Christmas and a Little More

Christmas was pretty quiet at the Gardner household this year...at least for me. I'm used to having lots and lots of family around on Christmas Eve and Christmas day. Christmas was always a marathon at the Grow's; going from one grandparent's house to the next...and I loved it! It made the day last a lot longer to me. So this year was really different staying home.

We decided to do our favorite Christmas traditions to make it special for us. Christmas Eve was spent baking and wrapping all day long. We made pies and sugar cookies and then had Kevin's traditional waffle dinner. And even though we weren't going anywhere I had to dress Charley up for her first Christmas Eve!

After dinner we relaxed and enjoyed the warm fire while Charley gazed at the Christmas tree.

The next morning we got up, opened gifts and then had Kevin's traditional Christmas breakfast casserole (my first time and it was delicious).

Charley enjoyed her gifts from Santa...especially her wubanub (it works like a charm)!

Kevin's parents stopped by on Christmas Eve and my parents stopped by on Christmas day to exchange gifts. We even got a surprise visit from my older brother, who we hadn't seen for several months because someone in his family was always sick. It was nice chatting with him for the short time he was here.

After everyone left we watched Christmas movies and relaxed.

Christmas 2014

New Year's Eve was pretty much non-existent at our house. Kevin had to be to work by 6am on the 1st and I had to do some work at 8am, so we did pizza and a movie and were in bed by 9:30pm...lol. We are QUITE the party animals!

My birthday is only a few days after New Year's but with all of the holiday excitement I forget it's coming up until it's here. We typically go out to dinner for our birthdays but I decided I wanted to include Charley, since a birthday is a family deal. So I chose to have Chinese take-out for dinner so we could eat it at home. Kevin also treated me to a movie and then took me to Ikea to pick out my birthday presents. I have been wanting to organize lately and get my house in order. And who doesn't love Ikea!

My cute date on my birthday

But my favorite thing I got is my new Silhouette Cameo that Kevin gave me for Christmas. I told him almost a year ago that this is what I wanted...and he came through! I love to craft and there are so many cute things I want to make and do around the house that I can make with this awesome machine!

My first project was very simple. I wanted to add our street numbers to our front door.

It was so easy to do and I can't wait to do more! I have all of these ideas and projects floating around in my head. I'm even considering the idea of starting up my own etsy shop to make a little money on the side (most likely to pay for my new addiction...lol) I feel like a kid in a candy store...I'm so excited to keep playing with my new toy!