Christmas Photobooth!

Better not leave your camera laying around at our family Christmases!

Merry Christmas to You and Yours! May God Bless You in this Season and in 2014!

Oops Forgot About...

Oops! Forgot about the biggest (and heaviest) part of our week! We went to my parents house yesterday for a Christmas gathering. I work Christmas day this year, and Boxing Day we will be with Nate's family so we made plans to see my parents and sister this weekend and exchange gifts. First I have to share what we got for my geriatric fur children at my parents.. Bella with her Bells On and Jingle Cat! (So surprised we had no protests from Tigger about wearing this... none at all!)

My parents had asked us a while ago what we wanted, and after sending a few small ideas we approached them about helping us to buy a new TV stand/entertainment console. We found one we loved at Costco, and it was our Christmas gift from them!

Nate will tell you, getting it out of the packaging was the hardest part, but I'm still thankful he was around to put it together! This thing was H-E-A-V-Y, all 135 lbs of it!

Here is the finished product! I love that it makes our living room look less 'college dorm-ish' now that all of the wires are cleaned up and out of site, and it have somewhere to place decorations etc!

Here it is the next day. in better light, though the camera is doing something odd:

Halfway through, Nate realized he had left the base of the TV at his parents house (our previous TV stand held the TV in the air), and so he left to go get that... and when he returned he had a surprise for his greatful wife... Christmas jammies! Finally after a busy week and a busy Saturday we unwound and watched Sherlock together. (Seriously.. I'm hooked BBC's version of Sherlock blows Elementary out of the water... it's so clever and smart! I watched the whole first season in a day, and now I'm re-watching it so Nate can see it... It is that good!) Hope you all had a great weekend, and have found some time to relax in this busy joyous season!

Wrapping, and Vet Trips, and Cookies... Oh My!

First off let me start by reminding you (incase it has kind of snuck up on you like it has on me!) Christmas is in 3 days! My goodness, where did December go! That being said, this week has been crazy busy for us, so thankful that with my Christmas schedule at work I only had one shift this week, there was just so much going on! Monday night I finished up wrapping all of the gifts. We're really downsizing Christmas this year, we're saving as much as we can in the hopes of buying our first home in 2014! I LOVE this wrapping paper that I picked up at Target... I love anything chevron, and the cardinals on the trees were just too cute not to pick up! 

Thursday our kittens were spayed and neutered. Foxy is the calico female, and Nimbus is the Siamese looking male. Two littermates, from a black barn cat, who look nothing alike! They are pretty much inseparable though. Both are super playful and cuddly and we love them to bits (when they aren't busy being a pain in the butt!). They travel well together in the car, Nimbus talks the whole way but that is nothing new, he chats your ear off at home too!

 Our vet is in my hometown so I went out to my parents place and just stayed there for the day... which means I got to see Bella! My sweet girl loves her some Timbits, so on my way out I stopped and grabbed some for her. She knows too... as soon as I walk in the door I'm greeted with this face:

Now you tell me; how do you say no to that? Even if you did she's getting those warm soft bits of tasty donut anyway, because her next move is shoving her head in my purse. I never said my sweet girl had manners!
When I finally got the kittens home (with strict instructions that they were NOT to play, run, jump etc.), this about summed up our evening:

Fighting to keep the collar on Foxy (which Saturday morning we had to cut off of her, crazy girl had somehow gotten BOTH front legs stuck in the collar in an attempt to get the darned thing off). As for no playing, running, or jumping.. As I write this the two of them are tearing around the apartment, and there is nothing I can do to stop it.

Friday night I had a Christmas Cookie Swap! Now, when you're a nurse, and most of your friends are too... evenings do not guarantee people are not at work.. So it was a small gathering but we had fun none the less! I found super cute free printables to decorate the place a little, and then it was time to eat cookies!

Abby even came dressed in her Christmas best! Love this girl, she always makes me laugh! We were far too busy talking the rest of the night to remember to take pictures, next year there will be more!

Also as a side note, my Christmas gift from Abby might be my favourite this year:

People know me too well: Forget diamonds, wine is this girls best friend! Love it! You can buy them at most home stores or you can order here online. They also have the Chillsner for beer (which has vents so you can drink through it... no more warm beer at summer time backyard gatherings!). Great idea!

Christmas Light Date Night!

This weekend was my weekend on days at work, which means I hadn't really seen Nate since Thursday afternoon, so we planned a fun and cheap date night for us after my shift on Sunday! The inspiration came from my cousin Andrea, (who in turn got her idea from her friend), but we decided to call ours Cheesy Christmas Date Night!

We adjusted the rules to suit us (there was absolutely no way I was getting out of the car when it felt close to -15 outside!) , so our rules were:

1. You must wear pajamas (neither of us have Christmasy ones anymore, we'll work on that for next year!)

2. You must listen to Christmas music in the car (I dropped the ball on this one I forgot the CDs! But the radio was playing a lot of Christmas music so it counts!)

