Its beginning to look a lot like....

Christmas! Our tree is up and decorated, our Christmas signs are hung, Christmas cookies made and given out, and lights are shining. I can't believe its only 11 days away. I got an early start this year, bought my mom's Christmas present on Mother's day, bought my dad's about a month after.... then I sort of just stopped. I think I'm mostly caught up now, I just need to get Jerad's present and I'm done with shopping.

My sister and her husband wanted us to find them presents out of stuff we already had this year. I was excited about the idea, but having a really hard time coming up with gifts. Then I thought of the.most.perfect.thing. I think its better than anything we could have bought them, I'm soo excited! Jerad's family does a gift exchange which makes it super easy. I drew one of Jerad's brother in laws and already sent the present with his mom who was visiting for Thanksgiving.

Figuring out this year's Christmas schedule has been hard. My sister and her husband are going to be out of town this year. Normally Jerad and I leave the day after Christmas for our annual Yosemite trip, but because of Jerad's days off this year, we have to leave ON Christmas. We'll come back Monday. In light of all the drama with his sister this year, plus our time limitations, I think we are leaning towards just doing Christmas with my family this time and maybe Christmas Eve with his parents instead of trying to spread ourselves too thin. His extended family does a dinner/gift exchange about a week before Christmas so we'll get to see them as well. They found out I bake pies a few years ago, so we are in charge of pies. Now that I have a Kitchenaid stand mixer, making the dough will be a million times easier!

Since our house is so "Christmas-y," we're going to do Christmas Day there. It will work out perfectly because we can pack the car the night before, then everyone show up in the morning for breakfast and presents, and after wards just load the dogs and Addy in the car and go! Well, assuming that Jerad, I, Addy, 3 large dogs, all of our stuff and firewood for 4 days can somehow fit in our small SUV.

I'm really excited about Yosemite. I know I won't be the most comfortable, and probably not up to long icy hikes, but its our special thing and I'm sure we won't be snow camping this time next year:) Actually, maybe we can take the baby and stay in the Lodge. That would be a fun change! Usually we go with a few friends but this year we're just taking my littlest sister Addy and the dogs. It will be her first time as well as Wyatt's.

I keep checking the weather report hoping for snow, so far there is snow on the ground but its not that deep. Which reminds me... we don't have snow chains for the new Kia. I should probably get on that.

Christmas

I know this is a tad late... but life has been a whirlwind!

First, our decorations this year.

Kitchen:




Office:


Hall:

Living room:






We didn't do the bathrooms or bedrooms this year:(

My company had its Christmas party at Sycamore Mineral Springs in Avilla Beach. We got to stay 2 nights, have fancy food, and the last night we had a band, dancing, open bar, and a gift exchange.

Room:





Par-tay:


Since Jerad and I hadn't had time to celebrate our 3 yr. anniversary, we did it while we were there. He got me a gorgeous aquamarine topaz ring and I got him a watch and cologne.

We went to the beach and the weather was AMAZING! Ahhh, Christmas on the Central Coast!





The day we got back Jerad's aunt Pam and uncle Mark had a gift exchange at their house:



We spent Christmas eve with my family and Jerad's dad and brother Joey and Larry's whole family came over. We had all sorts of food and drinks and played Wii. It was a ton of fun. Christmas eve was one of my families biggest traditions at my grandma's house before she died so it was nice to get people together again!

Christmas morning we spent with my family:



And then the afternoon and night with Jerad's:
After we opened presents and his sister and her family went home, Joey, Jerad and his dad played a bunch of songs. Jerad on guitar, Joey on drums, and Rusty on the trumpet:


Joey also graced us with his mad dancing skills. All the pics of THAT came out blurry:)
So much to do in so little time!

All in all we only made like 11 pies this year between Thanksgiving and Christmas instead of the usual 18. But I tweaked a few recipes to perfection and am working on a few more. I want a pie shop.

The day after Christmas we were planning on going to Disneyland, but Jerad *wanted* to take down our Christmas decorations and get the house cleaned up and some yard work done before our New Years trip instead. I love that motivated man!!! He also painted our hall bathroom and bedroom. I'm in heaven!

Jan 1st we whisked off to Arizona for a 5 day trip to see a friend get married and spend time with friends. So far it has been a blast!

And... then the year was over...

Hmmm, all of my gchat buddies have Veterans Day off. Lucky Duckies:) That's okay, I duked out early yesterday... It's quiet though. The phone hasn't been ringing. I think all of our reps and customers are also closed. Bummer, looks like its going to be a long day here.

I was looking at the calendar and ohmygosh, the year is almost over! And looking at our calendar, I am stresssssing.....

This Friday we have fancy pants date plans in SLO.

Saturday we are going to a Marriage seminar thing Santa Maria at one of Jerad's friend's churches... he heard about it and wanted to go, but since it was so far wasn't sure. Then he heard there was a catered dinner and live music. Its supposed to be a good time.

A week and a half after that its Thanksgiving which means I'll need to make about 15 pies. That weekend we'll do a bunch of Christmas shopping, and decorate our house and tree.

The next weekend Jerad has some fab. secret plan for our anniversary that we are celebrating a week early.

The next weekend I'm in New York (for 5 days of frolicking.... yessss).

The next weekend is my company Christmas party and Jerad and I are spending two nights at Sycamore Mineral Springs Resort in Avilla.

Then its Christmas. Ho-lee Crap! 15 more pies. Tis the Season! I actually love making pies. I got down all of my pie pans this weekend in preparation. Its just a lot of time and energy. I like all of the "Martha Stewart" references it earns me though...

The next weekend Jerad and I will be in Arizona! Leaving Thursday night, returning Monday night.

And that's just the big stuff. Overextended much? I'm happy though. Christmas is my FAVORITE. Jerad too. So much so that last year we painted a wall in our living room just so it would better match our Christmas decor. Here are a few pics... cause who doesn't want to start looking at Christmas pics before Thanksgiving right?






I don't know what I am going to do with the tree now that we have all of the new furniture.

And we usually have some of the best lights on the block. This was a (really dark) pic from the first year that we moved it. Jerad has added since then, but you can get an idea:


You also can't tell from the pic, but the small tree in front of the kitchen window is decorated with ornaments and everything... He was going to do a bunch of new outdoor stuff this year, but looking at all the trips we are taking in the next 7 weeks I'm thinking maybe we should be conserving our money as much as possible. Yikes!

Hmmm, posting all of these Christmas pics is making me excited. Maybe that is one way for me to get over my hatred of fall. Just skip to winter:)