Bogie may or may not have been a common word used here.

The 4 boys in my life.  And their caddy.

And mom and me sitting on the patio watching them play in.

Reminds me of being a kid in Pagosa Springs.  

Hanging on Goggle's deck yelling at my dad and Bunky as they putt.

They loved that.  Not.

This is one of the ways we do Christmas.

Christmas came and went

And somehow these 2 were the only pictures I got.

 

Z making the bacon

and the man of the house waiting for him to drop some.

I hope your Christmas was so, so great.

Carrolling through the Woods

Everyone made it to the great state of Texas safely and we're ready to party.

We'll be busy baking cookies

last minute shopping

drinking hot Dr. Pepper

dancing to Charlie Brown's Christmas soundtrack

eating

drinking the nicest wine we've had all year

playing rummy royal

drinking mimosas

opening gifts

heading to Devin's parents' house

eating a steak and rutabaga dinner

and hanging with all 540 people in Devin's family at a post Christmas bash.

Merry Christmas!

And more Christmas partying

The best white elephant- a house full of newlyweds giving away their worst wedding gift.

 

Awful.  That is a statue of 2 hands- one putting a ring on the other.

We saw some pretty bad stuff.  

Frilly albums, bad picture frames, terrible candlesticks.  

It was pretty much bad.

Except Devin and I walked away with brand new Logitech computer speakers.

There was a couple from Denmark who got them as a gift and couldn't take them back with them.

The only thing better would have been if we walked away with the papers to that house.

Swoon. 

 

That was my game face to steal the speakers.  Don't mess.

And how could I have forgotten to post these pictures from Lights in the Heights!

This looks way too much like this

and then...

And so then my husband wore a dickie.

This weekend we hit up Lights in the Heights and had a pre-event dinner at casa de Gibblet.

 

Los Gibblets.

It was a tacky Christmas sweater pre-event. 
My mom was offended when I called to see if I could borrow one of her sweaters. 
Everyone else had their moms clothes on but apparently my mom secretly hides her Christmas sweaters and pretends she doesn't have any has better taste.

 

Check. Out. The denim vest.

My St. Nick headband completed my outfit.

 

A quick trip to The Guild and this is what we came out with.  

We fashioned a women's turtleneck into a dickie for Devin.  

A dickie for Devin!  Sounds like a Christmas children's book!

And a blurry picture.  Good effort to whoever shot this. 

 better.

We piled into cars and headed to the heights for a stroll through the lights and some dancin' to the music.

 Loved this group!

And naturally, Elwood closes the show.

Ze Exchange o de Cookies

I went to my first cookie exchange this week!  

I had great plans to bake the cookies Tuesday night and make them perfect like Martha...but then we made dinner plans with Devin's friend and drank wine and stayed up late and then I'm all forget the freakin' cookies.  

I woke up and baked before the rooster even crowed.

We don't have a rooster.  

Oh but my great grandma did in her backyard and when we went over there we would have to sprint to the trampoline so the rooster wouldn't peck our ankles and the bull dogs wouldnt tackle us.  That rooster was as tall as I was.  

Kind of makes me want one.

What in sam hill was I saying?

Cookies.  

It amazes me how some of these posts progress.  

Cookies to roosters.  I need medical help.  And a rooster for Christmas.

So my first cookie exchange! 

 

The goods.  Check out that spread!  Someone explain a cookie exchange to me...because we got there and oo-ed over the cookies and then we were kind of like...so what do we do?

 

Amy made the prettiest cookies.  And they were so good!  And she doesn't even like them. 

Makes total sense.

I brought a couple of each home to my bottomless pit of a man.  His favorite were the cranberry pecan shortbread...which happened to be mine.

So now I have baking fever.  If anyone has any ohmygoshsogood cookie recipes, send them my way!

Somewhere to Give

I think that everyone probably knows someone who knows someone who is going through a rough time this year.  Maybe?  Jobs are being cut left and right in all industries (including health care...which was supposed to be recession resistant) and parents are having a harder time putting toys under the tree.

Christmas giving, to me, isn't just about the ones who are living in crazy poverty year round, even though they hurt my heart so much.  To me, Christmas giving can be for the families whose parents sacrifice their needs daily if it means meeting their kids' small wants, who are just making it- living paycheck to paycheck- but making it, but they just can't do Christmas presents this year.  I love to give to them, too.

There is an organization called My Two Front Teeth who provides kids with a gift on their list- list meaning they probably only want one or two things.  Most gifts are under $25 and it's super convenient- you can pay for it online and they'll get the gift, wrap it, and deliver it.  It's sort of like the Salvation Army Angel Tree, but they do all of the work for you.

