Our own Christmas Traditions

This year we will be spending our Christmas at home. For the first time since we've been married, we'll be all alone on Christmas Eve and Christmas morning. As much as we love being with both of our families, I am really looking forward to this time... just the three of us. Jaxon's first Christmas, and it's the perfect time to start some of our own traditions. Here's what we've done so far...

- Set up our main Christmas tree and decorations... it was an amazing and tearful night. For some reason I cried a lot that night and kept getting teary, I had really looked forward to putting up our tree with Jaxon and it was all too perfect! He was fascinated with the lights... I loved the sparkle in his eye and had to capture it on film...


And here's our pretty "main" tree:


- Next up, I had been begging Tyler to get a tree for the downstairs to put our keepsake ornaments on. He wasn't too thrilled with the idea, but he finally caved and I won. ;) I really wanted a tall and thin tree so we were on the hunt for one. We both grew up with real trees but our upstairs "formal" tree is artificial, so we decided to go with a real tree for downstairs. We searched high and low for a tall and thin one, and eventually gave up... decided there's no such thing. I am really excited to go pick out a real tree each year for our downstairs. Anyways, here's my short & plump 2nd tree that I love!


Jaxon's "first Christmas" ornament:


Tyler's first ornament:


A house we got from my Mom last year for buying our home:


- We are going to go meet Santa! Even though Jaxon won't be raised believing in Santa, we still want to meet him! :)

- Going to a Christmas Eve service... this year we actually get to go to OUR church's service which I am super excited about.

- Then after we get home, we'll open 1 present and the rest on Christmas Morning... both Tyler and I did this growing up and would like to keep the tradition going with Jaxon! Usually that 1 present for us was pajama's or a little gift... I'm going to go with the pajama route.

- Making breakfast Christmas morning... I am thinking of doing homemade cinnamon rolls and fresh fruit, or pancakes/waffles and fresh fruit. Yummy? I think so!

- Reading the story of Christ's birth before opening gifts. As you may remember my family always recites the story by memory (each person has a specific verse) but I'm not sure if we'll get brave enough to do that. Reading it is sufficient for now, I don't think Jax is ready to memorize quite yet. ;) After the story, we'll open presents then thank the Lord for what the presents represent... His gift to us, Jesus.

That's all I can think of for now... I'm sure as Jaxon gets older and the longer we'll be married the more traditions we'll create as our own little family.

What about you - any fun Christmas traditions you have?

Q&A w/ Kari!

Kari asked me the following questions...

What’s your favorite thing about being a mommy?
Ah, Kari. I could write a book about the things I love about being a Mom. The quiet moments where Jaxon is laying on my chest asleep while I'm singing to him, watching him play and develop and learn new things, his smile and his cheesy "through the nose" laugh, the beginning of "real" hugs, hearing him talk and babble on and on... I could go on forever. I love reading to him and talking to him about Jesus... man, I am struggling coming down to my 'favorite' thing. I love the opportunity that has been given to me... I love that God has blessed me so much and he chose me to be his Mom. So does that narrow it down at all for you? :)

What is your favorite book?
I am not a huge reader, although I wish I was. I would say a book that has "stayed" with me the longest would be "Butterfly in Brazil" by Glenn Packiam. It's a book about how the littlest things you do in life can make a large impact and difference. I always pray that I would do the little things in life with excellence, because I never know when and how this is going to be affecting me or someone else in the long run, and how God will use it for His glory.
I also really liked the book "The Shack". Honestly not many other books are coming to mind. I would love to read the Twilight books at some point too.

What kind of music do you like?
I like any kind of music that carries a good strong melody, good harmonies, and a catchy beat. I like country, christian, pop, and some r&b stuff too.

And how are you?
At the moment? I am good. I am really excited for Christmas this year... so many fun things planned with Jaxon and I can't wait to spend Christmas morning as a family for our first Christmas. It will be perfect and I can't wait. :)

Thanks Kari! Merry Christmas!

Q&A time!

Do you ever have a time during your blog life that you are literally just out of things to say... life passes you by day by day and you just can't bring yourself to write a post about absolutely nothing? That's where I am. I have been given a lot of grief by a couple of you crazy kids lately about not writing, so here I am... writing. Except, I'm going to copy Leah and ask you to give me some writing material.

So here we go! Lets have a Q&A! Ask me anything. From married life, to being a mom, to owning a home, or maybe about my faith, my favorite color... haha, anything within reason. ;)

Most of you I know in person so it should be interesting to see what you come up with.

Later alligator.

Wordless Wednesday . . . bathtime!

Where in the world is Carmen Sandiago?

Sorry for being MIA the past week. It was a week from youknowwhere and each day I just focused on getting through the day and praying the next day would be better.

I was ganged up on multiple times this week by a couple of my employees and thrown under a semi by their comments and very hurtful things they did and said about me. I was THIS.CLOSE. to just quitting... I spent hours a couple times this week in tears in my office... just feeling overwhelmed and wondering what in the world I did to deserve it. I guess I just feel like this whole job situation would be different if someday I could look back on this and say "You know what... it was worth it. All of the stress, anxiety, and hurtful things I went through was worth it." But the sad thing is, I'll never be able to say that. I'll never be able to say that what I'm going through has made me a better person, because I really doubt it ever will. Anyway, I won't go in to detail because honestly, I just don't want to relive it or think about it on this beautiful Sunday.

Jaxon and I spent last weekend in Iowa visiting Tyler's family, while Tyler was out pheasant hunting. We had a really good time and Jaxon had a blast playing with his uncles :) It is always a relaxing time for me to go there because I am forced to sit and relax instead of worrying about my house and all things I should be doing. My sister met us there on Saturday to join us for trick-or-treating... here's a couple pics.




Jaxon turns 9 months tomorrow so I am excited to see how much he weighs at his appointment on Tuesday. Just can't believe it's been 9 months already... sigh! This week, I think, will be the end of my nursing days as he now has 2 big chomping teeth and bit me HARD {to the point of bleeding} this weekend. So the decision is now, do I quit and feel like a failure for not making it to a year, or do I suffer through? It has to be possible to train babies to not bite since people nurse a lot longer than 9 months, but I don't know if I can handle the chance of going through that pain again!

Yesterday at work this lady came through with her sister and I sat and watched them laugh and drink their Starbucks together. It made me really miss having spur-of-the-moment times with my Sister. Hopefully someday again soon.

It is beautiful today... 70 degrees in November... really?!?! Where's my snow and freezing cold weather? Although I must admit I am loving this quick break from winter... I have been able to take Jaxon on a couple walks this week and that really helped me unwind from work each day. Going to try and get outside to enjoy the day today again.

Have I said lately that I love my house?? I don't think I say that enough. I spend so much time thinking about how it really needs to be cleaned and the laundry really needs to be done and how there's always something to do... I truly don't spend enough time being thankful for it. I love having a place of our own, where we can create memories and raise our son. I love the way that our personalities have come through my decorating and the way that it is becoming our home and not just a roof over our heads. And I love that God has truly blessed us in so many ways. He is faithful to provide for all of our needs and I am so grateful for that.

Anyway, I think that's enough randomness for now... Here's to hoping this week will be much-less-eventful than the last, and hopefully I'll be back soon. Pray for me if you think about it... I need it.