christmas in our new home

Since we had no house to really decorate last Christmas, I really went to town this year!  Not really, ok, maybe a little!  We invested in a new 10.5 ft tree and we are in awe of its beauty.  We chose a thin and tall tree as opposed to our old one.  We bought it the day after Thanksgiving and started decorating.  This is probably already practiced by most families, but I think we're going to start a tradition of decorating for Christmas the day after Thanksgiving.  I loved seeing H's face light up when we (mainly Paul) were putting the tree together.  Maybe next year, he can help decorate the bottom of the tree.

christmas weekend

And just like that, Christmas is over.  Here are a few Instagram pics from the weekend.

We left for Houston on Friday.  It was nice to be able to sleep in, actually enjoy a cup of coffee, and take our time.  On the road, I got bored.  I took a picture of my new (and first) pair of Toms from my sister. 

And I would like for you to meet my new love, Stella.  She is a Canon EOS Rebel T3i, and it was love at first shot!  I've been hinting at Paul for an SLR, but completely ruled it out this Christmas since we just recently bought a load of furniture for the house.  So she was a very nice surprise.  It's actually my Christmas and early birthday present.  He loves me, and I'm so grateful!  Oh, and he also got me our very first board game - Cranium!  It's sort of a joke because I hosted a Games Night with some girl friends a few months ago and we had absolutely zero board games (how'd you like that Mr. AZ reference?!).

I've been wearing the same pajamas for Christmas since 2008.  I hope to continue that tradition for as long as I can! 

My mother-in-law made Paul's favorite cherry pie for dessert.  We had wigilia on Christmas Eve, which is the traditional Polish supper held on December 24th.  We shared the oplatek and had salmon, tilapia, mushroom soup, coleslaw, pierogies stuffed with cheese and potatoes (which I helped stuff), shrimp cocktails,  and sauerkraut in observance of the Black Fast (no red meat).  Lucky for me, I love seafood.  This is a complete opposite of what my family does on Christmas Eve.  In the Filipino tradition, we have nochebuena, where is basically another Thanksgiving feast, with turkey, ham, and a roasted pig (or lechon) as an added bonus.  We did sort of combine the two traditions when we had Christmas at our house last year.  We shared the oplatek with one another, but ate meat! 

We've driven this route many times before, and I am just now able to snap a decent picture of Sam Houston.  My excuses are either a) I'm talking b) can't get a good shot, or c) (and most likely the case) I've fallen asleep after driving for less than 30 minutes.  I've come to a conclusion that I can pretty much sleep anywhere, anytime!  We rarely make any rest stops, but, I'm glad we did because I saw this pretty tiling in the restroom.

All in all, we had a fabulous Christmas!  There was a lot of family time and stuffing ourselves with food.  I also drank enough coffee that could last me through the new year - which is, by the way, in less than a week!  Can't believe it!  Make every last day of 2011 count!

How was your Christmas?  Did you get what you wished for?  Are you about 10 lbs heavier?  I hear ya!

be merry

We are on our way to Houston as we speak. I'm looking forward to my first Polish Christmas!

Wishing you all a very safe and Merry Christmas filled with love, happiness, and good food!

deck the halls...

I've been meaning to change our theme this year, but never got around to it.  So we stuck with the same red, green and gold theme.

Our tree is two years old.  I got it at Garden Ridge for I think $79!  It stands at 7.5 feet tall, and pre-lit, although the lights on one side has never worked.  This year, more lights have died on us, so I had to put two strings of lights on the tree instead of one.  I'm not sure if you notice but there are more lights at the bottom of the tree than on the top.  Paul realized this after I'd hung all the ornaments, and I was NOT going to mess with it.  It does make me cringe a little knowing that the lights aren't equally distributed, but there's always next year.  (Ahh, i shouldn't have told you.  Now you're looking at the top of the tree right - RIGHT?)

I kept the same ornaments and the same ribbons as the past two years.  Except we may have thrown away some of the red and gold ones with glitter detailing by accident last year, so I bought some new ones that looked a little similar.  We have some ornaments that Paul made when he was in elementary school and they're so cute!  I did throw away the swirly, glittery sticks that I used last year and bought new ones this year because it had almost no glitter left.  I stuck them in random spots and put more around the top of the tree to emphasize the star. 