3. You must stop for hot chocolate (or another hot beverage!)

4. Cell phones are off limits!

5. You must drive around and look at Christmas lights!

 I finished work at 7 (I think I gave the fastest, most thorough report in the history of nursing) and then raced home as fast as the still snowy and icy roads would allow. I must admit, this was the easiest date night I have ever gotten ready for... I took my clip out of my hair, put on pajamas... and voila, ready!

We hopped in the car and plotted our route. Our original plan had been to visit a house in Port Stanley that has an insane amount of lights, but we were cutting it for time (he closes his yard off at 9:00) so we decided to just try some local neighborhoods! Like any good Canadian road trip, the first stop was Timmie's for a delicious cup of Gingerbread White Hot Chocolate.

 We didn't really see any spectacular displays, but we had a really nice time just driving around and chatting with each other! With our crazy schedules we often go days without really seeing one another, so it was such a blessing to be able to just spend an hour with nothing to do but talk to each other and enjoy each others company!

After driving through Byron, out to the country to the Plunkett Estate (which we thought would be a sure bet for Christmas lights... however they didn't have a SINGLE light!), through Lambeth, and then Old South, we finally decided to go downtown to go somewhere we knew there would be a beautiful display: Victoria Park. It's one of my favourite things about Christmas time in London, on my last shift of a set I drive the extra five minutes to go downtown just so I can drive past it.

We hardly took any pictures because we were too busy talking, but I did manage to snap this one waiting for a light to change!

We're so very blessed to have the chance to spend time with each other during this busy season and we enjoyed every minute of it! Date night comes in all forms, and doesn't have to involve getting dressed up and spending a lot of money... I think I had more fun in my pajamas with hot cocoa than I've had on a date in a long time! This is a fun Christmas tradition we will be doing again!

It's Beginning to Look a lot like Christmas!

Christmas is officially only two weeks away! And I still have so much to do! We did finally get the tree decorated this past weekend though! One less thing! We've had the tree up for a few weeks now, though it is set up in our bedroom behind closed doors due to our two furry rugrats! They knocked it over twice when it was in the living room, even with it nailed into the wall! Saturday night after a day full of Christmas shopping we changed into our comfies and decorated!  Here's a look at a few of our favourite ornaments!

The 'Our First Christmas' ornament from our friends in Edmonton!

You ain't much if you ain't Dutch! 

A gift from a friend... it's our wedding invitation!
Thank goodness for Pinterest! ;)

This one's for my hubby.. Minion! 

A very special Boyd's bear penguin!

Penguins, and wine! 

This is Nate's favourite ornament. He loves him some Beaker!

Our Christmas cards are in as well, so be on the lookout for those coming to your mailbox soon! It was nice to wrap up the weekend with a Christmas musical service on Sunday morning at Nate's parent's church. It's easy to get lost in the decorations, gifts, and wrapping paper and forget what Christmas is really about. We're so blessed to have had a Savior born to save us from our sins!

It's our first time spending this season as a new family together, and I'm so looking forward to blending our traditions, and making a few of our own! Speaking of traditions... in keeping with a tradition from his childhood, Nate put the star on top of our tree this year! Though our star may not new bright and shiny, it is a bit of a family heirloom. It's the same star Nate's mom grew up putting on her Christmas tree's as a child. The thing is chock full of sap from Christmas tree's past (though ours is fake so will not be contributing!), and it holds so many memories for Nate, his Mom and his Oma. Please ignore my messy closet in the picture! Guess I should have closed the door ;)

I'm excited for the time in the future (way waaay into the future I might add!) when we will have kids of our own to help put the star on the tree and we can add our own memories (and our own sap) to it... in the mean time I'll make due with my kid at heart :).

As you can see... it was a long day haha! Have a wonderful week everyone!

First Post!

I could have come up with something crafty and clever and creative... but let's be honest, I'm just coming off of a night shift and my brain is still recouping! Welcome to our blog! This being my first post I think an introduction of sorts is in order! Here is us in a nutshell!

Nate & I are newlyweds, we met four years ago (I was finishing high school, Nate was in college) and married on October 18th of this year! Nate works for the LCBO, and I'm a Registered Nurse at London Health Sciences Centre. We both work crazy shifts, and at times have to go long periods of time without seeing each other, but like they say: absence makes the heart grow fonder! We have two kittens, Nimbus and Foxy, who drive us crazy but we love them anyway! We have a bit of a 'long distance relationship' with my lab at my parents house, Bella. She's my sweet girl, stubborn as an ox but always looking for a cuddle (and a treat!) I love to cook and bake, and Nate loves video games and cars/motorcycles (really anything with an engine!).

The plan is to use this blog to keep family and friends (long distance and nearby!) up to date with what is going on in our lives as we start our family together!

Happy Almost Weekend!