christmas traditions

this is so belated.  this holiday season was a little bananas for us.  it was our first christmas in our new home.  and our first christmas as a little family outside of our parents home.  so we started some new traditions and we tried to blend both our family traditions as well.

matt's family usually does a more cocktail appetizer dinner and open presents on christmas eve.  he has a smaller family than mine.  mostly contains him, myself, his parents, brother, sister in law and an aunt and uncle.  so, we went there christmas eve to eat and exchange gifts with his family.

on christmas day, we started at our house opening gifts we bought each other and bought for the pets.  after that, we went to my parents to exchange gifts with my parents, three brothers and their families.  it's always chaos, mounds of paper and gifts galore.  after that, we went to his parents for lunch and played some board games with his brother and wife.  theeeeeeeeeeeeeen, back to my family for dinner with the extended family (usually equaling to about 30 people).  insanity.  when do i go back to work? ha.  but seriously.

this year we were quite poor since we just renovated the house, planning a wedding, matt's part time and i'm working as much as i can.  i decided to make wreaths for the couples of the family.  i kept it to one toy for the kids and we purchased a few extra items for our parents.  i tried really hard to keep from spending too much money this holiday season.

here's some photos from this holiday.  i hope you got to enjoy your christmas as much as we got to enjoy our first christmas in our new home :)

 my intentions are to get an ornament every year and put our picture from that year in the ornament.  this is from 2014, our first christmas together.  the photo was taken last year at his parents christmas eve party.  i got one for this year but instead of putting a christmas photo in it, i put in an engagement photo.  i plan to put a wedding photo in next year's ornament so we can keep those memories and relive them every holiday.  eventually i'd like to have a whole tree of these ornaments..

 this was gifted to me last year.  we bought the house last november and this ornament says 2014 and is in the shape of a key.  i thought that was so thoughtful and will help me remember when we bought the house.  his brother and wife just bought a house this november so i gifted them a key ornament this year.

 

 

what i wore:

 

christmas eve: dress (comparable), green scarf, boot socks (comparable), boots (comparable)

 christmas morning: naughty & nice shirt, plaid pants (comparable)

 christmas day/dinner: plaid shirt (comparable), jeans, santa hat

santa pictures: jeans, sweater, plaid scarf (comparable), boots (comparable)

our happy animals christmas morning :)