December in Photos

Ok, it's true that when the Holidays roll around, the time between Thanksgiving and NYE is choc full of family get togethers, friend reunions and memorable moments all worthy of capturing with a photo. It's also true that I've yet to upload and print those photos (eeek), which is surprising because I absolutely love taking, picking out and printing all those photos and finding places to put them!

So here we go, December in Photos....

Engagement Photos:
To be honest, these photos were actually taken in October but we got the disc and finally printed them in December, so needless to say we've spent several hours combing through them and picking out our favorites. Below are some of my favorites (really I could've added a dozen or so more). We were very pleased with All Angles Photography, enjoy!

Graduation
On December 15th I finally graduated with my Doctor of Physical Therapy Degree! It's been a rough five and a half years but totally worth it. Currently I'm in the midst of job hunting.

 My immediate family just after the ceremony.

 Stephen and I just after the ceremony.

After the ceremony we went to a local restaurant in the Highlands area near my school. It was fabulous having all my family and future in-laws at the restaurant celebrating the occasion.

Graduation Party

On the Friday after I graduated, Stephen graciously hosted a party with all our family and friends to celebrate my graduation. we had a blast.

My two best gals, at the party!

The graduation festivities continued with my new colleagues (former classmates) at a local entertainment area.

Once again, my two best gals!

 My MOH and I about to enjoy a celebratory toast!

On the Monday before we graduated, the officers of my class put together a class dinner, or opportunity for everyone to get together in a social setting one last time before walking the stage.

A great group shot of all my favorite PT (physical therapy) girls.

On Tuesday, we had graduation practice. Following practice we all made our way to the lobby of the gym for a champagne reception.

  Once again, some of my favorite girls.

Christmas Eve Morning

In light of trying to figure out the logistics of Christmas day with both our family dinners, Stephen and I decided to have our "Christmas Morning" the morning of Christmas Eve.

 Before the opening of presents commenced! Unfortunately we failed to get a pic of the two of us in front of the tree. Seeing as how I am the shutterbug of the relationship, we tend to end up with a lot of pictures of Stephen.

 

Stephen got me several games for my new Wii (a graduation present)

One of Stephen's favorite presents :)

On Sunday after Christmas, Stephen and I hosted a game party with all of my oldest friends. We've been friends literally, since middle school and a get-together at Christmas time when everyone is back in town has become a beloved tradition.

Our pretty sweet spread!

We also got to use the Wine Brique Stephen's mom gave us to keep wine chilled throughout a party.

It was great catching up with everyone and letting our competitive streaks come out during game play!

After the party my MOH and BM and I decided we better do some wedding planning seeing as how both of them would be a minimum of 5 hours away. So the next day we decided to go dress shopping for them. We had a blast.

They tried on probably a dozen or so dresses. We unanimously decided that this style in a navy blue would be perfect for the wedding! It even got me excited about the prospect of wedding gown shopping!

There we go, officially caught up, whew! The end of 2010 has certainly been amazing. I hope everyone's New Years is fabulous!

We Wish you a... Country Christmas?

Stephen and I have been getting the place decorated for our first Christmas together in our own place and so far it's been amazing as I'm a fan of the holidays and if it were up to Stephen, it'd be Christmas all year long.

A pic from Christmas Eve last year.

It's been fun merging our family traditions and trying to figure out how WE will celebrate the holidays. We've had to each make compromises, but so far it's really worked out and I'm excited to see what the rest of the season has to bring. Here are some questions we've had to tackle:

1. When do we put up the tree?
My family has always put up our trees the weekend of thanksgiving. Generally we'll go shopping on Black Friday, come home, marvel at our awesome buys, get on some comfy clothes and bring out the Christmas stuff. My family usually does a Friday-Saturday marathon to get all the decorations out and put up that weekend.

 Stephen stringing lights on the tree last Christmas.

Stephen's family, on the otherhand, usually puts up the tree the first or second weekend in December. BUT since Stephen loves, loves, loves everything associated with Christmas, we were both excited to put up the tree the weekend of Thanksgiving!

2. Real or artificial tree?
Now this decision was hard for both of us. My mom absolutely refuses to have a real tree, so I've been brought up with artificial trees my whole life, save a few years when my dad "won" and we got a real tree.

Stephen's family, however, ALWAYS has a real tree. And I have to admit there's something magical about hiking through rows and rows of christmas trees in the snow, with your scarves and hats and axes searching for that perfect tree to bring home. I love mini day-trips and last year when I went with Stephen's family to chop down trees, I had a blast as we made a whole afternoon of it.

 After chopping down Stephen's family trees last Christmas.

BUT, seeing as how we are currently residing in an apartment, with new, pretty light colored carpet and neither of us is too partial to vacuums, we decided to go ahead and settle with an artificial tree this year.

3. What kind of artificial tree do we want?
Once we decided to go artificial, we had to figure out where and what kind of artificial tree we wanted for our place. We instantly feel in love with this beauty from Garden Ridge:

It, however, was $400! And well, as a student myself and with Stephen just starting a new job, we definitly could not yet afford that. We did decide, however, that we could take the aspects that we liked about it and create the perfect, affordable, tree just for us. We loved the natural look of the above tree and the lighter, softer green of the pine. We liked the pine cones and how it felt a little "rustic." We decided to run with that theme, kind of a quasi country, rustic, home-made, traditional Christmas full of pine cones, home-made ornaments and vintage ornaments from both our parents' own ornament collections. My mom let us borrow one of her older artificial trees, so we ended up getting a tree for FREE! Which is always awesome!
 

So these are the major hurdles we've had to cross (it's crazy that it's only the Saturday after Thanksgiving and we've got so much done!). I'm sure there will be a lot more of merging Christmas traditions and I can't wait.

I'll be sure to post more pics of this Christmas as the events unfold! Merry early Christmas!