'tis the season...

I hope all of you had a wonderful Thanksgiving!!!

Ours was very very nice! I decided not to post my pictures...basically because it takes too much time to load pictures on here and I wanted to put these on instead. Anyhow, we celebrated (as I said before) with the Balatbat family. Everyone gathered at my in laws house and ate wonderful food (and yes there was turkey)! Filipino's love to cook and they always do things in HUGE amounts (at least my relatives).

Thanksgiving night, at midnight, Julian, Joyce (his sister) and I went to the outlets to start our black friday shopping! It was a crazy crazy experience! I LOVE black friday shopping! It is so fun to be out there with all those other crazy people! We got home around 3 a.m. and then we were up again at 9 to go shopping some more!

Saturday, was a day that I had been looking forward to for a long time!! We decided that we were going to go get our very first Christmas tree! I love Christmas and I have been excited about decorating for our first Christmas! So first thing Saturday morning we headed out to a local "tree lot"....

and we found our tree!!!

It was so fun! Even though there was no snow and actually it was raining...the little tree lot did feel very festive! :)

:)

Getting ready to take it home!

Michelle, my best friend, spent the entire day with us and we used her big truck to haul our tree home!

Carrying it in!

Up the stairs!

Let's just say, this moment, or this twenty minutes...which was about how long it took us to figure out the tree stand and get the tree to stand straight....was a very memorable time! One of those that you just won't forget...Julian "Babe, stop pulling it"..Me "I'm not pulling, you are pushing".... It was a very special! :)

yep...that's me...still holding it up!

then the fun part...all the stuff on the floor is the decorations we had yet to put out...

lights!

Did I mention it's our 1st Christmas and we are EXCITED!! :))

ornaments!

Finally Michelle was in a picture! Thanks for taking pictures all day for us Michelle! We love you!

It's our awesome tree topper! I love it!

We made a last minute decision on what the tradition would be for the "who puts the tree topper on"...we decided our entire family would do it together (all two of us) ...I'm not sure how that will work in the future, especially if we have several kids but we will cross that bridge later! :)

Love my moose couple...(passed down from my mother) btw most of my decorations were passed down! Including our tree skirt...which is definitely very special to me!!

Our stockings! I got these after last Christmas at an adorable store called Swoozie's!!

Love them!

Here's the finished product!

the nativity scene we had all during my childhood

Love this set...actually one of my bridal shower presents from my Mom! I just had to put them out...they are way too cute to be in the cupboard!

It's so perfect!!

It definitely is "beginning to look a lot like Christmas" around our home!

Looking forward to all that this Christmas season has in store!!!

Wow...what a rotten blogger I have been! These past couple of weeks have been crazy busy...school projects, work, work Christmas party, Christmas Concert at Church, Christmas Banquet at Church, FINALS.....those are all my excuses! :) I haven't even had time to read all of your blogs...time to catch up!!!

I hope all of you have been enjoying the Christmas season so far! I love it...ALL OF IT!!! I can finally enjoy it completely! As of 25 minutes ago I finished my last final of the semester! I am finally done! Only one more semester to go!!! STUDENT TEACHING here I come!! If I haven't mentioned it before, I will be student teaching beginning in January! I am so excited/scared/nervous.... The classes I will be teaching are....9th and 10th Geography and 6th Math!

I plan on posting pics soon of all my Christmas festivities so far and the exciting ones to come!!

I am very excited about this Christmas! This will be the first Christmas Julian and I will be together! He usually goes home to California for the break but this year he chose to stay with me!! YAY!! :) We will be traveling to South Carolina to spend Christmas with my Mom's side of the family!! We are all very close and look forward to making some more great memories this Christmas!!

I hope all of you are having a wonderful Christmas!!

I have something else...very important...to post about soon! I hope to get to it later today!!

It's the most wonderful time of the year!!

I saw this fun Christmas survey on Valerie's Blog and decided to take part in the Christmas Spirit...Enjoy!!


1. Wrapping paper or gift bags?

I like either... Bags are way easier and faster but paper is so much more fun to unwrap!


2. Real tree or Artificial?

I really love real trees! When we were younger we would take a whole day and travel up into Michigan and cut down our own tree and have hot chocolate etc... Those were some good memories! Once we got older we just went to having an artificial tree (and they are pretty too) but I definitely want to get real trees when I have my own family!


3. When do you put up the tree?

Well we always do it on a Saturday usually the week after Thanksgiving...

4. When do you take the tree down?

Usually the week after New Years...its always sad! :(

5. Do you like eggnog?

Well, I never did...or at least I didn't think I did b/c I had never tried it but then last Christmas I had some eggnog ice cream and I loved it!! But I still haven't had the courage to actually drink it...maybe I'll try that this year! Does anyone know if it taste anything like eggnog ice cream?

6. Favorite gift received as a child?

I'm not sure...We always had very nice Christmas'!! Now that I think about it probably the best gift was when I got my very own American Girl Doll...

7. Hardest person to buy for?

My Dad...he gets himself anything he wants..lol..and he is very picky!!!! He has to pick out his own clothes, even his socks have to be these exact certain ones....so usually we have to listen to him when we are shopping and anything that he comments on in a positive way we get for him!

8. Easiest person to buy for?

My fiance...b/c he will like anything that's from me...LOL...at least he better :)

9. Do you have a nativity scene?

Oh YES!! We have had the same one since we were little...I love it! My parents went on a cruise in the Mediterranean Sea a couple of years ago and actually got a new one from Israel..its really neat too (carved wood) so now we put up both!

10. Mail or email Christmas cards?

My Mom has always mailed them!! I am very excited for next year so that we can do our very own! I will be sure to keep up this tradition!

11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received?

hmm...I'm not sure....The only thing I can think of were these REALLY ugly slippers that my Grandma got me and my cousins one Christmas...they were really really ugly...lol

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas?

Usually around Thanksgiving

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present?

NO! THAT'S AWFUL!!

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas?

HAM!!! :P I love ham!

16. Lights on the tree?

Oh definitely!!

17. Favorite Christmas song?

I love most Christmas music...although that Mr. Grinch song really really really annoys me..lol...seriously! But I love Silent Night, O Holy Night, Little Drummer Boy, Christmas Shoes, The First Noel and many more.....

18. Travel at Christmas or stay home?

Well..there are mixed emotions about this! We always traveled at Christmas but I think when I have children I want to be home for Christmas Day...its a hard decision though b/c I really love being with family on Christmas too! But I really want to have some fun traditions with my own family...

19. Can you name all of Santa’s reindeer’s?

Uhh...well I'll try...Rudolph! haha I know that one! ....Cupid, Comet, Dasher Blizten...I'm drawing a blank on the rest

20. Angel on the tree top or a star?

Star

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or Christmas morning?

hello...Santa doesn't come till the night before Christmas..lol...there aren't any presents till Christmas morning...:P

22. Most annoying part about this time of year?

That Mr. Grinch song...hahaha.....and I'm going to ditto Valerie...and in my own words say...It's annoying that it is such a big deal when we use the phrase "Merry Christmas"

23. Favorite ornament theme or color?

Every year since we were born my Grandma Meeker has gotten everyone on our side of the family a Hallmark ornament and I love them... those are my favorite type of ornaments...

25. What do you want for Christmas this year?

I'm not really the type to be picky..I love anything people give me! One thing I really wanted is to spend this Christmas with my fiance (he usually goes back to Cali for the break) and he is staying!! So YAY!!! I already got what I want..anything else will be a bonus!!