Camera Bag

I finally got an amazing camera for my birthday in August, and it's already been so much fun to use!!  I however have the standard black camera bag, but it would be fun instead to carry my camera in something more like this.....

Isn't it a fantastic bag??  CLICK HERE to go to the COLOR ISSUE to enter a giveaway for a chance to win this beauty!!!

Tara

Christmas Recap

Yes, yes I know Christmas was two weeks ago, but seriously until yesterday it still looked like we just had Christmas morning at our house.  There were still presents and unwrapped boxes stacked around the living room, and all of our Christmas decorations are still up.  I'm starting to go through the presents and clean up in general, but I'm not going to lie, I'm okay with our decorations being up for a bit.  It seems like there's always a rush before the holidays and then it's all over too quickly, so I'm kind of liking being home this weekend and getting to enjoy the tree still lit and just taking it all in!

We did have a wonderful Christmas this year!  We hosted my sister and her family and my mom and step-dad at our house.  It was so much fun getting excited with the kiddos that Santa would be visiting our house! Here's a recap through pictures (yes, get ready there are quite a few).

To prepare for the little ones being at our house for Christmas, I used the space inside our armoire to make a s'mores station, along with Christmas books and coloring books to keep the kids busy when needed.  ;)

I also added a couple of touches of Christmas in our master bathroom to make it fun for bubble baths!

Our Visit to the Galleria on Christmas Eve Day:

Ice Skating around the big tree.

She was starting to get the hang of it!! :)

       Me with my mom and one of my beautiful nieces.     

The pretty girls in front of the beautiful decorations!



My oldest niece helped me set the table for our dinner.  We made shrimp and crab gumbo, which is a staple for our Christmas Eve Dinner. 

We baked cookies for Santa and some just for us to decorate and eat of course!

Me with my sweet husband.

and one of my favorite pictures....the youngest fell asleep on the top of a couch cushion after too much fun!

It really truly is the most wonderful time of the year, and I'm already looking forward to next year.

Tara

Christmas Traditions

Jeff and I started our own Christmas traditions while we were dating.  For our first Christmas together, I still lived in an apartment but always had to have a Christmas tree - and a big one at that - no skimping on trees allowed!  So Jeff went with me to pick one out and help me carry it back to my apartment.  We made dinner together, which was his mom's recipe for Chicken and Dumplings and are so delicious.  Then we listened to Christmas music and decorated the tree.  Four years later and that's what we still do every year!  Here's our Christmas tree this year:

and this is how I wrapped our presents this year from pictures inspired by pinterest of course!

Another tradition that we started was collecting ornaments from each place that we traveled to so that when we decorate the tree, we can look back on the wonderful memories of our vacations together.  It's so fun to have a tree with ornaments that hold such special meaning to us!

New Orleans & Ouray, Colorado

Las Vegas & Jeffersonville (went to Louisville too on that trip!)

On our honeymoon in Zihuatenejo, Mexico, we picked up this cross at the market since I couldn't find an ornament, and I just put a ribbon through the hole to hang it.  It's one of my favorites!  The palm tree is from Belize.

We are also going to pretend like there is one from Chicago right here, deal?  I never got one on our trip, and I need to find one that I love so I can order it. 

...and our newest addition!!  New York City!!

I love that we already have our own special traditions to celebrate Christmas!!

Merry  Belated Christmas to all of you!!

Tara