Boxing Day

So this was a holiday of firsts:

FIRST...time not living with Mum

FIRST...Christmas without my little sister

FIRST...husband and wife Christmas

FIRST...dance around the Christmas tree with our nephew (he clapped after every song and had the biggest grin on his face the whole time)

FIRST...dinner without other family members (just me, Hubby and the pets)

Here are some photos from our Christmas Eve celebrations (unfortunately we didn't get any photos from actual Christmas day):

Loki's antlers kept spinning around no matter what we did!

Hubby showing off the ginger bread man he got from our nephew (in background my MiL & SiL).

My gorgeous little nephew. When he realised I was taking a photo he posed perfectly!

I got very spoilt by the Hubby and my Mum (plus scored framing on our fingerprint tree from the wedding & a bali painting from the in-laws). Surprisingly got a very thoughtful present from my youngest SiL and her boyfriend. It's a cool lazy susan thing that has separate little bowls for dips etc... The only downside was they didn't think to put the snacks they gave us in the fridge; definitely don't want to risk eating those! But still very sweet as neither of them have a lot of money it was nice to get something so thoughtful.

Disappointed but not surprised over what we got from the evil SiL and brother-in-law...after her telling me they wanted to give us a joint present and individual (so that's what we bought them) there was no joint present and Hubby got a kick ass cologne and I got very cheap wine glasses - oh well. I swear she doesn't like me and pulls shit like that so that she doesn't look like she's being mean but she's knows that I know. Family is sometimes a pain-in-the-ass! Gift giving is so damn difficult with everyone having different incomes and different tastes next year we're definitely toning it down though especially if we're just living off the maternity leave the government has on offer!

(But on to less Grinchy things!) Hubby got me a gorgeous necklace from Michael Hill jewellers and many more Georg Jensen christmas decorations (he went a bit OTT with this but when he told me shipping was $70 I understood why). The sweetest thing I got from him though was a Christmas letter. I decided that as Mr and Mrs we should start the Christmas tradition of both writing letters. His almost made me cry on lots of occasions and it was only 2 paragraphs! One of the decorations he got he addressed to both of us and said it was for the baby (how sweet):

Mum gave me (as always) perfect presents including a recipe book holder, cute tops, a wrought iron heart shaped key holder and these awesome earrings (which I may or may not have picked out):

So I was a very spoilt girl this Christmas! What was everyone elses favourite presents?

In terms of Boxing Day it was my first time that we went out and braved the sales. I now realise why Mum never let me go before. It was insane, silly us bought pillows and a huge frame as our first purchase and then had to battle the crowds with huge bags - WHOOPS! 

I don't know if we got fantastic bargains but we did get some things we need: a TomTom, frames (for both wedding photos and some prints we bought off etsy), latex pillows and shorts for Hubby.

Now we're ending the day by watching Parks & Recreation (awesome) which I bought for Hubby as a Christmas present. Following that BEACH TIME yippee! Hope you're all having an amazing Christmas holidays.

Deck the Halls

More festiveness (especially now that I've located my camera charger!). I'll let the photos speak for themselves...

Unfortunately our tree couldn't handle the weight

Luckily it can also hang! It's Georg Jensen (Danish designer) so Hubby gave it to me and we plan on making it a family heirloom...his idea - SO DAMN SWEET!

Something for the fluffy member of the family.

From a Christmas market in New York

My ornament to Hubby - our 'odd' tree topper

On Friday we'll be celebrating Hubby's Christmas and hopefully dancing around the Christmas tree (provided that doesn't bring on SiL's labour!). As much as I've had issues with his family this year I'm still really looking forward to it. We had a pre-Christmas dinner at my Mum's tonight because for the first time ever my little sister won't be here for Christmas (she's visiting with her Boy's family over East). I thought I'd be ok with that but this dinner made me realise I'm going to miss her. We get on so much better now that we don't live together. I can finally believe what people used to say when I was younger that when she finally grew up we'd get on a lot better, hurrah for that prediction coming true.

In non-related to Christmas news I got a pay rise and a bonus HURRAH! It still isn't much but it's more about knowing how much they not only appreciate my hard work but acknowledge it. I want to (or rather should) put the bonus into savings (aka Goal Bubba) but I have promised Hubby a trip over east next year and I think a visit to Quay might be on the cards. I still can't get that guava egg from Master Chef out of my mind!

We have also gained my other family dog as he's become to neurotic and THE DESTROYER at Mum's boyfriend's brand new house. He's our little Christmas project and luckily Loki loves having him around because by the sounds of things he may be becoming a permanent fixture. They're so funny together so Hubby and I don't mind in the slightest but I'm scared of what he'll do when he's left all alone! Mum's got him on prozac though so fingers crossed! The downstairs door already has gouge marks from when he first lived here with Mum.

