Some after Christmas Christmas finds

I told you before about how our tiny little house doesn't really have enough room for any Christmas decor, at least any more than say a wreath on the door. But I also told you that I had every intention to hit up the after Christmas sales on all of the decor with the hopes that by Christmas next year we would be able to have a house to call our own and I could decorate.

Well, I haven't yet found a tree that I love enough to purchase (because let's be honest, at 50% off it's still a big investment), but I did make it to a few stores the other night and purchased a good amount of ornaments and other decor items. So, here's my loot!

This is not quite all of the items, I forgot about some and when I was packing them all away I remembered but I wasn't about to unpack and set it all up again.

A sweet little table runner (to add to my table decor I have over at the in-laws), some basic glass balls and then some decorative ones, and of course some precious little ornaments. I love the one that is hanging on the ornament box (I'm not taking them out of the package until the are hung on a tree to protect them) that says "JOY." I have been eying that little guy along with the other you'll see better later that says "PEACE," they've had them at Pier 1 and I have loved them since day 1. Check out those twig trees! They have so much texture to them and such a natural (nature) look to them, I just love them!

And that candle! I just LOVE that candle! It's so different from any other candle I have ever had, it's like I sent B out and asked him to chop off a section of a tree for me to add to my decor! I just love the texture of it mixed with the little twig trees. That sweet little star ornament was only $0.30, thanks to my designer discount at Pier 1, so I splurged and got 2! I think they are so sweet AND they reference back to the natural theme!

Yes, another picture of the trees... so sue me! Check out those white glass balls that look like sweaters! They had bigger ones too, but I didn't want to overwhelm my little tree that I don't yet have! In the bottom right corner you can see the edge of a little box that contains 9 little metal ornaments (kind of old school) of trees, snowflakes, and hearts. Then more plain glass balls in the background.

Here you get a better shot of the "JOY" ornament and the sweater balls... for lack of a better description. After typing that I feel like I need to buy one of those sweater trimmers, you know the ones that get rid of all the little fuzz balls (sweater balls) when your sweaters get old and ball-y... anyone?

Moving on.

More fun little ornaments! There's a little knitted mitten, a plaid heart, and beautiful decorative ball with trees and words on it, a silver bell-looking ball that reminds me of an ornament we had on our tree as a kid...

...a little sled that says "MERRY CHRISTMAS" down it.. there was another one that was gray and said "HAPPY HOLIDAYS" but for some reason it annoyed me that it didn't say "Merry Christmas" so I didn't buy it.

Another little knitted ornament, only this time it's a stocking... and that sweet little snowman...

That sweet, sweet little snowman! He's all covered in frosted, glittery snow, and he's made out of all natural materials! I just love how they exaggerated his corncob nose by making it turn up, and adorned him with a pine needle scarf.

This little Bird House just might be one of my favorite ornaments. The little metal snowflake that looks like it was made from a scrap piece of metal hangs down from the front. In this picture you can see a bit of B's stocking too.

Here's that "PEACE" ornament I was telling you about, along with a carved wood snowman, a hand painted glass ball, and the bottom of B's stocking.

Aren't these just precious? They are all made of natural elements (have you noticed the theme yet?) That reindeer is probably tied with the birdhouse for my favorite... and his wreath necklace is loose, so it moves around!

Here's a better view of our stockings even though mine is pretty much hidden. Plus there are two more decorative trees, only this time they look like someone took their old sweaters and reused them to make something the would actually use!

And even though I took it out of the box and put it straight into its nifty hard storage case, I wanted to take a few pictures of it because I had already talked about it before. This is the Christmas wreath I have wanted since October, maybe earlier! I just could not spend $45 on it..

Well, if you wait until after Christmas, everything goes 50% off, and if it's at Pier 1 (obviously one of my new favorite stores--because of the discount), I get an extra 20% off!! So, I could spare $19 for something I've wanted for months.. Also, if you don't already have these storage boxes and you have wreaths that you don't want to get crushed in the attic, you should get them. They are on sale at Wal-Mart right now and they're great.. They stand upright and your wreath fits right in and hangs. They had a convenient little handle on the top for carrying and they are just the perfect solution to store a wreath..

So that's our Christmas decor, at least what we have so far... I'm so excited that my Grandma is giving me her silver glass nativity set and some sterling silver ornaments to intermingle with all of my new stuff! I'm glad we will have some sentimental decorations as well as the new stuff and they all blend in nicely together.

Sorry if I seem a little over excited about my Christmas decor, it's just very exciting to get the things that will be around our house for next year! Plus, I think it makes a difference when we had absolutely no Christmas items in our house this year..

I do have my eye on some Christmas China that I have wanted this whole time too, so if I can make it to Dillard's for their New Years Day sale, then I just might get them (50% off is still quite a bit of money)!

Because we don't have any kids...

