Christmas 2009

I love this time of year! We had a very packed schedule and it was absolutely fabulous!

On Christmas Eve Brian and I got to spend the night to ourselves. We made a huge gingerbread house, which you will see later as the centerpiece on my table. I made dinner with pork, potatoes, carrots, fresh baked rolls and Sparkling Cider. It was great and extremely simple! Then we exchanged gifts. Here are a couple pictures from those festivities.

A funny thing happened.... Brian and I both got each other something that we already had! I got him the Back to the Future trilogy and he got me the Julie Andrews Biography! It was pretty funny.


I really wanted new boots, these are the Argyle boots from UGG. EXTREMELY COMFORTABLE!

I also got an Angels jersey, Mickey Apron and Walt Disney's Biography.


I finally caved in and bought Brian a Wii, he loves it!
He is now an expert at Mario Brothers!

The next morning we went to my parents house at 7AM to open presents with all the kids! We got my parents another photo book, this time of our cruise to Mexico with them back in August. They loved it! We also got my dad a CD and my mom a Cricut cartridge.
Then at 9:00 AM we had Brian's family over for breakfast. It was fantastic, everything went great and we had a wonderful time!
Later in the day we went back to my parents house for the big Neilson Christmas, unfortunately we forgot to whip out the camera and snap the festivities. :-( We made gingerbread houses, had a gift exchange, and had a delicious dinner!

Our final stop for the night was over to my brother in laws house for a Christmas dessert with Brian's mom, Celia, she flew in from Washington for a week. :-) My sister in law, Claudia, made the best Chocolate molten cake ever! Then we gave Celia the gift that we all pitched in for..... a Coach purse! It was gorgeous and we found it at the outlets in Carlsbad!
Lastly... this part is for my bff,Whitney, she keeps insisting that I put up pictures of our house decorated for Christmas... warning... they are not good pictures and in no way show the full beauty in some of the decorations I found.

My sister in law found these really great vintage tags at Timeless Treasures that we were going to make an advent calendar with but decided to use them by themselves. They are really beautiful.

It's FALL!

I must admit I am getting Christmas decorating fever! I blame it on the fact that last year I didn't get to decorate because we were moving and therefore feel that it is high time to brush off the dust and break out all my fun Christmas decorations! A week ago I had made up my mind that I was going to decorate for Christmas early... after all it is MY house and I don't have a ton of fall decorations anyways... but once I voiced my plan I was immediately told not do and to enjoy the fall while it's here... I must admit... Fall is my favorite season so I guess I should embrace the time. Only problem was that I had very few decorations and due to our circumstances I didn't want to rush out and buy more.... HOWEVER.... today I got the urge to go to Michaels after work and was, to put it lightly, absolutely thrilled!

I only spent $26!


All of the garland was only .99 cents a stem!I got the big pumpkins for $3 each and the little pumpkins for .35 cents each!

I love these cream glittered ones! They go great in my downstairs bathroom.

I got this arrangement for $3 and the vase for $5. They are my favorite colors and trust me, this picture is not doing them justice!


This beauty was only $1.99!!!


I found these at Target last year and waited until they were on clearance for $4!

Two years ago I made myself, my mom and my mother-in-law this FALL sign, it was so fun! Also so much work!

These candle holders were also on sale!

Gosh I LOVE FALL and all the SALES!!!

The table runners are a little project I have been working on, they are double sided, one for fall and the other is Christmas color striped. I still have to take them and get them pressed so they are flat but I think they turned out well. :-)

My Husband Can SEW!

So ever since we got our puppy Baxter, Brian has asked if at some point I could make him a bed. Well we ended up buying multiple beds for this pup because it was cheaper and easier in the short run… well those did not last…. Baxter likes to play this game where the second we leave him alone with his bed it becomes this monster that he absolutely has to rip to shreds as quickly and efficiently as possible. Four beds, one comforter and multiple pillows later we discovered this lady who makes dog beds out of duck canvas material that is “chew proof,” only problem is that they are $80 each! Well we succumbed and bought one and by no fault of it’s own it shrunk when we washed it…. Not to mention that all of the pillows that were in it got demolished soon after… I absolutely refused to buy him another bed for a long time… well last week Brian went to Joann’s with my mom to get fabric for our Halloween costumes and found duck canvas! So he bought some maroon duck canvas (for a lot cheaper than the first one we bought) and brought it home. The very next day I get an email with a picture attachment that looks like this….


I couldn’t believe my eyes! Brian not only mastered my sewing machine, but made a professional looking dog bed, zipper and everything! He even wrote his name on them. AND if that wasn’t enough, he salvaged some left over material and made a SECOND one for his office! I think we know who the seamster is in our house! Great job honey!

Oh and incase you’re wondering why his foot is all taped up, it’s because something pricked him on one of our walks and then made the toe swell, we took him to the vet and they cut it open to make sure nothing was in there. He is fine now… THANK HEAVENS for puppy insurance!

My new HAIR!!!

I wanted something different and I think I definitely got it... What do you think?

Brian's Office Surprise

A couple months ago Brian went up to Washington for a few days to help his mom with a few things around her house. While he was gone, I decided to surprise him with a fully decorated and renovated office. I got an old desk from a lady at work for free and with the help of my dad we were able to sand down the top and front and stain and seal it, then put new hardware on it to make it look good as new. :-) With the help of HomeDepot.com I found my inspiration for colors and then enlisted my dad to do the actual painting. He was the BIGGEST help! I also had the help of my Aunt Jamie and cousin Missy, they came over the night before and put together this huge memo board... unfortunately it didn't go with the room as I had imagined so I had to scrap it. :-( Sorry girls! I still really appreciate the time you two put in! On the day of Brian's arrival the chair I ordered came in, only 2 hours before I was to pick him up from the airport. What I didn't anticipate was that the chair wasn't assembled, so I had to call my dad last minute and have him help me put the thing together. Well all in all let's just say that Brian was indeed surprised! He was completely shocked when he got home, and poor guy had to hook up all of his cables and transfer all of his stuff from his old desk to his new desk, but he really enjoys his new space and all of my efforts! :-) Here are some before and after pictures... hey, I'm no photographer...

Before

After

What do you think?!