Mid play-fight our puppy is looking at the camera (Loki), Riley is the more blurry one.

Only 2 more days of work and then a mini-break YAY!

Another Lost Weekend

So yesterday yet another day long headache ruined my Saturday. But at least I'm feeling good on the last day of the weekend. The air feels like it's going to be a hot day and my mind is filled with images of diving into the ocean and watching our little dog dig giant holes in the sand. Although most likely what would be happening is he'd be taking on a great dane. He really has issues, I think part of it stems from him thinking he's a big dog (on the inside) and the other is that he always wants to protect us. No other animal or dog (or even ourselves!) are allowed cuddles if he's around, he's such a jealous little thing.

The beach will have to wait until the afternoon though, Hubby is disappearing somewhere to buy me a Christmas present and I'm doing the fun ol' Sunday clean. Yesterday even with my head pounding we managed to finish our Christmas shopping, last minute gifts had to be bought for people we thought we wouldn't be catching up with. So now Christmas shopping is done and dusted and I'm just crossing my fingers that all of the boys presents arrive on time but I'm not getting my hopes up :( It'll suck just having to give him an envelope with a photo of the present because one of the presents I got him is AWESOME and I know he'll love it.

We've even started receiving Christmas cards, all addressed to Mr & Mrs which is cool. I think we'll start doing cards next year. This year has just been too hectic and I want to make the cards into photo cards as well. And who knows maybe next year we can have a new addition on there (although if that's the case I doubt the cards will get done!). I just love anything like that be it invitations to thank you notes and I miss having something to design them for. All the big birthdays are over and done with as is the engagement and wedding. Next up of course will be the baby but as I mentioned I doubt I'll be in the right frame of mind for that. Oh well we've got a few fixer-upper things to do at home so hopefully that'll fill the void for awhile.

I can't wait for Christmas! I feel like a little kid about it this year and I'm really looking forward to giving everyone their presents, eating lots and laying off the booze! I've already told my friend I'm not drinking at New Year's and the obligatory pregnant question arose...not sure how I'll dodge that at the Hubby's Christmas because I always drink (a lot) but we'll just deal with it if it comes up.

I hope everyone else is getting ready for copious amounts of festive cheer! If I don't post before the holidays 

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Birthdays & Babies

So Sunday night was my little sister's pre-birthday at Bonsai. It was so yummy (like always) and the cake tasted divine only Mum and I finished our huge slices it was gorgeous chocolate mousse (my favourite).

Monday was the real deal and our Dad who was up from down south came over and we had pavlova (Hubby's specialty) pizzas and garlic bread. Very, very yummy. We gave her another present (I should say re-gifted) gorgeous crystal martini glasses (I thought she'd realise they were a re-gift but she didn't HURRAH) along with some cash to put towards her laptop.
We also had a mini Christmas with Dad and he gave the boys shirts and we got 2 black elephants (the typical Thailand thing) and an awesome Temari ball.

Click on the picture to learn more about them

It's great the people are still remembering our wedding request and giving us Christmas decorations. It'll just make every Christmas that little bit more special!

Sunday night was also the night we sat down and discussed babies seriously. All that went out the window last night when I did some serious calculations and realised that we could only really try in March (and even then had to be careful) so that we avoid Hubby's exams and Mum's Antarctica trip. She keeps threatening us with death if we have a baby while she's away. I know she's probably as eager as me for us to have a child, if there is a baby or toddler at any event we're at I immediately know where to find her!

Poor Hubby got me being all grr and moody yesterday upon finding that out but today has been fantastic. He got his exams results and even scored a high distinction in one unit (GENIUS!) and he got an interview with a performance management company which is what he's really passionate about. I'm hoping that it all goes well because it would be perfect for him!

In other news our sister-in-law was in the hospital early this week and we all expected our niece to arrive 5 weeks early. She's gone back home now but I still think there will be another place at the Christmas table this year. Her first baby was 3 weeks early and tiny so hopefully the little girl decides to stay in there for a bit longer so she can grow up a bit and put on some more weight!

Tonight I'm off to book club, tomorrow night is the only night I get to relax with Hubby. Friday night we have a birthday party and Saturday I'm taking my best boyfriend and Hubby off to U2. Best boys night ever I think!

Tis the season...to blow the electricity bill!

So I've officially gone insane over Christmas. Today we bought multi-coloured lights for our balcony (they look so pretty!), hanging clear lights for our back patio and a waddling/singing reindeer to annoy the dog!

The only thing we need now is a wreath but I'm not too sure about that because we have a metal gate right in front of our door and I don't think it would work. Plus I'm running out of money and still have more presents to buy.

