The mister and I would like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas!

[from my company's holiday party]

If you ever need help remembering if it's Christmas, then go here.

Also, if you feel like being generous, don't forget about my wish list.

I'd also like to say THANK YOU to the followers that have stuck around the past few months.  I'm not sure if there are many of you out there (please feel free to say hi, I want to know who is still out there).

I had to. [via]

So, it seriously doesn't feel like Christmas to me.

We have two decorations in our entire apartment. It's pathetic.

We don't need much for Christmas, but these would be nice.

• Books. If you know me even a little, then this would be obvious. I have an entire wish list dedicated to books I want.  
• Money. We need a little bit of green.  We've been trying to save up to go to Texas in January and traveling is damn expensive!  Also, seeing as how we just had to buy a new car battery yesterday [bye bye $145!], we could really use some extra money in our Texas fund.
• Desk. Seriously. The set-up that Rob has going on right now is not working. Your back aches after like fifteen minutes. [We are actually taking care of this tonight. We're getting this. Thanks Craiglist!]

That's seriously all I can think of.  We aren't asking for much.

So please, Santa, will you bring us these items that we want.

I've been MIA lately since I haven't had much to write about and since I'm getting sick.  I found this survey at Sarah Ruth Today.

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Wrapping paper.  I have like a million different kinds, it drives Hubs crazy!

2. Real tree or Artificial? Artificial.  I'm not really a fan of pine.

3. When do you put up the tree? I like to do it the day after Thanksgiving, but this year I didn't put anything up since we are in a tiny apartment.

4. When do you take the tree down? Sometime after Christmas.

5. Do you like eggnog? Nope.

6. Favorite gift received as a child? I honestly cannot remember.

7. Hardest person to buy for? Everyone.  I suck at picking out gifts.  I prefer to ask someone what they want then get that.

8. Easiest person to buy for? Hubs.  Since I'm around him much more than everyone then I know things that he wants or needs.


9. Do you have a nativity scene? Negative.

10. Mail or email Christmas cards? I like sending them via the mail.

11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? Gift cards from Hubs the first year we were dating. SO impersonal.

12. Favorite Christmas Movie? I don't have one.

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? I always start around Thanksgiving.  I should really start sooner though.

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Probably.

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Nothing in particular.

16. Lights on the tree (colored or clear)? Colored.

17. Favorite Christmas song? I'm not a big fan of a Christmas songs.

18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? I prefer staying home.

19. Can you name all of Santa’s reindeer? Ha, I don't think so.

20. Angel, star or ribbon on top of tree? Star.

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? Hubs likes to open one on Christmas Eve then the rest on Christmas morning.

22. Favorite children’s Christmas song? I don't remember.

23. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? All the people out shopping.

24. Favorite ornament theme or color? I'd love to have a theme.

25. Turkey or ham on Christmas day? Honey baked ham, always.

26. What do you want for Christmas this year? A new TV for our bedroom and a chair for our living room, but I'm getting neither.

27. Does anyone in your family dress up as Santa? Nope.

28. Age you discovered who Santa was? I have no idea.

29. Eggnog, hot chocolate, or apple cider? Hot chocolate or apple cider.

30. Traditional colors (red and green) or other colors? I like lots of colors.

31. Do you have any Christmas decorations on your roof? Nope.

32. How does Santa get into your house? Chimney or magic key? Magic key, because I don't have a chimney.

33. Do you prefer gifts or gift cards? Either is fine.  I normally get cash from my parents.

34. Favorite children’s Christmas Cartoon? I don't remember.

Well it's that time of year to start looking at and ordering your Christmas cards.  We always order Christmas photo cards from Shutterfly.  I am having a little bit of a dilemma though; we don't have a photo yet!

Picking last years photo was pretty easy.  I ended up using one of our wedding photos since we had just gotten married that year.  But this year it's different.  I would have love to be able to use a picture of us with a baby or a pregnant belly or even an ultrasound photo.  But it's just the two of us and I'm going to embrace the time we still have with just the two of us.  But we still have the issue of having no photo, so I'm using the current cards on Shutterfly for ideas.

