a little nostalgia {from the archives} : missing ceej, my red hair, christmas tree hunting, and decorating a big tree...

ceej is traveling through europe for business {lucky}, and i'm missing his entire person:
his jokes, random texts, hearing him come home through the door, talking face to face.
but feeling lucky i got to talk with him via skype twice today. that's pretty good.

since we downsized there isn't room for a full-size christmas tree in our little place...
so we simply picked up a table-top tree from our grocery store and strung up some twinkly lights.
it's beautiful in our little room, but i sure am missing last year's tree hunt and decorating festivities.

and, finally, i'm missing my red hair...i used to go to the best hair stylist. truly. but it cost me a pretty penny for sure. so now i have a new stylist who simply trims my hair straight across the bottom:
thank you, ceej, for being willing to cut my hair so we can save a good chunk of cash.

grateful for all the saving that's going on in our lives. grateful for all the opportunities that have
miraculously popped up in our lives this past year. it's tough to sacrifice for big dreams,
but i can already feel how worth it it all will be.

christmas morn and how the gift-giving began

we spent our christmas eve night sleeping under our christmas tree...

which was a bit problematic for ceej since the glow of the tree kept him up a bit,

but he was a good sport and stayed the entire night with me under the twinkle lights.

oh how i loved waking up christmas morning under our tree!

we began the unwrapping as soon as we had some christmas tunes going

since we had many places to go throughout the day.

there were sweaters for both of us, books for all (this year was the year for academic books!),

a wooden spoon from germany from ceej, notebooks for thoughts, gear for mountains...

it was a lovely simple morning.

we were quickly out the door to see family. the joyous traditions began,

and continued until late at night. i slept soundly that night.

hope your christmas found you surrounded by loved ones.

will be back tomorrow with my favorite moments from 2011.

twinkle lights, snowflakes, and kin

it's here. i feel like christmas has already arrived.

family members are slowly arriving from all over the country--

by sunday everyone will be here. we haven't been together for 4 years.

this is incredibly exciting for me. 

tomorrow all the festivities begin:

friday ceej and i celebrate eight years of marriage. 

how lucky i am to have this incredibly kind & brilliant mountain man in my life.

how did i make such a great decision at the young age of 22? 

most of my decisions at that age were lame-o...but i think, somehow, i had some help with this decision!

here's to many more years of road trips, camp-outs, skiing, building furniture, cooking breakfast, dinner, and lunch, cuddling on the couch watching movies, conversations about the world and politics, comedy hour just before bed time, dancing in the kitchen, the living room, and the hallway. love you ceej.

christmas eve will be filled with seeing old friends and more family.

christmas day...will be marvelous. the whole fam will be here. hallelujah!

merry christmas to all of you dear readers. thanks for reading. it means a lot to me.

preparing for the big day : ginger & short breads

i've only been baking for two days...which is enough for me.

i'm happy to have some tasty treats to have around the house and to pass out to neighbors.

and now i am also happy to finish the eternal dishwashing that came along with making such lovely treats.

we're off to a birthday party and merry making into town.

preparing for the big day : yarn, twine, twigs, brown paper, citrus and handwritten notes

oh how i am enjoying a little break from teaching. i can finally get to all the projects i've been

wanting to start or finish. hooray for a hand-made christmas! (hopefully the recipients feel the same).

the days have been wonderfully gloomy--the kind of weather i hope for when i gather

all my yarn about me with a cup of tea or cocoa and listen to my fave holiday classics.

cozy just doesn't have the same feeling when it's sunny and hot outside.

am so happy to be living in a place that has all four seasons again. it's been oh so liberating. i like change indeed.

am so grateful that i've been able to avoid busy shopping areas this year.

it has made gift-giving such a rejuvenating experience. 

i love that my days are spent at home, relaxing, going at my own pace.

and i can hardly wait to get all of these projects wrapped...sort of the icing on the cake.

hoping today to get to the little baking i've been wanting to do: 

gingerbread today; shortbread the next day; and homemade custard egg nog for thursday.

love this time of year.

christmas is here and how i can't wait for dark to come

we wasted no time getting out the christmas decorations this year.

last year i didn't get to decorate as we were right in the middle

of our move from california to utah...so it's been two years

since i've seen my favorite christmas decorations.

i loved having boxes scattered about, ella singing silent night in the background,

ceej helping me fix my insufficient hanging jobs, and then finally

sitting on the couch together admiring how festive this little home has become.

i really can't wait for evening to come and for the sun to set so we

can turn on all of our pretty little twinkle lights. 

ceej gets to go to europe tomorrow for a week of business meetings in lovely countries...

jealous indeed. but at least i have my pretty little christmas house to console me.