Three Years

Dave and I celebrated our third wedding anniversary yesterday. After so much Christmas-related celebrating, we were in the mood for a low-key, fun day. We saw The Muppets and treated ourselves to Chinese food yesterday afternoon. Dave made two delicious homemade pizzas for dinner which we enjoyed with a bottle of red wine. It was a very casual anniversary celebration, but fun because we got to spend the whole day together laughing and being silly.

Dave and me dancing at our wedding.

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve is one of my favorite days of the entire year. Dave and I worked super hard yesterday cleaning our house and running errands so that we could spend today relaxing. We met Bekah and Nate for brunch this morning and are spending the afternoon wrapping gifts and reading. Tonight we are dining at the Peacock Inn with my family. I'm so excited to enjoy a delicious meal and to see all of the gorgeous Princeton houses all decked out for Christmas.

A bit of Christmas cheer by my front door.

I hope you have a cozy evening spent with family and friends. Don't forget to leave some cookies out for Santa!

Co-worker Gifts

My co-workers and I exchange small gifts at Christmastime each year. Lately, I've been finding presents arranged on my desk when I come into work in the morning (what a great way to start the day!). My co-workers have given me such thoughtful gifts this year:

My boss gave me a bottle of Pinot Noir that I can't wait to try. I also received a few gifts that will make my life a bit more luxurious and special: a pretty candle with a fresh scent, kiwi hand cream, and a sweet, pink vase. I love the shiny ornaments and think they will look lovely on my Christmas tree. I was given a box of delicious cookies, donuts, and sweets as well - yum.

I hope you are enjoying the Christmas season - only 4 more days to go!

New Girl

New Girl is my very favorite TV show right now. Jess is awkward and cute and Schmidt cracks me up! Have you checked it out yet? You can watch recent episodes here.

(Photo from Fox.com)

Christmas Around the House

My weekend got off to a great start on Friday night; Dave and I had a few friends over for wine, cheese, and chatting by the fire. I love having something easy and fun to look forward to at the end of the week.

Dave had a ton of papers to grade this weekend and while he was busy with the papers I worked on getting our house decorated for Christmas. I chose "woodland glamour" as my decorating theme this year. A bunch of our decorations and ornaments easily fit into this theme, and I picked up a new table runner, some pinecone and acorn ornaments, and a few new mercury glass votives earlier in the week. Here are a couple of snaps from around the house:

We kept it super simple this year and only trimmed
the tree with white lights and ornaments.

I love this little snowy cottage ornament.

A perfect fit with this year's theme: golden, glittery acorns.

Our mantle is decorated with mini boxwood plants, Grandma's
silver candelabra, mercury glass votives, and silver glitter deer.

On our Christmas table: a rustic runner, nuts,
glamorous mercury glass, and German glitter birds.

I took Monday off to finish up my shopping; I'm hoping that the stores won't be as crowded as they are on the weekends. Have a great week!

A Little Something for Friday Afternoon

I love this...

Print by Gemma Correll

(Available here via A Cup of Jo)

Volunteering at Philabundance

On Tuesday I headed down to Philabundance with my co-workers for an afternoon of volunteering at their warehouse. I was so impressed with Philabundance! The warehouse was clean and bright and the volunteer program was well-organized. The organization works hard to alleviate hunger in the Philadelphia area.

Our department was given the task of sorting, weighing, and packaging apples to go to Philabundance's food cupboards, emergency kitchens, and neighborhood markets. We processed 8,817 lbs. of apples in three hours! I'm happy that I was able to contribute to this charity while enjoying an afternoon away from the office with my co-workers.

Weekend Wrap-up

Here's my weekend wrap-up delivered to you on Tuesday night. Better late than never, right? :)

This past weekend was full of Christmas-y fun. I spent Friday night with my mom. We went on the Christmas in Doylestown House Tour and had fun driving around town and getting to peek inside four gorgeous houses all decked out for the holidays. We apparently had a lot of catching up to do because we could barely get one story out before we were on to the next topic.

Dave and I spent almost all of Saturday at Longwood Gardens with his family. We ate lunch together and then headed over to Longwood Gardens around 5:00. We explored the grounds and admired the lighted trees and fountains as darkness fell. Then, we walked over to the greenhouses for more exploring and a short concert. The staff had set up clever trees (full-size!) and wreaths throughout the greenhouses made out of unusual materials like aloe plants, orchids, succulents, and even parsley! I've never visited Longwood Gardens in the evening during the holidays, but it turned out to be such a treat.

An elegant tree all ready for Christmas at Longwood Gardens

We put our Christmas tree up on Sunday evening and enjoyed its twinkling lights while we watched "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" and drank hot cocoa.

Christmas Activities

Has the following scenario ever happened to you? About a week before Christmas you realize that December 25th is quickly approaching and you are completely unprepared for it and (ahhhhh) it doesn't even feel like Christmas yet.

Well, this has happened to me and I can't stand it! I think the best way to keep Christmas from sneaking up on you is to start celebrating early. This year, Dave and I tried to buy all of our gifts in November so that we could focus on Christmas activities in December. We almost finished crossing everyone off our list and I only have a few more gifts to buy. We also came up with a list of fun things we want to do this year to keep that Christmas feeling going strong all month long (inspired by this).  Here is what we came up with:

Christmas in Doylestown House Tour

Write and mail Christmas cards

Drink a peppermint latte from Starbucks
Visit Longwood Gardens with Dave's family

Trim the tree
Enjoy cocktails at the William Penn Inn
Bake cookies
Visit the Christkindlmarkt in Bethlehem
Drink eggnog
NYC daytrip
Attend cookie exchange
Watch as many Christmas movies as possible
Drive around town to look at lights
Drink hot cocoa