Christmas Break

Christmas break has been exactly what we needed.  I've only had to work a few shifts, and Bailey has been off work for a week now and won't go back until Wednesday.  On top of that, we aren't in school.  We hardly know what to do with all of this time!

We've spent a lot of time with family.  We got to meet our newest family member, my cousin Chester.  Isn't he such a handsome fellow?!  I can't believe I got to hold a hedgehog.  Dreams do come true!

I also spent time with some of my ladies creating delicious cookies.  So festive!

Bailey's sister threw a party which is always a fun excuse for me to hang out with her dogs.  They're so sweet!

Bailey and I spent a lot of time making these dice for giant Yahtzee, which we gave to his oldest brother and to his parents.  It turned out super cute but took a lot longer than I thought it would!  Also I painted 5 dots on two sides of one of the dice.  Oops.

My mom never got around to sending a Christmas card, so she posted this on her Instagram as her digital card.  So cute!

For Christmas, Bailey got me patches for every country I've visited to sew onto my denim jacket.  Nothing like patches on a jacket to make you feel like you haven't been that many places, haha.  I love it anyway!

Last Friday was a super special day because Chanel got married!  I am so excited for her and her new husband!  I had so much fun being her bridesmaid and watching her get sealed.  What a happy day it was!

Bailey will be heading back to work this week and I will start my gig as a student teacher as my part time job is put on hold.  It will be a busy semester for us, but for now we will definitely enjoy the rest of this break and our lack of responsibility!

Happy Christmas

What a restful and joyful day!  Bailey and I slept in before heading to my grandpa and grandma's house for their annual Christmas breakfast.  I am really not a breakfast food sort of person (a tortilla is my ideal breakfast!) but I always have lots of fun!

We went back home to open our presents to each other.  I had gotten Bailey some boots and an American flag pin, and he got me all sorts of fun stuff!  I am especially excited about the skirt he got me.  It is the ultimate art teacher skirt!  Also, who knew that Trader Joe's made such a fantastic treat!

The rest of the day was spent just hanging out around home and then at Bailey's mom and dad's house.  We ate delicious food, played games, and worked on a puzzle.  Shelby and Mike had us for the gift exchange and they got us one of those super pretty  scratch maps.  We think it is the coolest thing!  Overall it was a fantastic day.  I hope you all had a merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas Eve!

Christmas Eve is the night my mom claimed for our family Christmas party.  This year was extra fun with our favorite gift!

My parents always gets us all matching pajamas.  This year's pajamas are extra slim and extra warm.  I love them!

Last Christmas we got a trip to Disneyland and the year before we got a cruise.  So we aren't used to seeing so much under the tree.  But there was lots to unwrap!  We had so much fun taking turns and seeing what everyone got each other.  Bailey and I got Warden this little wooden house with plastic blocks and he literally chomped on it the entire time!  It made my heart so happy!

My parents always fill our stockings so now we have a ridiculous amount of treats.  Yay!  Also, how cute is the stocking my mom found for Bailey?!  It is so perfect for him!

The night always ends with decorating cookies.  I made gingerbread but it turns out nobody in the family likes gingerbread except for me.  Oops!  We had fun anyway.

Happy Christmas Eve!

My Christmas Decor

As some of you may know, we moved into my parents basement a few months ago.  We have loved it!  This is the most room we have ever had, considering we lived in a bedroom at my brothers, and then Bailey's brother's, and then we lived in our small apartment in China (which actually felt huge, though it was smaller than this basement).  It is so nice to have enough space for all of our clothes and books, and to finally be able to use the cute 1950s table my inlaws gave me for Christmas a few years ago.

Anyway, you don't get pictures of all that because right now we are in Christmas mode!  So you get to see some low quality photos of our Christmas decorations!  Since it is our first year having the space, it is our first year to really be able to decorate.  And decorate we have!  With our first Christmas tree!

I didn't think we needed a tree because we've always just used one of my mom's mini trees.  But Bailey saw an ad for $35 flocked Christmas trees at Wal-Mart and he got so excited about it I couldn't say no!  But of course if we get a tree we need ornaments.  We wanted to make some ornaments that we saw on Pinterest, and didn't even think about the fact that glass ornaments filled with greenery just look like glass ornaments on a green tree haha.  So they don't look like anything fancy, but we like them well enough with the cute wooden garland we bought from Target.