Here are some of my favorite Christmas photo cards:

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Now that I've narrowed it down to a few, we need to take a picture.  Then I'll let Hubs make the ultimate decision of which card we will end up sending.

Do you want 50 free Christmas cards from Shutterfly?  Click here for more information!  They have tons of styles to choose from, folded or flat Christmas cards, other holiday cards and even birthday cards. I also adore their personalized wall calendar, which I plan on ordering this year!

That means after today I have nine days off. NINE!

How exciting is that?

This might just be the break from work that I was needing.  I'm hoping to use this time for lost of reading, brainstorming for my blog and maybe even a drive up north with Hubs so we can take some pretty pictures!

Now it's time for Five Question Friday...

 

1. What Christmas song do you loathe?

I'm not a big fan of most Christmas songs, honestly.  They always get in your head and stay there for days!  I don't like any song that much.

2. Do you and your significant other cuddle at night or sleep on opposite sides of the bed?

It depends on the night, but usually we sleep on opposite sides of the bed.  When we cuddle either one or both of us ends up not sleeping very well.  Most of the time he isn't even able to fall asleep if we are cuddling.

3. Have you ever had surgery?

No, thank goodness.  The worst thing I've had is stitches on my forehead.

4. When do you typically have your holiday shopping done?

A couple days before Christmas.  Every year I'll say I'll get better and be done before December, but that never happens.  I suck at shopping for people.  Honestly, just tell me what you want and that's what I'll get.

5. If money were not an issue (and you HAD to pick something), what would your ultimate luxury item be?

A new car.  It doesn't have to be NEW new.  Just new to us.  A bought and paid for car.  We really loathe our car payments.

For me, I'm going to have to say that 2009 was a pretty great year.

• The love of my life asked me to marry him in front of my parents on the front porch of their house on January 19th.
• I was then lucky enough to marry the love of my life on a gorgeous beach in La Jolla on April 7th.
• I started this blog shortly after our wedding. I never expected people to actually read it!
• We held our reception at my parents house on May 23rd.
• Kenai and Root Beer turned a year old in June.
• My wonderfully adorable nephew, Grayson, was born on June 30th.
• In July, we decided to throw out the birth control.
• I soon found the great community of bloggers, whom I love dearly.
• I turned 21 on September 1st.
• We celebrated our first Thanksgiving as a married couple.
• We celebrated our first Christmas as a married couple.
• Both of our mothers found out about us being off the pill.  Not so much great, but I'm glad that's kind of just out in the open now.
• We didn't get pregnant this year, but I'm hopeful for 2010.
• Tonight Hubs and I will get to share our first New Years kiss as Husband and Wife, and I couldn't be more excited.

I'm positive 2010 will be great. Have a great New Year!

I stole this from Natalie at Hope Springs Eternal.

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? - Wrapping paper.  I love putting my own bow on with cute ribbon!
2. Real tree or artificial? - Artificial.
3. When do you put up the tree? - I usually put it up the day after Thanksgiving, but this year I was a slacker.
4. When do you take the tree down? - Day after Christmas.
5. Do you like eggnog? - Yuck!
6. What about Fruitcake? - I have never tried it.
7. Favorite gift received as a child? - I've always loved Barbie's so I'm sure those had to be my favorites or when I got my own TV for my bedroom!
8. Do you have a nativity scene? - Nope.
9. Hardest person to buy for? - Everyone!
10. Easiest person to buy for? - Myself :D
11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? - Probably some awful clothes when I was younger.
12. Mail or email Christmas cards? - Mail!
13. Favorite Christmas movie? - I don't really have a favorite. I'll just go with A Christmas Story.
14. When do you start shopping for Christmas? - End of November, beginning of December.
15. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? - No.
16. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? - Ham!
17. Clear lights or colored on the tree? - Depends.  This year white.  We got a little tree. Last year it was colored.
18. Favorite Christmas song? - Jingle Bell Rock.
19. Travel for Christmas or stay at home? - Stay home.
20. Can you name all of Santa's reindeers? - If I thought about it really hard, maybe.
21. Angel on the tree top or a star? - Star.
22. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? - One on Christmas Eve and the rest on Christmas morning.
23. What is the one present you want most this year? - I already received it from Hubs. My laptop!
24. Most annoying thing about this time of year? - People.  And having to spend money.  I'm always worrying that we're going to run out.
25. What I love most about Christmas? - I've started to love everything about Christmas in the past two years.

