Our Favorite Christmas Ornaments

As a newlywed, you quickly realize that an ornament collection is something that grows gradually over time. I’ll never forget the first year Bo and I bought a tree together, while living in Philadelphia, and realized we didn’t have any ornaments after we got home. We were both so accustomed to our family’s trees where there was never enough room for every ornament, even when there were two trees in the home.

IMG_0519 IMG_0571That year we bought three packs of red, white, and gold ornaments at K-Mart to decorate our small tree. We decided that moving forward we’d buy an ornament on every vacation and then random bear ornaments here and there.

Now, four years later, we have finally developed an ornament collection that makes us smile each year when we relive our vacations and memories. Even this year’s seven foot tree is covered head to toe, at least on the front, by ornaments!

014Last night, while decorating the tree, Bo and I especially loved these ornaments, each of which are now near and dear to our heart.

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This ornament, Rudolph, is my maiden name and will always bring a smile to my heart when I remember all the years of torment I received during the holidays for having the same last name as the red nosed reindeer.

008 This ornament was given to us by our wedding planner and is the church where were married, Isle of Hope Methodist church.

image My maid of honor, Amy, gave this to us our first Christmas! We forgot to buy an ornament on Anguilla, while on Honeymoon, but this personalized ornament includes a picture of us from our honeymoon, therefore making it a perfect substitute!

image We bought this ornament, a pink Bermuda home, on our trip to Bermuda this May!

image This ornament will always remind me of our first trip to Disney World together, enjoyed in January with Meghann and Derek!

Question: Have you started an ornament collection of your own? If so, what is your favorite ornament?

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Making a List and Checking It Twice

Happy Thursday from the land of the blue Christmas tree!

034Finally, after four days of no internet, Bo came home early enough tonight to return the house and our electronics to a perfect state. I did my best to spend some quality time with the Time Warner Cable technical support but gave up after three separate attempts.

The past few days have been pretty hectic due to our compressed party planning schedule and a busy week filled with work meetings and volunteering though the New York Junior League.

I find that the easiest way to conquer a crazy week is to lay out some goals or a checklist for the week. This week I made a Monday through Thursday checklist to keep track of everything we needed to accomplish before Friday.

  • Stick to my workout schedule CHECK
  • Eat a healthy breakfast each morning CHECK
  • Reorganize the house when painters finish CHECK
  • Address and mail all our Christmas cards CHECK
  • Bring all the Christmas decorations up from our storage unit along with party supplies CHECK
  • Buy Christmas tree CHECK
  • Decorate Christmas tree CHECK
  • Set up snow village and other holiday decorations
  • Finalize party menu CHECK
  • Go grocery shopping for party CHECK (via PeaPod)
  • Volunteer at Nazareth House on Tuesday and Thursday CHECK
  • Finish Christmas shopping

As of tonight, the list has been completely dominated!

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002 Overall, the week has gone pretty well. I definitely haven’t eaten as well as I would like considering that I’ll be basking in the Cozumel sun in three short weeks with Bo and our good friends! But, I’ve pushed myself in each of my workouts and done my best to remember some of the tips and tricks my Twitter friends shared earlier this week!

image image I’ve been drinking more water than normal, sticking with my workouts, using the one bite rule when tackling office sweets, and am being especially good tomorrow and Saturday during the day so I can enjoy every bite Saturday night! In addition, we are signed up for the NYRR Jingle Jog early Saturday morning to kick off the day with a sweat!

Question: How do you practice moderation during the holidays? Or, do you think about it on January 1st?

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