I'm not doing well with keeping Hubby's presents a secret either. So far he's seen his decoration and today he picked out the two photos of Perth that he wanted (one of the sky-line at night and the other of the City Beach groyne or whatever it's called). So whatever I buy him next has to be kept hush-hush. I'm thinking of getting him an Exercise ball and painting it with silly things - he's suggested an exercise ball to me but that's just too boring for my liking! And he needs to have some sort of surprise. I'm stumped for anything else though, Wii games are just too $$$ and I'm still not sure I want to buy him a bird! Why is it so hard to buy for your favourite person in the world!?

In AWESOME news our house is now rented which means soon we can quit paying rent to a complete stranger and start paying it to my Mum. That's a very nice Christmas present to receive - even if I had to ask for it, the agent wouldn't have bothered to tell me no doubt! Except I asked if we could advertise it in the paper! And in even more awesome news Hubby has an interview for a summer intership WOO HOO After getting stuffed around by a big mining company with a crappy recruitment system (being in recruitment myself I want to throttle them for treating him and others that way!) he's got a face to face interview with another company. I hope it goes well, less for the money and more for his self esteem!

Tomorrow is my work Christmas party and I'm really excited...free dress, great company, free food and drinks and only half a day of work YIPPEE! I couldn't ask for a more awesome place to work I really feel like this year and the next will be MY year and the following year will be Hubby's because he'll finally be finished with his studies.

In other news Europe has been taken off the table, we realised that I wouldn't have enough annual leave by that point nor would we have enough money :( So now I'm leaving it up to the Mr to decide where he wants to go in Australia to celebrate his last year of university. We'll both definitely deserve a break by July.

Forgotten decorations

I am ensuring that our first 'family' Christmas will be everything that I always wanted...even if Hubby is making me tone it down a bit. But that's what marriage is all about right - compromise! I've put some more photos of our tree (crap quality because it's my i-phone and I don't have the latest you beaut version), along with close ups of the hearts we got from the Danish rellies as a wedding gift.

Our tree with the hearts - still missing the decorations to each other.

One of the hearts - we need to fill them with candy.

The stocking Mum made me when I was little (I still swear my sister stole the red one but no one believes me!).

The tree and our gorgeous little balcony!

We finally managed to tidy the house today (goodbye to doing anything fun on Sunday!) and it just feels so much better. We've still got more boxes to unpack and Hubby's office is still a giant mess but we're getting there.

I really want to make a stocking for the Mr but I don't think it's going to be possible unless I get access to my MiL's sewing machine and I don't really want to spend that much time there! Oh well there's always next year.

It's funny thinking about the year ahead I'm of two minds about what to do. On one hand my best friend (and Maid of Honour) will be living in France next year and I'd be insane not to use that opportunity to go and visit her and finally go to Denmark. But on the other hand I'm still thinking I'd like to have a baby although that thought is getting put to the side more and more. My work just won a big contract which means I'll be SUPER busy until we take over in May and definitely don't want to be driving heaps and pulling over to throw up every five minutes (which if I take after Mum I definitely will be). But Hubby was very sweet and said which ever happens it will be AWESOME. I just kept getting reminded of the reasons why I married him this weekend which is always nice (in a non mushy way!).

So who knows where we will be this time next year but that's definitely half the fun so I'm just going to enjoy our awesome new place and look forward to Christmas. I guess that will be my New Year's resolution to stop focusing on the future and just have a damn good time enjoying the present!

Mr & Mrs Merry Christmas

I think I've been so repressed with my sister banning Christmas until after her birthday (mid December) that I've gone a little over board with our first Christmas.

First came the tradition of buying each other a Christmas decoration...unfortunately I found Hubby's whilst he was there but at the same time we bought an awesome acorn to represent getting engaged in New York ;) He also accidentally let slip that his present to me was a tree topper because I wanted to buy a star.

I got let loose in a hideous Christmas decoration shop and went nuts. I've still got to hang stuff up around the house and I'd love to put lights along our balcony and I might just do that if I get a chance ;)

We also managed to get the majority of our shopping down in the space of 1.5 hours and along with some other random bits and pieces we've now only got about 4 presents to buy. That includes Mum, her boyfriend, his daughter, my Great Aunt and whoops...the Hubby!

I have no idea what to get him though, I'm tempted to buy him a Cockatiel but I'd want us to hand-rear one so that might have to be a purchase after Christmas thing. I've always had birds when I was little and now that we have 2 doves nesting on our balcony I really want want a bird. He's always wanted one too so yay!

And I will leave you all with a photo of our tree:

 

PS: We've moved into our new place as well and love it. Tomorrow I just have to make sure Hubby has cleaned our old place well enough and then we'll just cross our fingers someone rents it soon!