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!

A Johnson Family Thanksgiving

This year, Cody and I took a much needed trip to Harlingen to visit with his family for Thanksgiving. Cody hasn't been home since last Christmas, and I know he was ready to get back to the Rio Grande Valley. He left a few days before me and spent some time hunting on his dad's deer lease. I arrived in Harlingen on Wednesday evening and was so excited to see everyone again. Thanksgiving day brought lots of food, fellowship and football, and we were very grateful for the special time with Cody's family and of course, our sweet niece, Addison. She has grown so much and we loved every minute of playing with her! I know I say this in every post where family is involved, but we really do cherish the time that we get to spend with our families. We loved the visits before, but being out of state and a bit further away than we would like really makes the moments that we share even more special.

Here are a few pics from our Turkey day hang out!

Princess Addie playing with Uncle Cale. Isn't she a doll?

Uncle Cody getting some quality bonding time with the Princess

Story time before Thanksgiving lunch

Katie and Addison

The hubs and me celebrating our 6th Thanksgiving together. Where did the time go?

Mimi giving Addie lots of lovins

My niece is so stylish she even had a personalized, festive Thanksgiving burp cloth. I'm so proud!

Aunt Britt and the cutest niece EVER

The full Turkey Day ensemble

Watching football with Uncle Cale. Please do not disturb.

Daddy Jason and his little princess

The gorgeous table that Tami put together. She outdid herself!

We ended the Thanksgiving festivities with some required Black Friday shopping. I'm sure it's no surprise that I was willing to brave the craziness... and of course Tami, Katie and Addie were troopers, too. Addie was so good the entire time and just smiled and took in all of the scenery that the mall, Target and Marshall's had to offer. She's clearly a natural shopper, which definitely makes me even more proud. :) Good job, Mama! 

Teaching my niece the finer points of shopping

We clearly mean business when we shop.

We squeezed in some time for a picture with Santa!

While we had a girl day, the guys went duck hunting. I would say they did pretty well, and easily rivaled Duck Dynasty. :) Notice how incredibly photogenic our stud duck retrieving dog is? 

My favorite picture of the trip- Addie just chillin' before another day of shopping begins. (She did the pose on her own!)

On the way back to Las Cruces, we were able to stop in San Antonio and spend the night with my family. It made me anxious for Christmas to get here! Hope y'all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and are getting into the holiday spirit. I'm counting down the days until I have enough free time to decorate the house and put up our Christmas tree! 

Cooking, Crafting & Chatting

Last weekend, I got together with the girls from our church life group to celebrate the fall season with a brunch and craft session. Because of my love for all things home decor, I thought it would be fun to get together and make a couple of cute crafts to decorate for the fall season. It was so much fun seeing all of the different creative things the girls came up with, and we all enjoyed the girl time and getting to visit and just hang out. Cody reaped the benefits of *some* of the cooking I did for the occassion. He was especially excited about the sausage pinwheels. I tried out a few great Pinterest recipes and they were winners! I love it when that happens. We drew inspiration from Pinterest for our crafts: alumninum can candle holders and festive fabric banners. The cute, rustic style of each craft brings just the right touch of cozy to the home-- perfect for the fall season. I've enjoyed glancing at our fabric banner as we relax in the evenings, too. Might I suggest that you take a day of crafting for yourself? You'll be amazed at how relaxing and rewarding it can be!

One of the craft stations

Some of the supplies

I love hostessing!

The spread- with everything from baked oatmeal and muffins to brunch enchiladas and orange julius, we certainly got our fill of yumminess.

I was super excited to try a pumpkin maple spice latte recipe that I found on Pinterest. It did not disappoint, and you better believe I had to do it up right with whipped cream and cinnamon at our little coffee bar!

My sweet friends Amanda and Blair, who are both expecting babies in the spring. Can't wait for those celebrations to begin!

The girls enjoying a brunch feast

Emily and her sweet princess Becky

Chillin' while Mom and the girls get artsy

Blair crafting her cute candle holder

Nicole and Yana hard at work

The finished product- one of the "can"-dle holders

Amanda, Becky and me

More cute candle holders

Nicole's "Fall" banner. Didn't it turn out cute?

I just love these. We joked that this one looked like it had a skirt or dress on. :)

Amanda's banner, which we worked on together. We're quite a team!

I'm very thankful that Cody and I have been able to plug into a group through our church that is full of young married couples. It's been so fun getting to know each person, and there are always things going on to keep us busy and entertained. We're looking forward to the Thanksgiving feast and Christmas party coming up next!