We feel super lucky to have a fireplace!  It has kept us warm and cozy for the past month and a half.  We bought our first nativity, which is displayed on the mantle.  It is basically the nativity of my dreams, and it was on sale for a super good price at Seagull Book!  What a find!

Kylie and I have been into making ring wreaths for every season, so here is my Christmas edition.  I've hung it on my front door to greet visitors!  You know, all the visitors we get down in my parents basement.

We also have this wreath which is on the door of the "server room"  It's not one of our most featured decorations because it kind of looks like a ghetto mess.  But we didn't really know where to put our travel ornaments this year.  Even though the wreath is messy, it is so fun for Bailey and I to look at and reminisce on all the fun adventures we've been on during our marriage, especially just within this past year!

For extra coziness, we moved the mini tree to our bedroom.  Any excuse to use twinkle lights!  Finnegan, our beloved Dracaena Massangeana, also got a Christmas makeover.  So cute!

Growing up, I loved playing with my mom's snowman collection.  Last year she decided to clean out her decorations, and passed some of my favorites on to me!  I'm especially fond of these flexible little guys.  They can be found in various places around our flat.

Anyway, these pictures aren't that great, but it really is quite cozy and festive in real life.  All of my decorations make me really happy, especially paired with the super thick  European hot chocolate I've learned to make!  So real-life friends, once I get all of my laundry put away (I finally got around to handwashing our swimsuits from our Hawaii trip... which was two months ago!) come and see these decorations for yourself and try my hot chocolate!  And have an awesome holiday season!

December

The month started out with everyone in my family getting the dreaded stomach bug.  It was horrible!  Literally every single one of us got sick except for Bailey and Warden.  Seiji and my mom got it twice, but I made it out after about three days in bed.  What a way to end the semester!

Luckily we all felt better in time to see the Butterfly Biosphere, Thanksgiving Point's newest venue.  It isn't quite open to the public yet, but they did a teacher sneak peek, so my mom, brother, and aunt got us all tickets!  We had such a fun time!  The biosphere was extremely warm and humid, full of tropical plants and giant butterflies everywhere.  A Madi dreamland!

While we were there we ate lunch at the Deli and walked around the grounds.  I can't believe how much it has changed back there since the construction of the new venue!

Bailey's Christmas work party was a casino night, which was super fun.  We spent the night eating mini desserts and playing blackjack which I'm not terrible at.  We were given chips and whatever we had left at the end (we actually quadrupled the amount we started with!) could be traded for raffle tickets.  We didn't win anything in the end, but it was a fun night!

Chanel's aunt threw her the cutest bridal shower!  I am so excited for Chanel's wedding, which is at the end of the month.  It was fun to spend the night with some quality ladies eating some quality food!

I had made the invitations for her shower, which used up the last of my wedding stamp supply.  So, it was time to restock!  Bailey and I each picked out a few sets to order and we are a lot more excited than we probably should be about stamps.  Can you guess which ones Bailey picked and which ones I picked?

I took a couple of quick snapshots of Bailey's sister's family this month.  Bailey and my sweet niece Ellie stood in for me as I tested the light.  I think this picture is so cute!

I tried Leatherby's for the first time.  It was delicious!

Kess's little guy turned 1 and I can't believe it!  Watching him eat his chocolate cake was definitely one of my favorite moments this month.  He's so darn cute!

Book group is always a highlight of the month.  I love these ladies, I love books, I love the snacks we always eat, and I love that we have an excuse to meet once a month and talk about the things that matter.  Everyone should be in a book group.  And if you can't find one, make one!  That's what we did!

The semester is over now (yay!) and I'm looking forward to a nice long break to enjoy the holidays with my family!

Santa Babies

As previously mentioned, I love Christmas so much.  What else do I love?  Babies.  Put the two together and there is nothing greater!

To document the holiday season for these little people, we used the Santa suit that my grandma so conveniently has.  Jen, Kylie, and Kess all took a turn in the suit, hoping that them being dressed up would be a little bit less scary than some random bearded stranger.

As you can see, Warden was not a fan of the beard even on a familiar face.  Poor guy!  He did great when Santa was out of sight though.

I had so much fun taking these pictures and they make me so happy!  I wanted to share a couple with you so that you can also smile at how cute these sweet kids are.