A little more about the Salvation Army Angel Tree.  This is the tree you see in the mall with the angel ornaments on it.  You pick an age, a girl or boy, and you get to go shop for the items listed (usually something like Barbie, clothes size 6x, books), then you bring your things back to the table at that tree and they deliver the gifts to the kiddos.  My family has always done this, and Devin and I adopted the tradition as our own too.  It makes for a fun date- pick your angel in the morning, go shop for them together, deliver your toys, get some coffee, drive around and look at Christmas lights, and talk about how full your hearts are.  Just an suggesh.

If you are more the type of person (does that make sense?) who likes to be right in the middle of the giving- doing the work, buying the needed items, and delivering them, and even if you want to be sure of where your items are going, the KSBJ Giving Tree is for you.  This is for Houston/College Station residents for the most part I think.  The way the tree works- people can nominate someone they know who is having a rough time and needs some help this Christmas.  Then, people (like you) can browse through the needs and find one that fits.  The person who nominated the family will coordinate everything and if you want, you can deliver your items to the family with the coordinator.  

You will find everything from needs like this:

My best friend was recently let go of her duties in the army. So at this point she is struggling to provide a beautiful Christmas for her two precious boys.It would be greatly appreciated if you could help this family and her youngest celebrate his first Christmas.

To this:

She is a single mom of 4 that works full time and goes to school full time. she works very hard and is still struggling.

To this:

Shes a 83 year old woman that helps 3 homeless men and is a really nice person.  Her daughter that lives with her has cancer and she takes care of her 10 year old grand daughter.  

Check out the KSBJ giving tree and find someone that really hits your heart where it hurts.  

Hoping everyone had a blessed Thanksgiving!
 

Dare to Entertain

Last year I put a lot of effort into decorating our table for our first Christmas.  I also may or may not have protested our lack of space for a Christmas tree and taped a tissue paper tree to the wall.  And I may have taped ornaments to it.  And I may have put our presents under it.

This year, I wanted it to be simple.  We found the best Charlie Brown-ish Christmas tree and it fit perfectly on the center of our table.  We won't be able to put presents under it, but I love its simplicity.

 

and because Blogger is being stubborn, you only get 2 pictures.

2 days until Thanksgiving! 

Merry Christmas

Good Morning.
Can you believe it's over? I can't.
It's been non stop party here.

DC wasn't so happy when I told him the helicopter was driving me bananas. Then I think my brother told him not to listen to me. I told you they love helicopters. I hope you got one for some guy in your family because if you did, you're a Christmas hero.

Frisky does a pretty good job of showing what we all looked like after a humongous meal yesterday.

I feel like it went so fast, and maybe I owe God some time...I don't know if I took enough time to think about Jesus this season.

It's been a whirlwind with husband being so sick, and the shopping, wrapping, cleaning, cooking. And work is so busy in December. Those are all of my excuses for not taking enough time to thank God for sending our Savior down to Earth to live a human life...and die a very painful human death. For me. And for you. I pray you've been at your lowest of low and still felt the powerful hope that He is. I hope you know the unfathomable feeling of the no matter what love that He has for you. If you don't, I hope you find Him. I'd be happy to go on that journey with you. If you've known him for 2 days or 20 years, I hope you've thanked him for what Christmas is.

How many kings, stepped down from their thrones?
How many lords have abandoned their homes?
How many greats have become the least for me?
How many Gods have poured out their hearts
To romance a world that has torn all apart?
How many fathers gave up their sons for me?
Only one did that for me.

Merry Christmas.

Dare to Have Traditions

It’s a sad day…the last day of the Dare to DIY.  It’s been fun, ladies.

Dare to Have Traditions.

Um.

My family is ludicrous, and thus, we have some odd traditions.

On Christmas eve, which is when most of our traditions occur, you will walk into a warm house filled with the most random Christmas music you’ll ever hear.  Like…Willie Nelson’s Smokin’ Tokin’ Christmas or something.  I’m kidding.  Sort of.  As you throw your coat in the living room and head to the kitchen, a hot delicious mug full of hot Dr. Pepper awaits you.

Tradish #1

Honestly, you probably wouldn’t find a Dr. Pepper in the house unless it is Christmas Eve.  At least not where DC and I live.  In our place on Christmas Eve, you won’t even find Dr. Pepper because I am cheap a good steward of my money.  If I brought Dr. B to a Wood Family Christmas, I may be shunned.  Don’t worry, they would let DC stay because they love him more than me anyway.

Ingredients: DP and Lemon.  And awesome Christmas mugs that you use year round.  Oh that’s just me?

 

Put it on the stove on low until it’s hot to trot

Serve.  The sick ones especially like it, if you have any at your house.  I do.  Sad face.

