Christmas Day

Joe and I really wanted to keep our tradition of having our own special Christmas morning with just our family of four. So, Christmas morning we woke up in the room we were staying in at Joe's parent's house, got some coffee, and settled in for our little gift exchange.

First, we took down our stockings.

(I had to hang them up the night before.)

Then the dogs got to open their gifts. Well, actually, Jackson opened both gifts while Ava watched from the warmth of the blanket on my lap.

Jackson playing with his new Christmas raccoon.

Then we opened the gifts from each other.

You can still see Ava sleeping in my lap - that's my girl!

Joe has been begging me for the movie "Shooter" for months.

Yay! The new S.K. book!

mmmm... Beckham. :)

I loved our little private Christmas morning. I don't have any pictures from the rest of the day, but we had another nice relaxing day with family. We headed over to Joe's aunt's house for lunch and hot chocolate with peppermint schnapps. After lunch we went back to Joe's parent's and a few other family members stopped by to catch up. It was nice.

Low-key, that was our Christmas. And it's just what we needed.

Christmas Eve Festivities

I can't believe it's New Year's Eve already! I've really been lazy between Christmas and now! So be prepared for a few posts today, so I can get caught up before 2011 begins.

We spent Christmas with Joe's family in Portland. It was a nice relaxing weekend with family.

On Christmas Eve, we invited our friends over so we could give gifts to their kids. One of their little girls, Marleigh, was the flower girl at our wedding. We were really happy to see them during the holiday, even though everyone was so busy.

Marleigh and McKenna

Zander as the center of attention. :)

Zander opening his gift - a dump truck. (Joe almost kept it for himself he liked playing with it so much. I suppose all men are just big boys at heart, huh?)

Marleigh and me.

After we visited with them for a bit, it was time to head over to Joe's sister and brother-in-law's house for Christmas Eve dinner. This is one of the things that Joe has missed the most since we moved away - his brother-in-law's cooking!

Cindy and Shane with the famous prime rib.

Family getting ready for dinner.

My in-laws.

After dinner it was time to open gifts. Everyone was very sweet and generous and we were gifted a lot of great things.

Me and my husband. :)

Sam, Dalton, and Zach opening the last of their gifts. (Look at that mess behind them!)

Cindy with her fur-nephew. Doesn't Jackson look so happy?

It was a great night and I have to say, I'm pretty lucky to have this family as my in-laws. :)

Christmas Fun at Work

The Thursday before Christmas, my work had some fun things going ton. We had an ugly sweater contest, a cubicle decorating contest, cookie party, and potluck. My little team had fun with all the festivities. Here I am with two of my coworkers in our ugly sweaters in front of our cubicle, which we tranformed into a gingerbread house.

I've never owned an ugly sweater, so my coworker brought me one to wear. It was a kid's sweater that was too small and super awful. Unfortunately, I didn't win the contest, though.

Our Fur-Cousin's First Christmas

I have a ton of pictures to share with you of our Christmas, but Joe and I have both been feeling a bit under the weather, so I haven't had the energy to get things organized. Until then, I do have a picture to share with you of our fur-cousin, Bogey.

Bogey is my cousin's new dog and he celebrated his first Christmas with his forever family this year. Doesn't he look excited?

Okay, so he doesn't really look that excited. But he looks cute! And while I wasn't able to visit with him (or any of my family) this Christmas, I hear he had a wonderful time and got lots of great presents.

Merry Christmas to Bogey and all the new pets out there who finally have their forever home!

Cookie Party

Last Saturday night, I headed up to Edmonds for a cookie party hosted by Heidi. It started at one in the afternoon, so I figured we would be baking cookies for a few hours and I'd head home early that evening. I had NO idea what a Taffera cookie party was all about! I was there for over seven hours and we made TONS of cookies. It was unbelievable.

Before the guys left us alone. :)

Heidi's friend's new baby, Cooper. He was the only boy allowed at the party and he stole the show!

Shasta

Heidi rocking her new apron. SO 50's housewife, no?

Hanging out, drinking wine, and having snacks before the baking begins.

Me, Cooper, and Cooper's mom Mo.

The makings for Holly Leaves.

Seriously, he stole the show.

Half of our sugar cookies.

I had such a great time hanging out with the girls, but I swear, I was exhausted at the end of the night. AND my favorite cookies made that day were the Holly Leaves and I think I got to eat one of the 10 I took home. Apparently, they are also Joe's favorite. haha

Christmas Card

I love sending out Christmas cards during the holidays. It's such a fun way to connect with people and show them what you've been up to during the year. And since Joe and I got married this year, this year's card was even more meaningful.

While I didn't want to focus the entire card on the wedding (I mean, that isn't ALL we did this year!) I did have to include one of my favorite pictures from the big day. I also included a picture of Joe and me at Fenway Park, and of course a picture of each of the dogs - our family.


I thought it turned out great. And with Shutterfly's promotion, we got 50 of these lovelies for the cost of shipping. Can't beat that!

