Christmas time is here!

Anyone who knows me well knows that come December 1st, I am one happy girl. Not to say that I'm not happy the rest of the year, but the beginning of my birthday month signals a number of things that just seem to put an endless smile on my face. Perhaps one of those is that it becomes increasingly socially acceptable to eat your body weight in dessert and shop till you drop during this time of year, but more importantly, I get to put "decorate the house" on my to-do list! When we returned home from our Thanksgiving travels, I jumped on the opportunity to decorate the house for Christmas. Our poor little starter tree is in very high need of a replacement, and we affectionately refer to it as the "leaning tower of Christmas". Regardless of its stature, it still got the job done this year and I was very happy with how everything turned out. I love the way Christmas decorations make it OK to have the house look as over the top as possible. Me? Over the top? Never. :)

Please excuse the quality of the pics- they clearly weren't taken on my "fancy camera" this time. Still had to document though!

Our leaning tower of Christmas, where the gifts clearly overpower the stature of the tree! (I took that shopping thing seriously this year.)

I found the stocking on the right at Marshall's in Harlingen and am obsessed. It's part burlap, part sequins, which in my mind perfectly defines my style.

Entry table

Dining table- shout out to Tami & Katie for sharing the logs with me! We clearly don't eat at the dining table often, as this would have become quite a workout to remove the logs every meal. Don't judge.

I was so excited to display our nativity scene this year. I found the cute little rustic stable at Hobby Lobby to give it the full effect. This is, of course, one of my favorite things about Christmas!

I saw on Pinterest a way to display Christmas cards on the cabinets using ribbon and clothes pins, so of course I had to try it. This is the one time of year that I actually check the mail regularly... I love getting cards from our friends and family!

Only one week left til Christmas!! We are so excited to celebrate with our family and a little "tour of Texas". 

Strike a Pose

In case you've been wondering what we've been up to, I can honestly say it's been a whole lot. While the constant additions to my to-do list can be daunting at times, I would be lying if I said that I didn't love the crazy busyness that comes with the holiday season. Cody has been traveling a TON for work, but I have somehow managed to keep myself extremely occupied with Christmas decorating, shopping and such. 

We had been talking recently about shopping for a new camera. Sure, our point and shoot digital camera has served us well, but I had started to become very interested in photography and artistic editing as of late, and I was dying to try my hand a some real photography on a "fancy" camera. Lucky for us, Cody's cousin was selling his Nikon camera, so we snatched it up. I have been having so much fun practicing my photography skills, though I still have a long way to go and a lot to learn. I just couldn't help but share a few from my recent projects. Thanks to my friends (and of course our dog, Rio) for letting me use them as guinea pigs! :)

Our super photogenic pup, who loves posing for pictures.

Sonny was the subject of my first photo shoot. This 15 month old little boy is absolutely precious and I am quite fond of his momma, too. :) Danette and I work together, and in fact, I have Sonny to thank for the reason I found a job in Las Cruces. I was Danette's replacement while she went on maternity leave to have him, and was just lucky enough to be able to stay with the company after her return. Guess I owe this little guy a lot, huh? 

Excuse the shadow- this was my experiment with photographing the tree.

Look at those cheeks! Light wasn't fantastic, but he was too precious not to capture.

Little stud

One of my favorites

We have been so blessed to have gotten to know this sweet family. Nicole and Mich are our Bible study small group leaders, and their boys, Cooper and Hayden are so much fun. There's never a dull moment with all the energy in this bunch, and we had so much fun taking their pictures last weekend!

Aren't they the cutest? Melt my heart.

I love how this one of Nicole and Hayden turned out. Thank you, editing software!

Hayden, 4 years

Cooper, 2 years

I am so excited for Christmas, and am sure I'll be the obnoxious one demanding that everyone pose for pics. (This is your warning, family!) Still working to gather knowledge on specific settings, lighting, etc. but my favorite part is definitely the editing. Hopefully there will be a big improvement the next time I post photo shoot pics!