friday, december 25

it is not just lee who likes to make picture-taking moments more interesting...

thursday, december 24

this is what i get 95% of the time when i try to take a picture with my husband. thankfully, he eventually cooperates and we get good pictures (the better one of this shot is in the christmas post from our blog).

Christmas eve: everyone picks a spot around the room, we take turns opening presents, and laugh every moment along the way.

saturday, december 19

happy birthday asher!

and, merry christmas from calhoun, la!

friday, december 18

this picture does not do just to the insane amount of STUFF we have packed into our car for our 10+ day Christmas travels, but maybe it gives you some idea. just please notice that bags and jackets begin immediately behind the front seats and suitcases and wrapping paper are piled to the back door. just call us crazy...

thursday, december 17

we decided to exchange semi-homemade/creative gifts as couples in lee's family this year for Christmas. i spent a couple of nights painting these as our gifts to his siblings and their spouses. i am such a perfectionist when it comes to tasks like this. it is absurd. however, they all seemed excited about their paintings so i hope they really do like them. please know i do not expect you to be able to notice the full details of the paintings (due to my lack of photography skills).

tuesday, december 15

don't you wish you were one of our co-workers??? :) if you were, you would have received this awesome Christmas gift!

monday, december 14

hooray for ornaments!!!!

we continued our theme of red and silver ornaments and added all the sentimental ornaments we received last year.

a mighty fine-looking tree, if i do say so myself :)

sunday, december 13

a work in progress...

saturday, december 12

the Christmas tree at the galleria :) it is difficult to see, but there was even an artificial snow machine blowing "snow" over the tree and ice-skating rink while people shopped and skated. in the middle of a hectic, busy shopping mall, an area like this makes everyone stop and smile.

friday, december 11

this house and its neighborhood take Christmas decorating to an entirely new level. each street has its own theme...we saw a charlie brown-themed street, frosty the snowman, the texas 'twas the night before christmas, the nativity story, and more.

this house stood out among the rest though. wow. i mean wow.

thursday, december 10

our stockings :)

i love our stockings. it took a while to find the right ones last year, but i am really glad we went with these. i do wish we had a mantle to hang them from this year like we did last year, but i suppose our counter that opens into our living room will do. enjoy!

wednesday, december 9

we finally bought our Christmas tree! but.....we did not get it decorated...yet!

tuesday, december 8

for our first Christmas, we had only been married a month so i opted out of Christmas cards. however, this year i was ready for the task. lee even lucked out and did not have to take a new picture because we used one from our honeymoon last year.

the first batch of cards went out this week! now i just have to buy more stamps for the rest :)

monday, december 7

we FINALLY got our Christmas decorations out!!!! (disclaimer: most of this week's pictures will be our decorations until the process is complete.)

our nativity: actually made from wood from The Holy Land...