Merry Christmas from my family to yours! :)  I hope everyone has a wonderful time spending time with all of their loved ones!  It's been really great finding out how large (and in charge) the blogging community is this year.  And I'm really glad I've met all of you!  Merry SITSmas!

Yesterday I actually decided to get some Christmas spirit and put up a Christmas tree and some decorations.  My tree is 4 feet tall and doesn't have many decorations.

My cute little Christmas tree.

Our 1st Christmas ornament from my mom.

I need to take a picture of our entertainment center to show you where I put our stockings.  I also put our ornament there, since it's too heavy for the tree.

I've been wanting to send Christmas cards for the past two years.  This year, since Hubs and I are finally married I really want to.  Since we don't have a recent picture or plan on going up North like I had originally wanted to with the dogs, then I'm going to use one of our wedding pictures.  I checked out Shutter Fly and Snap Fish today.  Shutter Fly was a bust.  These great designs are from Snap Fish, though.

I love how colorful this one is.  I was thinking if the dogs and cats would cooperate we could add pictures of them to the card.

I don't know why but I think these two are adorable!

There are far too many choices and I am awful at making decisions.  I'm hoping I'll get a little bit of input from Hubs.  Are you doing Christmas cards this year?  I can't wait until we have babies!  Those Christmas cards will be so much cuter!  Feel free to show me what your Christmas cards look like!

All I want for Christmas is a blog makeover by:

Someone want to buy it for me?! :D
I've been a good girl this year!

I'm also really interested in buying my domain name (http://www.ahthemarriedlife.com/). Something I'm going to have to talk over with Hubs, I'm sure. I already mentioned it to him today. I really wanted to change my blog address to http://ahthemarriedlife.blogspot.com/, but I found out that it's already taken. That was a sad day. But my domain name is available and it's only $10 for a year! I wonder if you can buy it for longer though... I'll have to do some research. I think I might be able to convince Hubs to let me get the blog makeover for Christmas since there really isn't anything else that I want.

Well, it's the start of a new month. It's the start of the holidays. I'm excited, sorta. I don't get Thanksgiving. I don't enjoy gorging myself with food. But I am quite excited for Christmas. My love for Christmas has been coming back slowly, but surely. Last year was when it really started. I had decorations that my parents had given me that we've had for years and my own house to decorate how I chose.

Last week I asked Hubs if I could put up the Christmas decorations this weekend. He told me no. :( My reasoning is I don't have any Thanksgiving decorations and I would love to celebrate Christmas for two months, but apparently Hubs isn't feeling that way. Maybe this week I'll be able to change his mind. First, I must take down the Halloween decorations.
So far we don't even have plans for Thanksgiving. Last year it was at our house, since it was brand new. But this year there hasn't been any mention about Thanksgiving. My brother invited my parents over to his house, but I haven't heard a word from him. Almost makes me a little sad. Maybe Hubs and I will do something with just the two of us, since this is our first Thanksgiving as husband and wife. That sounds good, but I know I wouldn't make a turkey! And I'm not too sure how he would feel about that.

Ah! Don't even get me started on Christmas. I have no idea what I'm going to get anyone for Christmas! I know Whitney is going to get my a leopard print Snuggie! You have no idea how excited I am for that. I'll have to start asking everyone what they want now so I can start saving!

YAY FOR THE HOLIDAYS! :)