"It's a Wonderful Life!"

Our picture perfect backyard Suwanee sunrise

Abbey's unconditional love and affection 

Hosting friends over the break has been a great excuse to get a few projects done around the house!  We painted our little downstairs space the same Oat Straw color of the den-  it warms it up and makes the house flow better.  The pictures don't show much of a difference but what an easy fix that left a big impact! 

 Before                                                        After

Now the space is still in transition but it is coming along...

I also decided to hang the two hat stands I had left in the guest room upstairs-  I draped scraps of old ribbon on them and have to say I really love the look!

I can't believe Christmas has already come and gone-  seems like it happens faster every year.  Luckily I still have a week of resting and relaxing before I get back to school...  

We have had quite a bit of rain but Abbey hasn't let it get her down-  I think she may enjoy Christmas break from school even more than me!

Kaelan and Matt came over for dinner, allowing us to use not only some festive entertaining goodies but also christen more wedding gifts!  Here is a glimpse at our holiday table-

Miraculously our beautiful tree made it throughout the whole holiday only dropping needles as the animals wrestled under it on a daily basis.  We even got a new ornament to adorn the tree commemorating our summer union!

We gathered with family on both Christmas Eve and Christmas day to celebrate the season and exchange thoughtful gifts.  We lucked out with items like a soda stream so we can make our own sparkling water!  And saws to help Dan with the next home improvement project I come up with!  New clothes and jommies, cookbooks, china, and the list goes on...

  

Abbey gave some thoughtful gifts...

And our furry friends were certainly not left out of receiving some Christmas cheer!

I'll leave you with some of our favorite shots that sum up a wonderful Christmas 2012!

Abbey and Mick in their Christmas bows!

Now Dan's glad I ordered us HUGE stockings-  they were stuffed to the brim!

Abbey finally got into the opening spirit after being apprehensive over the wrapping paper the night before.

Thanks to this fashionable gift from Dan, I can no longer complain about cutting onions because I now have pink onion goggles!

Tutus for some of the girls in our lives-  I think they were a hit!

And the little faces that make the holidays so special these days...

Almost six months later and we are still using wedding gifts for the first time.  It is so fun to have the time to search the cabinets and come up with a reason to use things like our meat grinder attachment!  After doing a little research we found out to make the perfect grind you should cut your meat into cubes, freeze them, then grind with a coarse plate first, moving to the finer grind after further refrigeration.

Today's experiment was with just a simple cut of beef we had in the freezer that wound up meatballs since it was raining too hard to grill burgers.  It was super simple and we are looking forward to the next time-  maybe adding some pork to the mix...

  

We are anxiously awaiting Christmas around here and with only three days left of school I can hardly contain myself!  

We let Abbey open an early gift so that we could enjoy it all season long-  After searching everywhere for a Border Collie ornament, I decided none of them quite captured the spirit of our sweet girl.  So, I made my own at www.personalizationmall.com.  She was so interested in the opening experience...

 

 Look at that face- she was so proud!!

Prancer, Abbey's latest themed toy, was recently decapitated but she hasn't seemed to notice and remains focused during play time-

Our holiday baking got underway yesterday with some of my favorite recipes- Yum!

Candied Spiced Pecans

Dill Chex Party Mix

We are thrilled to be hosting friends this season starting with Kaelan and Matt (and baby Truett) home from Texas in just a few days!  Blake and Alex, also coming home from Texas, will be joining us right before Christmas Eve.  And we may have a house full of Dan's college friends right before the new year as we gather to celebrate the engagement of Jennings and Amy.