Tradish #2

While everyone pours and enjoys their hot DP and some hors d’oeuvres, someone inconspicuously puts in a legendary Christmas mix sung by this group of extremely talented vocalists…

And we dance…not just any dance.  We dance just like them.

When the dancing is over and the mugs are empty, you better grab your wallet.

Tradish #3

Rummy Royal.  The 7 (parents, 2 brothers, a pistol of an 86 year old grandma named Goggle, me and DC) of us play Rummy Royal for pennies.  It’s a card game that I don’t care to explain in detail, however, I am sure Wikipedia would love to share its knowledge.

The game gets gruesome.  It gets scary.  Goggle tells you how much she wants to hurt you.  It’s rough, but it’s hilarious.  I never win, but I figure I am better off because that way Goggle still likes me.

So those are what I grew up with.  And now, DC and I might start some of our own.  I bought this book for us last week for our first Christmas (and 19 more…because it’s a 20 year book, not because I am leaving him in 19 years) together.  Hopefully him being sick for weeks will not be a tradition.  Please say a prayer for my sweet husband.

The Spirit of Snoopy

We have about 4,856 excuses for not having a Christmas tree for our first Christmas together.  Most of them revolve around sickness and storage space.

So if you gave us an ornament, it didn’t make it up this year (Except for Amy and Ricky’s- it’s on our centerpiece) until I was wrapping presents in the bike room the other day for what seemed like forever, and I just decided that even though it has been a pretty mucky holiday season thus far, we were going to have a tree dadgummit!

This is what happens when I’m locked in a room by myself for too long.  Tissue paper, cardboard, and the ornaments we got from parties and parents…tree of the year.  I am a preschooler. 

Dare to Deck the Halls

This weekend I did my first sewing project, like, ever, for the Dare to Deck the Halls entry.  I had to drive 45 minutes to my mom’s house just to use her machine.  That’s how much I sew.  None.

Anyways.

DC and I are in an apartment as I have mentioned, leaving little room for Christmas decorations 1. because if we decorated the whole place we wouldn’t have a lot of room to walk and 2. because we have no place to store said decorations after Christmas.  This really has nothing to do with my project except for the fact that I made stockings and when I brought them home, the only place we could find to hang them was

above the bike room door frame.

 

I hope Santa is tall.  Excuse the horrible pictures…I took these this morning on my way to work in-between drying my hair and eating breakfast.

I found this post on Blissfully Domestic (one of my favorites minus the cheesy title…no offense) and it seemed simple enough.  She used a tighter-woven sweater which gives you more of a shape, but I have always liked the “old sock” look for stockings.  (Plus, when you’re looking for sweaters to cut up, it’s not like you have a ton of options.  Right?)  When I got to my mom’s house, though, the only stocking I found to trace was so wide that it looked like it would fit DC’s foot (ba-dum-ching!), so these turned out bigger, or wider, than I wanted.

In addition, my dad was leaving to go to his Christmas party while I was at their house, and he kept calling me down to help him pick out what he was going to wear.  So, I was distracted.  Not that I’m making excuses for why they’re not perfect…because I actually like them a lot.

Winter/Christmas Centerpiece for a Small Space

This week’s Dare to DIY

Dare to entertain…Show Us Your Table

Along with about 90% of the female population, I love Christmas and I love to decorate for Christmas. With husband and I living in an apartment in our first year though, we don’t have a whole lot of room to store such things. So, this year I wanted to make something that could be easily stored or discarded and remade for next year.

The husband and I went branch hunting earlier this week and found exactly what I had pictured. While I worked late and ran some important (like buying decorations important) errands, Devin made a paint booth out of a box and painted the branch for me. That’s $.99 spray paint, you guys.

After the branch dried outside, I got everything together to get this branch in the vase aka tissue cover. This was, like, the greatest find ever at Homegoods. I couldn’t find ANYTHING I liked ANYWHERE and then, there it was, with a beam of light shining on it.

I have never been more thankful to be married to an engineer because I am pretty sure I would have screwed this up without his help. We made a hole in the foam with the blade of his hack saw rather than trying to shove the branch straight into it.

I covered the top of the “vase” with Spanish moss, you know, to make it look like this branch is growing out of that tissue cover. But, really, it gave it the sort of rustic look I love.

Then I just hung some small silver ornaments and some crystals, both from the local craft store on pre-season clearance.

And Voila.

I did pick up some new Christmas linens at Crate and Barrel with leftover gift cards from our wedding. I love free stuff.

I love it love it love it. It was very affordable, it fits our little table so perfectly, and the branch can be chunked and easily be remade next year.

Now if Houston would bring on some winter weather, I might actually feel like Christmas is upon us!