Because we don't have any kids, we (well.. I) treat Bridger almost as if she were a child. I put bows on her collar, I buy her gifts from Santa... you know, the usual. Well, my sister (did I mention that she's pregnant?) has become a domestic sewing crazy head and has gotten really good at it. Well, one day she found a website that will give you instructions to transform one of your old tacky Christmas sweaters into a dog sweater. Genius!

A couple of weeks ago, I grabbed my measuring tape, followed her instructions, and got her Bridger's measurements. She started with one sweater that I think she found in the big and tall section of the Salvation Army (just to make sure she wouldn't run out of fabric). Once she finished the first one, she had so much fun and decided to make two more. She headed back to Salvation Army and picked out two more sweaters.

After making one more, she decided to go ahead an send the finished two in order to make sure they fit properly before making the third. They were in the mail with enough time to make it before Christmas, but unfortunately.. that didn't happen. They did make it on Saturday though!

The package was addressed to "Bridger Mann" and even included a letter!

Here's what the letter said:

Dear Bridger,
I hope you like your new
outfits. Make sure these fit,
because I saved the best
sweater for last...
I hope you don't get
made fun of while you wear
these. I happen to think
they are very funny and cute.
If the other dogs in Abilene
laugh it's because they are
jealous of your Los Angeles
style.
Hope you have a Merry
Christmas...

Aunt Christy
(and Uncle Mike)

So no, we are not serious when we do these things, but it just makes it funnier... I didn't get the package until about 6:00 Monday morning, so I decided to make her try one on really quick. I told my mom that she was yawning and leaning against me an stuff trying to figure out what was going on, but not really caring. It was like dressing a sleepy child, and very funny.

Then, last night after my Christmas shopping spree (I'll show you that later), I had her try them on so I could send pictures to Christy. *Sorry about the photo quality... all of these were done with my phone so I could text them..

This one is my favorite!

and the Brown one..

She is such a sport to let me have fun with her! B said he didn't really care what I did to her, as long as she still hunts, he's good.

Here are some of the other pictures from Christmas Eve and all the snow that I told you about yesterday..

This was our view out of our front door in the morning when it first started snowing.

and this was my car when it first started snowing..

I took Bridger to PetSmart to get a bath on Christmas Eve because they always do such a good job and I don't like cleaning the hair out of the tub... Plus, they love her so much! They were so excited that she was coming in! When I was there, I knew the sweaters from Christy were coming, but they weren't here yet. I saw this one on the $5 rack, so I decided to go ahead and get it (something I normally wouldn't have done... I promise). This is her looking out the window while B ran in to Lowe's to get some firewood.

This was about mid morning when we let Bridger out in the yard. The snow was starting to get deep!

Bridger was so thankful that Santa brought her a new bed.

Here's the snowman we were going to make... we only used our feet because we didn't have any gloves and it was so cold outside. When you don't have any coal for the eyes, cherry tomatoes seem to do the trick. Later on in the afternoon, I let Bridger out again because she loved the snow. She managed to find the snowman and eat his nose.. I stopped her as she was going for the eyes.

and this is a picture I took while we were driving.. it seriously looked like Colorado, except we don't have any snow plows..

Side note: There is still snow and ice on the ground from the snow we had on Christmas Eve, and guess what? It's snowing AGAIN!!

Christmas Recap

This year was B and I's first Christmas together as a married couple and I just can't believe this year has flown by so fast! We're quickly approaching our first anniversary! This year we spent Thanksgiving in Houston with my family and Christmas with his. It's hard having our families so far apart, but unless you both grew up together, I think that's a common issue on holidays with couples. It is probably for the best that we didn't make it to Houston because I ended up coming down with a cold and with my dad in his 18th week (Daddy, YOU'RE ALMOST DONE!!) of Chemo, I would HATE to get him sick!

On Christmas Eve it started raining.. hard. Then it turned into snow which is probably a common theme for blog posts about this past Christmas, but it sure was fun! The last time I had a white Christmas was in Houston (surprisingly) my senior year of high school, but this one was MUCH different than the last! This one was more like a blizzard! I have pictures of all of that, but they are on my phone and not as good of quality, so I'm showing you these for now!

Jeff making "bricks" for their igloo

Brandon flattening out the surface

Then the Shaw boys showed up.. and the snowball fight began...

Abby chasing Carson

Oh No! Don't do it Abby!


Oh, Carson...

but wait...

what's this?

Revenge!

and now it's time for some tackle football!

Action shot!

Dog Piles necessary

Worn out kiddos, a must!

Then we started with the gifts, and since Brent works at ACU now, and every single adult in the room (minus Mimi and Papa) graduated from ACU, he decided we needed to put a stop to all of the UT garb and direct these kids on the straight and narrow path...

I tried to teach them the WC hand sign.. Carson and Trey still represented UT though

told you!

And because she is the only child in this bunch to love Texas Tech, I couldn't resist and I had to find her a Jersey to sport around!

Get your guns up!

Last but not least, I wanted you to have a taste of what all the men got from Mimi this year! You may never know what Mimi is going to get you (unless you buy it yourself), but you will always know it will be from Bealls!

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas! I'm so thankful to have a short week this week!