Souvenirs

Ever since the hubster I got married, we have been buying Christmas ornaments at most of our vacation destinations.  It started with a glittery turtle ornament from Maui.  I was super tempted to buy an enormous Mickey Mouse head ornament when we went to Disneyworld for our first anniversary, but getting it home without breaking was the deal breaker.  So guess what I picked up in Vail?

He's currently sitting on the fireplace mantle awaiting the tree to come out this Christmas.  I noticed that that is where my late purchase ornaments are stored when I have already packed away the Christmas decorations.  It's a good thing I bought that second tree for like $5 last year.

Christmas with the In-laws

We spent the day down in Cincinnati to celebrate a belated Christmas with the hubster's mom's side of the family.  We had lunch and opened gifts.  Overall, a good time.  I gave everyone calendars again this year.  This is the third year we've done that.  I was starting to feel that they might get tired of looking at pictures of us year round.  We do try to make the majority of the calendar include other family members and focus on the hubster's son.  They all seemed to really like them and would like to continue getting them.  It is getting harder to make sure we have enough pictures to fill each month every year.  I made sure to bring my camera and tripod this year, so we'll have at least one picture guaranteed to make it in to the calendar.

Dog picture of the day

My Christmas Snoopy that I drove through a blizzard for. And yes, it's staying out all year.

After Christmas Shopping

I really thought I had escaped with minimal damage this year on buying Christmas stuff.  I thought being in PA/NJ would hinder any buying.  I left PA with 4 ornaments and 2 boxes of lights (I justify the lights because 3 strands per tree on our front yard was a little scarce, 4 would be perfect).  Anyway, I went out to the bank to deposit some money and decided to hit up Target and Wal-Mart.  Target was cleaned out (not unexpected as it's January 3), but Wal-Mart had tons of crap.  I ended up with another tree (perfect for the cleaned out Florida room), some garland for the new tree, reindeer antler headband (I've been wanting one), and some candy for Logan's belated Christmas with us.  So in total, I spent $15 plus $20 Target gift card on Christmas stuff.  No gift tags though.

After Christmas Shopping

We went to the Jersey Shore Premium Outlets today... of course, in the middle of a severe winter weather advisory.  Yep, anything for a deal.  We made out pretty good.  I got a black lace satin top and a sweatshirt material type top from Banana republic and a pair of jeans from True Religion.  The hubster also found his unicorn, a pair of "rainbow" Billies that he's been pining for since last Thanksgiving. 

Thanks Santa!

Dear Santa,

Thanks for all the great memories this Christmas. Spending time with the extended family was great.

Love,

Elaine

Ps. Thanks cousins for all the great loot!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas! I hope Santa was good to you.

Christmas FAIL!

This year the hubster and I started a little too late on buying each other Christmas presents.  Sure, we both had something to open last night (did our own gift opening before we leave), but we both have gifts to be ordered or on the way.


So last night, I'm opening my gift and it's in a pretty big box.  Just by feeling the box, I knew it was a shoe box.  I love shoes.  So I'm pretty excited, and then as I tear open the paper to reveal the box brand, the hubster says "Now we can go hiking together!".  I'm thinking sweet, that's awesome.  I was thinking about how I might want to get some, and now I have them.  But it turns out, the hubster is also a trickster.  There were no shoes.  Instead, I got a Powermat which is still awesome too, but I got my hopes up for hiking shoes.  We both got big chuckles out of it.

Early Christmas present

So the special pick up was one of the hubster's Christmas presents. I made him stay in the office while I brought them in. I let him see it after the relentless questioning. What was it?

I had our sketches from our first anniversary trip to Disney World framed.

Pooh

Eeyore

Mine are the sketches on the bottom.  I think they turned out pretty awesome. Now we have to clear out the entertainment center in the office to hang them up.

One of my favorite shopping days of the year

The day after Christmas!!!  I love Christmas! Love, love, love.  So because I'm too cheap to buy Christmas decorations, wrapping paper, tags, etc at full price, I always go shopping the day after Christmas (75% off, yo!)  But I think I'll have to start restraining myself.  At first, it was great.  I had just moved to Columbus, so it was starting fresh and I could buy to my heart's content.  Fast forward, 3 years and I don't need quite so much anymore.


Case in point, last year I bought 5 packages of self stick gift tags.  Yes, F-I-V-E.  That's 100+ tags. I don't even know if I know 100 people.  *goes to check Facebook*  I guess I do know 100 people.  Either way, I think it would take me at least 5 years to use all those gift tags.  I need more control.


And ornaments are another thing.  I love ornaments.  I have too many as is, but that doesn't stop me from stopping and looking at ornaments anytime a shiny, glittery ball passes my line of vision.
The solution: buy another tree for more ornaments!


Good thing I'll be in PA/NJ for the day after Christmas.  There is only so much room in Heidi (Brock's name for my Audi A4) and I think Brock would be very upset if I left him or one of the dogs behind for more Christmas stuff.

Christmas card

I usually make my Christmas cards, but didn't come up with a good idea in time. I do love this card from Snapfish. I underestimated the number I would need though :(. I had to keep one for myself!