On the 6th day of Christmas

I went to work this morning with happy thoughts of yesterdays events - Rosie was Baptized at the Providence Cathedral - followed by a delish long lunch at Madeira with family and friends.

I'm off to celebrate New Years' Eve! I hope everyone enjoys a safe and happy evening!!

On the 3rd Day of Christmas

my true love gave to me! 3 turtle doves......

Well, yesterday was a SNOW DAY for us in NH. My office was closed and Matt worked from home as the flakes dropped and swirled for more than 12 hours leaving us with 14-18 inches of snow!

I did spend part of the day doing laundry, opening mail, shoveling, playing with Reese in the snow :-) but most of the day was spent on the couch watching Season 3 of Downton Abbey. oh! was it delish!

I also managed to take some photos of other xmas decorations on the first floor..... ya know, like our Christmas Tree!

Our xmas card 'tree' this year.
The kitchen bar is on the left with the dining room on the right.

Reese - monopolizing two laps and one arm all at once! LOL

the Christmas Tree in green :-)

and in full color - the theme this year was white lights
with white and silver ornaments

It's a smaller tree than we've had in past years,
but on the plus side there was plenty of room for the star on top! 

 While decorating this year was a little piece-meal (the basement is currently strewn with boxes!), everything turned out quite well and I loved having some of the decorations up early (first weekend in December) so that we could enjoy them all month  long!

Still up is second Christmas on New Years (my side of the family) and Twelfth Night!

On the First Day of Christmas.....

..... My True Love Gave to Me!!

Last week was a blur of baking (over 30 dozen cookies in 7 varieties!), errands, Matt's birthday, wrapping and shipping packages, picking up the Christmas Tree, doctor's appointments (I have graduated from my nutrionist!), mailing last minute holiday cards, a quick trip to the Theatre, lighting the tree, my birthday (we saw SkyFall - the 007 movie!), decorating the tree - a strange birthday occurrence of mine that could be called a tradition at this point! packing the car, celebrating Christmas at Matt's parents house with 13 adults, 2 children, 1 dog, 2 cats - WHEW!, seeing The Hobbit and then back home again before returning to work today.
A marathon to be sure!

My apologies for not keeping up with the blog - I will be catching my breath a bit this coming weekend and will post pictures of the tree and maybe even a recipe or two!

Thank you for your patience and I sincerely hope you are all enjoying a Very Merry Holiday Season with those you love and cherish!

Matt w/Uncle Jim and cousin Stephen creating a marble shoot

Quick Update!

This is my first whole week off where Matt is also off the whole week since........ too long. Needless to say we've been busy getting ready for Xmas, re-fi the house, dr's appts, sleeping in (YAY!) and we are walking out the door in about 5 minutes to go celebrate Matt's birthday. So, without further ado.... some pics of what we've been up to!

this isn't even all of them - if I counted right, abt 30 dozen cookies of varying kinds!

packing them all up as they cool (not enough counter space!)

holiday cards

flavored vodka

small additions to the mantel - these two glass Angels

December Birthdays

December is a fairly big birthday month for my family: Dad Rand, Cousin Jennifer, Cousin Isabelle, Matt, me
and if you want to bring religion in, Christmas too.
It seems odd to still have no snow with colder weather. We have gotten snow a few times now, but it always warms up just enough for it to melt. I don't know about you, but I don't think the cold it worth it without snow!

We added a small multi-colored light tree to our upstairs
hall this year. It adds a festive touch to the second floor
AND you can see it from the driveway too!

Guestroom: I found the Noel sign at Target (already on sale!)
and the arrangement is courtesy of Haley's magic touch!

Most of our gifts have arrived and I've been wrapping!
This years theme is brown paper with red and white twine. 

odd shapes make for a good challenge!

ready to be shipped to their destinations!

Yes, more decorating to come. No, we don't have our tree yet. Yes, I know that's kinda crazy. Yes, it's on purpose. No, we didn't forget the big tree - Promise!!

Deck the Halls!

.... with boughs of holly, fa la la la la, la la la la!

candles in all the windows

the mantel has gone from basic fall to

lighted garland

plus stockings and candles and the Menorah

I am loving these crystal candlesticks I found in the Clearance dept at Home Goods!

It looked a bit empty in the middle, so I pulled in the wooden sign  'Believe'

we take the Menorah down to light the candles each night for Hannukah,
but for the rest of the holidays it will live here on the mantel.

with the addition of our dining room hutch, we now have a place for the creche

I did the painting years ago when we lived in Lawrence for the dining area,
but it makes a great background for the creche! Has me thinking about doing some side panels for next year though, so the entire top would be the sky.

Matt hung our big wreath above the garage. We saved  $$ this year by
getting a plain wreath and decorating it  ourselves with past years decorations.

And here is the front door! I've been SO excited for this ever since
I painted the door black. Doesn't it look great? :-)

There is of course more decorating to come since we haven't picked up our tree yet, but I will post pictures - don't you worry! This is one of my favorite times of year and I've had carols playing for days now - loud enough that I can hear them in every room of the house!

Next up is wrapping packages and baking! woot!

Date Night! (with a coupon!)

Thank you Valuepack and Bugaboo Creek for our coupon! No, they aren't paying me for this post. But all the same, they made it possible for Matt and I to squeeze in a date night after work last night. I don't know about you but heading into the holiday season, our budget changes a bit and date night can sometimes slide down the list.

It may seem silly, but something about enjoying a meal neither of you
had to cook (maybe a glass of wine too!) makes it all the more delish!

we both had steak with onions and mushrooms,
but mine also had mashed potatoes! YUM!

And the topper on this meal was the coupon which gave us $10 off!

What are some of your simple pleasures of late?
Is all your holiday shopping done?

Boston Visit!

My 'little' brother Oliver was in Boston for the last few days at a National teacher's conference and Matt and I squeezed in a quick dinner last night at P.F.Chang's with him before he hopped on a plane back to TX :-)

LOL! he didn't like me taking pics

said that if you can't see his eyes, I can't prove it's him. goofball :-)

Matt took over the camera, so he blocked the photo with a spare menu

HA! finally got a good one! 

It was great to see you! Can't wait until you two move closer!

PS. P.F.Chang's? has a great gluten-free menu that includes apps, dinner AND dessert!

Reese Adoption Day

Today celebrates the 2 year marker for Reese as a member of our little family! Below are some assorted photos from the past year - he's such a goofball but we wouldn't trade him for anything!

I still have no words for this one. Cracks me up!

helping us clean-out the basement

staying cool by the a/c vent

keeping a watchful eye on me while I work on some outdoor projects

hanging out in the yard 

watching the lawn mowing guys!

seeing the ocean and 2 Lights for the first time!

climbing rocks until his legs were shaking - great work out!

napping - but watching birds at the same time :-)

making new friends!

hiking

being stubborn, while I tried out a new camera setting 

painting the front door

fell asleep while I finished the garage stairs!

posing in front of the painted front door

napping on the floor of School House Studios in RI

the week he helped Matt enjoy his vaca this fall!

not happy waking up to a camera in his face.  LOL

snoozin' by the fire...

snoozin' at work...

having a serious conversation with me

watching birds and the snow fall!

keeping Matt company while he hung the wreaths outside!

Happy 2-year Adoption Day Reesey-face! We love you Goober :-)