Didn't really change a whole lot with the rest of the room.  We had to move our studly chairs so we could put the tree in front of the window.  I replaced the pillows to red ones that we already had to make it more festive.  Our side table is the same, except I added this gold reindeer that I found at Goodwill and filled it with decorative pine cones. 

Our dining table looks a little blah.  I'll try harder next year.

Here's another close up of my pine cone topiaries.

Oh and here are our chairs!  They came in over Thanksgiving weekend.  The cushion is nice on your bum, and they're as solid as the table.  Now we just need to get some head chairs.

For our little console table in the entryway, I put some pine cones and extra ornaments in a cloche and a tall vase.  I wanted real branches to put in the vase, but had no luck finding any large pieces in the backyard.  So, I just bought these at Michael's.  I found this candle on the Square in one of the antique stores.  I don't know if you can see it, but it's called "The Smell of Christmas."

This is our mantle in the family room.  You can't really do too much to it because it's not very wide.  It's always a challenge having to balance these two lit trees and garland.  Everything is the same, except I added ornaments on the garland.  We really need to get new stockings!  I got Paul's stocking for him one Christmas, and then when we got Bailey in 2007, I made her one, and made mine too.  As you can tell, I gave up when I got to mine.  Those are supposed to be bells next to my name.

We had a girls' night a few years ago where we decorated our own wreaths.  I've been hanging mine up on our pantry door every year. 

Next Christmas, I'm thinking about changing our theme to green, blue and gold.  All I really need are blue ornaments and I can reuse my green and gold ones.  They go on mega (Jamie Oliver style) sale after Christmas, so I'll see how much is left. 

The house just looks a lot better with Christmas decorations.  The neighborhood looks more cheerful when houses are glowing with Christmas lights.  I wish it was Christmas every day! 

'twas the weekend before christmas

We got a lot accomplished this weekend.  Almost done with our Christmas shopping, and managed to completely avoid the malls since it's the busiest weekend of the year. 


We went to Cabela's Friday night to look for a present for my father-in-law.  I've never been before and it was quite an experience.  They had huge displays of animals all over the store, and even had an indoor aquarium.  I must have looked like a tourist taking pictures of everything.  Again, Paul can't take me anywhere.

Had dinner at Spoons.  They're known for their homestyle cooking, and they serve breakfast all day.  We're a huge fan of their fried pickles, and they always have live music in the evenings.


My family and I celebrated Christmas a little early since we won't be together this Christmas.  This will be my first Christmas without them, but they'll be with our extended family in Canada, and I'll be spending my first Christmas with Paul's family in Houston. 

I made some doggie cookies for Bailey and friends.  I found the recipe on Pinterest via here .  Bailey loved them so much, she even ate the ones wrapped under the tree that we were gifting to fellow doggies. 

This Peach Cheesecake has been one of my favorites for a long time.  My friend Cynthia over at Cyn & Co used to make this for me for my birthday back in high school.  Her dad is quite the chef too!  I'm so glad she finally shared the secret recipe with me.

Every Christmas, my family takes loads of pictures.  I warned Paul about this, and told him that this does not even compare to how many pictures we take when we're in Canada.  Each family has their turn, and if we have time, we'll even take individual pictures.  It's extreme, but it's our way of killing time before church and waiting to open presents at midnight.

My Mom got Paul a popcorn maker, his long time dream.  We can't wait to use it! 

Bailey had way too many treats, and this was the aftermath.

Just 6 more days left until Christmas.  Are you ready?

yearly christmas ornaments

We started this tradition last year.  A friend and I were discussing Christmas traditions that we could do with our husband/significant others, and she shared this idea with me.  Each year, we would pick out one new ornament for the Christmas tree.  Eventually, our tree will be filled with all sorts of ornaments that have been collected over the years. 

Last year, I picked out this heart ornament from World Market.

And my sister-in-law gave this to us as a present, and I thought it was just perfect and very thoughtful!

This year, I chose this "T" to go with our letter ornaments. 

Technically, we should have picked out the ornaments together, but both years, I picked them myself.  Sad.  I wish we picked one out together at one of the antique stores we visted during Thanksgiving weekend.  Oh well, there's always next year. 

Speaking of next year, I'd love to try this.  My cousin/bff, Tincy, and her fiance are starting a new tradition called 12 Dates of Christmas.  What a great idea!

Do you guys have any Christmas traditions?  I'd love to hear them!