We did some Christmas-y activities today, such as stopping at Walmart for gift-wrapping supplies and attending my old church's special Christmas service, but I didn't take any pictures of those events. (It's a shame, too. I know you would have been thrilled with pics of Walmart shopping trips. Maybe next time.) Anyway, since I don't have any "activity" pictures for you, I thought I'd share some of our Christmas decorations from around the apartment.
Remember how I'd mentioned that Dave and I love penguins? Well, my parents gave Dave this fun decoration a couple of years ago. It plays "Baby, It's Cold Outside," and the penguins dance around. If I can figure out how to upload video on here, I may post a video of it, because it really is cute.
Here are our stockings. I loved the classy silver "Joy" formation that makes up the hangars when I spotted them in the Christmas clearance pile at Target two years ago. For now, it's perfect. I just wonder what we'll do in the future if we have more than one child.
One of the benefits of marriage is gaining new traditions for holidays, and below is a new one for me. Although I grew up with the tradition of opening an advent calendar most years, my experience involved using the same advent calendar each year, which my mom would sometimes tape shut again so we could re-use it. (She was earth friendly when "being green" was only associated with Kermit the Frog.) Dave, on the other hand, grew up with advent calendars that contained chocolate in them! Last year, his mum sent over a couple of advent calendars, and this year, we managed to snag a couple from Dominick's. I always forget to check mine, so I end up with about 3 or 4 chocolates when I finally remember and catch up.
Hooray for Christmas wreaths, and hooray for wreaths that can stay up the rest of the winter! I searched high and low for a nice wreath and found this one last year. It's also a good way of directing people to our apartment.
After church, we headed down to my parents' house to spend the evening with them and exchange presents. Tomorrow, we'll get together with my aunt and uncle and my brother and sister-in-law for even more gift giving.
I'm pretty thrilled with what I've received so far. I usually forget what I've given for gift suggestions, so it's always fun to open presents. I'm looking forward to breaking in my copy of the Pioneer Woman's cookbook!
Here's a picture of the four of us from tonight. I told Dave to wear green, but I promise I didn't share that with anyone else. I guess you could say great minds think alike!
