Christmas Beginnings

Christmas time is here!  And it is so fun to decorate!

We love our little pre-lit four-footer!  At Christmastime last year, we gathered all of Ben's personal Christmas ornaments and when we unwrapped and put them on our tree this year Ben was so happy I thought he might cry!

Also, Ben's sister Kristi made this angel tree-topper and gave it to us last year.  Isn't it so perfect?

Kristi also made us these Christmas stockings and gave them to us when we got married.  They are too cute!

Ben's other sister, Ashley, made us the advent calendar.  Apparently it was a pretty big deal in their house growing up because I have heard so much about it!  The poem reads:

December first to Christmas is the longest time of the year.

Seems as though Old Santa never will appear.

Untie a candy every night when the Sandman casts his spell,

And Christmas will be here by the time you reach the bell.

Ben can recite it by memory.  You should ask him.

I sewed a piece of candy to each date's little circle thing and we get to take one off each night.  Attached to the final date is a bell that we can ring on Christmas day!

I am super impressed by Ashley's cross-stitching; the advent calendar is gorgeous.

I made this pennant banner one night and I am really proud of it!  Just a little ribbon, some cute paper, some hot glue, and a brown colored pencil!

I love our Christmas centerpiece, too!

Okay new topic.

Ben's company had their Christmas party on Saturday!  It was at the Exploratorium in San Francisco - how cool is that?  The dress code was cocktail attire/black tie optional and that proved to be a bit of a struggle.  I borrowed a dress from Mom and two from a friend in the ward, as well as some jewelry and tights.  I decided to actually try things on the night before which wasn't smart because nothing was really working.  Two of the dresses, I couldn't even zip up!  That has never happened to me before.  So it was like 9:30 the night before and I'm swearing off of ice cream (but not really) and wondering what to wear.  We decided we could go out shopping the next morning before I went to work but that was kind of stressful, so we were looking online to get an idea of where we could go and what we would find.  Then we saw that Kohl's is open until midnight, so we got out of our pajamas and back in our jeans and did some late-night shopping!  We had such great luck!  We found an adorable, affordable dress.

The party was fun.  Good food, good live band.  It was just so fun to have a dressy night out with Ben, and of course, I got to meet all of his co-working and they all raved about Ben's work.  No surprise there!

And last but not least, on Sunday we had our traditional Christmas sugar cooking decorating evening.

YUMMY!