Oh, the Holidays...

The holidays are finally here! Although it doesn't really feel like it...yet. School and work have kept me real busy. And Doug is as busy as ever! Retail really picks up during the holidays (duh) so I have a lot more hours of work and school is getting hectic with finals around the corner (12 and 13 days away). So we have been busy!

My extended family was in town for Thanksgiving. We had a blast finding time and hanging out with everyone. Reagan liked playing bubbles and chalk this time. As well as anything doing with choo choos :) We got to visit with aunts, uncles, and grandparents. And Devonna and Joe. Lots of good conversations and laughs all around. And don't forget the food! I love our Thanksgiving feasts and the leftovers. Doug...not so much of a fan of the food. So his plate was pretty bare and mine was overflowing. At least he'll still love me if all that food goes to my hips :)

This week we made time to put up the holiday decorations. Last year I promised pictures of our decorated apartment but it never happened...this year I made sure to take pictures! I love decorating for Christmas! Joe gave me a peppermint scented candle so I've been burning that to make it smell like Christmas.

Doug did our chalkboard for this season

We busted our our hot chocolate and holiday mugs (plus our apartment is a little chilly!)

And also this guy. Last year we missed a lot of holiday movies so we started early. Rudolph is always a classic!

This year we have end tables! And my parents gave us this nativity set last year from Israel that's carved our of Olive Wood. So we got to properly display it this year!

We put our holiday lanterns on our other end table. We were cracking up cause some of the stuff we unpacked, we didn't remember where we had gotten it the year before...like this basket. I love it, but can't remember where it came from...

Our penguin plate. And Target had the candy cane Hershey kisses right by the check out. And I was a sucker for grabbing them. But it was so worth it. They are really yummy!

Our newest addition of Christmas mugs. I'm a sucker for penguins. When I brought them home I showed Doug. And I told him that I got him a different type for him. He said, "Is it a snowman?" He knows me so well.

We put lights up on our "mantle" this year. We couldn't remember where we put them last year. Doug thought it was on the mantle, but I told him I remembered saying no last year...but since the paint is cheap we're not gonna be getting much of a deposit back anyways, so why not put some more holes in the wall? :) Oh, and Doug had left his hammer at youth group, so he hammered the nails in with a Zippo. haha. I love how resourceful he is!

Our potholders!

Towels. Go Target! They have the same ones this year. Gotta love cheap decorations!

Our "mantle" all lit up

Our tradition is that we get ornaments on our vacations as memories. That way everytime we put our ornaments up we can remember all of our great memories and vacations together. So far we have one from Kauai, Hume, Hershey Pennsylvania, and Disneyland. This year we went to South Carolina and Savannah, so we got ornaments while we were there. These are the two that we got! The one on the left is the state flag painted on a sand dollar. The one on the right is just clay.

Trimming the tree. Our tree is small but it fits our apartment perfect. It really just fits us :)

Our tree all lit up. Doug did an awesome job putting it up and making the branches stick out right, and putting the lights and garland on.

We've been playing Christmas music and I wrote our Christmas letter. I just have to assemble the cards, address them, and get our picture printed out. I love this season!