CityDog Holiday Muttmixer

Last Thursday was City Dog Magazine's Holiday Muttmixer. It was held at Westside Yoga and Doga in West Seattle. I wasn't able to bring Ava this time because I didn't have time to go get her after work, but I went with a few friends from Trupanion. We brought dog food to donate, ate some yummy appetizers, and just had fun watching all the dogs in attendence.

The whole Trupanion gang.

Alex, Akvile, and Stacy with their dogs Benny, Batman, and Ellie.

A Corgie/Bulldog mix

Ellie!

One of the professional shots taken at the event - Batman!

City Dog events are seriously the best. Can't wait till the next one!

Christmas Morning with Mom and Dad

On Sunday, we had Christmas morning with my parents. See, we are spending Christmas with Joe's family this year, so my parents decided to come up early to celebrate. And since my dad is leaving on a ten-week trip to California and Texas on Friday, this weekend was the chosen weekend. We pretended it was really Christmas - wishing each other Merry Christmas and opening presents. :)

First, the dogs got to open their presents. Since we have had the dogs, they have received presents. But until this year, they had never actually had any interest in opening them themselves. But Jackson was totally into it this year!

I think he thought he might be doing something wrong.

Ava required her servants to open hers. (Jackson ended up serving her, lol)

Then it was our time to open our presents.

Mom made me some amazing granola.

Jackson actually even helped my mom open her gift of two DVDs. :) (Yes, that is my mom's gift he has in his mouth. My mom thought it was soooo cute.)

And he helped Joe open his gift of an ipod dock.

I received a handsfree device for my phone. (I guess my mom got annoyed with me calling her all the time on the road, when it's illegal to do so.)

One of our gifts for my parents was tickets to the Gold Glass Cinemas in Redmond. And we headed there right away to watch the movie "The Next Three Days". (P.S. Super stressful movie. Seriously. But good.)

At the theater hanging out in the lobby.

Perusing the menu...

Kicked back, waiting for the movie to start.

Best. Theater. Ever.

My mom had to leave shortly after the movie ended, but it really was a great 'Christmas' morning. My dad, Joe and I all headed back home to relax. My dad left Monday morning.

Black Friday

Ahhh, Black Friday. Black Friday is actually one of the (less noble) things I am thankful for. To me it is a firm start to the Christmas season, and I'm on board with anything that has to do with Christmas, especially when it also has to do with shopping and spending money (two very fun things to do!).

I haven't always been a fan of Black Friday. I think it's only been the last few years, but now I'm crazy about it. Everyone in my family thinks it's the weirdest conundrum ever, since 364 days out of the year I am the girl who loves her sleep and won't get up early for anything. But on Black Friday I'm up and out the door before the sun comes up.

This year was the earliest I've ever gone. My alarm was set to 3:00 a.m. and Joe, my dad, and I were in line in the cold at Sears by 3:30! But we had a good reason. Joe wanted a T.V. And while I also wanted a T.V. I didn't want to spend the money for the 46"-er Joe had picked out. But on Black Friday, we could get that T.V. for $300 less, so there was our motivation.

There were only four of the T.V.s we wanted in stock when we got to the register, and the woman in front of us in line as well as the man in back of us in line all wanted the same one. Somehow, we all walked away with one! Unfortunately, the huge box wouldn't fit in the car WITH the two dogs and while Joe was (almost seriously) thinking about leaving the dogs with my parents so we could take the T.V. home, we ended up leaving the T.V. with my parents instead. (They will be up this weekend for an early Christmas celebration, so we don't have to wait long.)

Anyway, that was our big purchase, but we also went to Target, JC Penny, and Shopko for littler things we wanted/needed. It was definitely a successful trip!

Do you do Black Friday?

Thanksgiving Fun: Family Edition

So enough about the dogs, right? There are people in my family, too! :)

It's been a while since I've spent a holiday with my whole family. When Joe and I moved to the East Coast, we promised we would fly home for major holidays. But finances prevented us from ever doing so. My parents flew out for Thanksgiving both years, but I didn't get to see the rest of the family (well, except via Skype).

Also, with so many things going on with everyone in my family (other family obligations, work obligations, vacations, etc.) it's hard to nail everyone down for one big get-together. Actually, my aunt and uncle weren't supposed to be home for Thanksgiving this year, but due to weather conditions on the passes, they were 'forced' to stay home, which was great for all of us! (Unfortunately, my brother and sister-in-law and their kids weren't able to make the big party. Otherwise it would have been complete.)

Thanksgiving was at my aunt Kathy's house, and I always love when holidays are hosted there, because that house used to be my grandma's house. And my grandmas always used to host every major holiday. With my grandma gone, it's nice to have a little bit of her with us (not that she isn't always with us, she definitely is) in her family home.

Anyway, on to pictures!

Joe and Me

The three sisters! My aunt Kathy, my mom, and my aunt Bonnie.

The happy family! My cousin Christi, her boyfriend Brent, and their dog Bogey.

Close friends of the family: Pete, Barb, and their daughter Emily.

My aunt Bonnie and uncle Gary.

My dad and me.

The whole crew! Pretending to be in a 'Turkey Bowl'. (See, we're football players... I know, it's lame, but that is my family.)