First Christmas in Our New Home {2013}

I've had a couple of people request a Christmas post showing my decor and am happy to share with y'all. We had a blast decorating and showing off our nest to family. This is our third Christmas being married but our first in this house. Everything wasn't completely decorated since this was our first time having a mantle and fireplace. Hopefully next Christmas it will be more like I want it. 

The first picture is a shot of the living room from our front door. We did some rearranging to accommodate our chubby little Christmas tree but it's not much different from how it normally is set up.   We even got to pick and cut our tree this year up in the mountains with Colin's family. My sister-in-law was sweet (and brave) to invite us all to stay the weekend after Thanksgiving. Thanks again Nicole! :)

One of my favorite decorations is my great grandmother's dough bowl. I'm sure I've mentioned it before and tell all my guests about it. It gets new decor with every season but hasn't been used to make biscuits like she always did. 

Riley was my Christmas present 3 years ago so I call him my Christmas kitty. His favorite thing about Christmas is drinking from the tree. Now that the tree is gone we actually have to remember to fill up his water bowl. :)

Our buffet got a full makeover with Christmas decorations. It made our kitchen very festive! Here are some other shots of Christmas decor around the kitchen:

I try to update my chalkboard every holiday to add some personal "art" to keep things interesting. I added an old bottle and some berries plucked from our yard to my antique scale. My blue mason jar was filled with an assortment of small silver ornaments to add a little cheer.

See that green bread box? It's an antique our neighbors found and gave to me. It's a perfect addition to the kitchen and I love it! My mom cleverly filled a mason jar with candy canes to add some color and holiday spirit. My little reindeer was an after Christmas sale find last year. He holds our Christmas goodies for guests (and us). Again, we stole some berries and leaves from outside and stuck them in an old bottle. That cute bird with a top hat was a welcome winter guest.

Colin was very excited to decorate the outside of the house this year. He's already talking about how we need to get more lights and decorations to keep up with the neighbors. We got these little trees from my grandma for Christmas and I think they are adorable!

See our nice stained front porch? I was slack and didn't share the before and after pictures of that yet. Maybe I'll get that post up soon because it was a huge difference! I love how this picture shows off our rocking chairs. 

And here's a night shot of the whole house. We're missing the candles in the windows and the trees on the front porch. It was so nice to come home when the house was all lit up and pretty!

Lastly, here's a picture of us on Christmas day at my grandparents house. Thank you to all the family that came by to get the tour of our nest. We thoroughly enjoyed getting to show it off. To all those who couldn't make it for the tour, I hope you enjoyed this virtual tour. 

Surprise 25th Anniversary Party!

In honor of my parent's 25th wedding anniversary today, I wanted to share their surprise party from a couple weekends ago. My sister Kristin and I had been planning the details for a few months and the party wouldn't have happened without her and her husband. Here's the invitation we sent out and then framed for a decoration at the party (my parents names and my address have been blurred out). We ordered them from Shutterfly and I love how they hinted at the chalkboard theme.

My first thought was that a 25th anniversary party should probably be decked out with silver and fanciness but we wanted to take a more casual approach. We decided red, white, black and some silver would be nice. Coke bottles and chalkboards were chosen as the main decorations to go with the color scheme and casual feel.

We made these adorable Coke bottle place cards/favors for each guest and the name tag was actually made from chalkboard paper. I used a tag paper punch and Kristin wrote the names using a white felt tipped pen since chalk would rub off. We did go back over it with chalk to make it look a little more realistic. I had some black and white baker's twine that we used to tie the name tags in place.

Of course we had a huge storm come through as the party started and had to change some of our plans. Only about half of the guests were able to have a spot at the kitchen table and a card table set up in the living room. So, everyone chose their own seats (wherever they could find one) and the Coke bottles just served as a personalized favor.

The desk area in the kitchen was transformed into the drink station. Kristin came up with another decoration idea just hours before the party. We used baker's twine taped up with some washi tape and made a little picture bunting. The tiny clothespins are from the dollar section at Michaels and Kristin wrote on each one to spell LOVE. Isn't cute? Oh, and the adorable pictures really help with the overall cuteness.

Next up with decorations, we have the amazing cake. We ordered it from the baker who did both of our wedding cakes. She makes beautiful cakes and they are soo tasty (just ask any of our wedding guests or party guests)! Kristin already had the white cake plate and we wanted to play off the chalkboard/silver theme so we came up with this beauty. It was cinnamon chip cake with a layer of cream cheese in the middle and buttercream frosting. Yummm. 

I used a chalkboard I made for our engagement pictures for the "You are so loved" sign. I found chalkboard markers at Michaels (they come in all kinds of colors) and they showed up so much better than regular chalk. I still have this pretty sign sitting in my kitchen because who doesn't need a reminder every once and a while that you're loved. :)

We made the "chalkboard" cake bunting with black scrapbook paper and a white marker. Michaels actually had chalkboard scrapbook paper (what we used for the name tags) but we wanted this to be something that would last and not rub off. We used glue dots to hold the bunting in place on the baker's twine and tied it to dowels. Oh, and after the bunting was taken off the cake we put it in empty Coke bottles and gave it to my parents.

Now that I'm done showing off the decorations, it's time to share the semi-surprise! My mom knew about the party because we decided she wouldn't like being surprised. Word to the wise, know the person you are throwing a surprise party for and how they will be affected. If you think there's any chance they may pass out, wet their pants, or run away crying, you may want to clue them in. Now, my dad on the other hand, we thought would love a good surprise and my mom helped us make it a complete surprise. Just to prove this fact, I'm sharing the pictures of the actual surprise below.

Please note the massive amounts of rain falling in the background. Colin was assisting with an umbrella to get my mom inside without being soaked. Now, notice the look of shock when he saw me and Kristin with our cameras pointed at him. Next, when he turns and sees the group of twenty people yelling "surprise". Finally, when he realizes what the party is for and that we got him good. Oh yeah. 

The minutes that followed were filled with laughter and quite a bit of blushing. Once everyone settled down, we had a great supper. We served hummus and pita, chicken kabobs, veggies, rice, and salad from a restaurant our mom and dad love. Everyone found a place to eat inside (because of the flood happening outside) and seemed to enjoy the food and company. 

During dinner and before the cake cutting, our guests were able to flip through some old family albums for entertainment. There was also a slideshow of pictures playing on the tv in the living room. We found that everyone loved getting to see my parent's wedding album and pictures of us as kids. This also gave everyone something to do since we weren't able to play corn-hole or be outside as planned.

Now, on to the cake pictures. I thought these turned out great! Isn't it a wonderful feeling when you get pictures you love and will cherish for the rest of your life??

Happy 25th Anniversary! We love y'all so much. Hope you enjoyed your "surprise" party!! Thank you to everyone who came to celebrate with us! We loved getting to show off our new house and were so proud to be able to host such a big milestone. Also, a huge thank you to Kristin, Stephen, and Colin! The party wouldn't have happened without those three. Now to start working on the theme for your 50th...  :)