December begins!

December is always a busy month but we normally have a few extra busy days since Nick's birthday is at the beginning of the month and there are usually final exams and end of the semester stuff also...so I thought I would do a quick recap of our lives the past couple of weeks!

Let's start with Nick's 29th birthday! We had a low-key celebration this year since his birthday fell on a Tuesday but it was wonderful anyway :) I made him dinner, Braised Short Ribs in a Cabernet Sauvignon sauce with mashed potatoes and roasted brussel sprouts, and dessert, Paula Deen's Not-Yo-Mama's Banana Pudding (his favorite!) and he opened presents before talking to family members that had called to wish him a happy birthday. Even though it wasn't a huge celebration, I think it was a great night :)

presents :) 

Booney hat for yard work

stainless steel Bento lunchbox 

stud finder and new insulated gloves!

braising away...

final product!

#gottaloveInstagram

Just a couple days later we went to the Athens Christmas parade downtown and met up with a few friends to watch the festivities! I LOVE downtown Athens during the holidays, all the lights are up in the trees and everything feels so festive and hometown-y :)

pretty downtown trees :)

If you didn't figure it out already, the theme was Charlie Brown's Christmas so all the floats had Charlie and his friends as the main characters. It's a relatively short, homemade-ish parade but it's always fun and definitely puts us in the mood for the holidays!

The weekend after the parade our friends threw us a great baby shower (which will get it's own post later today) and a few days ago, we went and picked out our Christmas tree (named Doug IV- Douglas Fir, fourth Christmas tree together)! We decorated it last night while we watched White Christmas (a tradition we started the first year we were married) and I'm finishing up the final holiday touches in the living room and dining room today :) It just doesn't feel like the holidays until there are some decorations in the house!

picking out Doug IV

decorating with White Christmas :)

finished product!

and some of our favorite meaningful ornaments...

our  2011 ornament from Nick's mom, our 1st married Christmas ornament from my mom & our hand carved wooden heart from our honeymoon in St. Augustine :)

gotta represent the schools! Go GATORS! Go DAWGS!

I hope everyone is having as peaceful and enjoyable beginning of the holiday season as we are :) Keep an eye out for our 31 week update and baby shower post later!

much love, L&N