all about Lucas.  Both sets of families will be spoiling him rotten with who knows how many gifts.  Will there be a bunch of toys that a two month old won't be able to play with until later next year?  Will there be a ton more outfits that will make him even more handsome?  How about more diapers, bath stuff, bottle stuff, etc?  What I do know is that our car will be full of so much to carry back home with maybe at least 75% of it being Lucas' stuff.  That's okay.  It really is all about Lucas.

I do have to say that most of the gifts we've purchased are for other family members and very few for Lucas.  I guess the mindset is that everyone else will be giving him so much, as well as he is still so new and received so many gifts the past few months.  I know I'm running out of ideas of what to get for him.

And because of Lucas' arrival seven weeks ago and the bills we are starting to see we are trying to keep this Christmas a little on the small side.  Although I have to say that there may have been some splurges.  I could probably even tell you the "big" gift I got Hubby this year since he doesn't read my blog.  But I shouldn't take that chance.  I will say that the retail value of the gift is pretty pricey but that I got it on a deep discount and with a rebate, so I did stay within our predetermined price range.  It also has a few accessories.  I think he'll be really surprised!

Ooh, and what do we have here??  Remember how I said previously that my stocking is the green one?  Well it already has a few gifts in it!  I wonder if they are from Hubby and Lucas??  Any guesses on what they might be?  I guess we will just have to find out Christmas morning.  :)

As you can see from the photos above the pile of gifts is larger than our actual tree!  Check out tomorrow's blog hop post to continue with the 12 Days of Christmas Challenge.

12 Days of Christmas Challenge: Day Five

Five Golden Rings: Decor and Baubles

Again, we are having a "small" Christmas at my house this year since we are actually going to celebrate at our families' homes instead of ours.  So I decided not to get carried away and break out everything from our Christmas storage boxes. 

In addition to our Christmas tree (which by the way, we added a few more special ornaments from my parents), I also have the wreath hanging from our door outside.  It was a great find from last year and I kinda like it.  I also have a Santa standing up in our entrance/foyer.  He's cute.

Of course, we also have our stockings up.  We do have a mantle but it's kind of small and we have our recliner sitting in front of it with no way to really position it temporarily.  So I am hanging our stockings from our entertainment center - it totally has a huge "mantle" at the top and looks even better with them hanging from it anyway. 

The three stockings in the middle are the most special as I made them myself several years ago when I got married.  I also have a matching tree skirt which is still in the works however...my Mom was making it for me because it seemed to be a bit more complicated for me, she's the expert!  BUT...she never finished it.  It's still at her house though pieced together waiting for some TLC to complete it.  It hasn't been too big of a deal the past few years since we've had a small artificial tree.  Hopefully we can get it completed after this Christmas so that we can get a real big tree to showcase the tree skirt next year!

Back to the stockings however!  The red one is for my Hubby, the green one for me (my favorite color) and thus the golden one would be little Lucas' stocking.  Off to the sides are some furrfriendly stockings; to the left with the doggy on it of course belongs to our Miley Jane.  To the right would be a joint stocking for our cats, Oliver and Elijah.  And the stockings are hung by some cute holders.  (Disregard my dying plant on top!)


I also have a huge nativity scene that I really didn't think I had the room to set up this year, BUT it's such a great set that I found a place for it so I can show it off.  We never use our dining room table anyway!  I picked up this set several years ago when we lived in Wisconsin.

That's pretty much what I have for decor this year and hopefully next year we can have something bigger and better.  Check out more about this blog hop here.

12 Days of Christmas Challenge: Day Four

Four Calling Birds: Holiday Cards

We typically send out the generic holiday cards that come in those boxed packs that are really cheap.  No reason to get all fancy, right?  It's only on those rare special occasions that we splurge.  So over the last six years that my hubby and I have been married we have only customized two cards for the holidays.  We've only had two special occasions in that time...well, three really, but we didn't send out a holiday card the year we got married.  Enough money was spent in 2005!

2007: The year we adopted my Miley Jane from a lovely farm.  We lived in Wisconsin at the time and had settled into our new home.  We had my orange tabby, PeeWee, who was nearly 15 years old (and coincidentally she was also born on Christmas all those years ago).  I had her FOREVER.

Miley was, of course, named after the famous singer...  She's half Border Collie and the other half consists of one eighth German Shepard, one eighth Rottweiler, and the final quarter is a mixture of two Labs.  Everyone of course notices the German Shepard.

So to the right is our Holiday Card for 2007.  Don't hate on the outfits I made them wear!

2011: The year our son, Lucas, was born.  Writing this makes it sound like it was so long ago, but he's not even seven weeks old yet.  I actually already posted a blog about this Holiday Card just last week.

I chose three photos in progression, starting with my lovely Maternity days resulting in our brand new baby and then ending with a soft photo of his feet in my hubby's hand.  (I took so many pictures just to get the right shot!)

I haven't actually sent out this year's card just yet, but it should be out in the mail by tomorrow.  I know y'all are anxious to get it.  Now that we are a family we may need to think about creating customized Holiday Cards every year from here on out.  I'm actually looking forward to it!

Happy Blog Hopping - continue to check out the rest of the 12 Days of Christmas Challenge and view others through here.