Almost Here...

      It's finally Christmas Eve! I feel like this has been the slowest and yet shortest couple of days, haha. Work was absolutely insane with all of the last minute shoppers. Here's hoping that things will be a little calmer the next week or so.

      

      On to the main subject though. I did promise some decoration pictures, so here we go!

I love these lights that I got last year! They change colors and have multiple settings from rapid flashing to slow changing. I also added some garland for a little fun.

Above one of my bookcases I have our stockings hung (mine is the Jack one of course) with some more garland and a set of plain lights to add more color. Also a Santa Claus figure next to a fireplace that was my Grandma and Granpa Wood's.

Every year we get an ornament with the year on it to mark our Christmases together. I wasn't sure about this one at first, but the more I look at it, the more I love it!

Finally, our tree! 

This was before we had all of our presents wrapped, but they've filled up the underneath even more nicely now.

      I know a lot of people do color-specific trees, but I've always been a fan of more colorful ones. There's nothing wrong with themed ones, and I've considered trying one myself, but this just reminds me more of when I was a kid. To each their own! 

      So how do you like to decorate for Christmas, or whatever holiday that you may celebrate? I always like seeing different decorations, and other's take on things. If you'd like to post or link to a picture, please do.

      Now it's time for me to wrap my last couple stocking stuffers, and a last minute gift I picked up for Mom from Dad today. I just can't wait to watch everyone open their gifts tomorrow, it's my favorite part of Christmas! I would like to wish you and yours a very merry Christmas and holiday season. See you back here soon!

Crazy Season

      This holiday season has been absolutely nuts, both with family and at work. Has yours been worse than you remember last year being? I will completely admit that I just bought my first Christmas presents last night. I know, I'm a horrible procrastinator, but I had reasons for waiting. I do have at least solid ideas for everyone on my list though, so now it's just the purchases themselves that need done. We also finally put the tree up last night, since we now have items to put under it. I promise pictures as soon as the rest of the decorations are up!

      This season snuck up on me rather quickly with so many things keeping me occupied, but let's take a step back and a deep breath. I have to say, though obviously gifts are always nice, the thing I'm looking forward to most is spending time with my family and friends. Plans are still being made for Christmas, but I already have something set for after the first of the year and I can't wait to see everyone.

      I know this was a quick life post, but I'd like to end with a few questions! What is your favorite part of the holiday season? Favorite holiday food? How about favorite traditions? Please let me know! My boyfriend and I haven't started too many of our own yet, but I'm always looking for fun new ideas. :) Our only one at the moment is every Christmas since we started living together we've gotten a special ornament for the tree.

      I'll see you back here soon for decoration pictures and maybe a look at what I've been playing lately. ;) Have a good one!

Christmas of Course! pt. 2

      This post is coming a little later than planned, but I will admit that it's because I couldn't stop playing my new game! I'll get to that in just a moment though. I went over the food of Christmas last time, so this one is all about the gifts. I got various gift cards from a few of my relatives, and oddly enough three of the four were for restaurants, haha. We already used one of those Thursday night, by the way. Decided to go out to Chili's since we haven't been for quite some time. The boyfriend and I decided to ask for just one bigger combined gift this year from my parents, so they got us a Wii U! To top that off it's the special edition Legend of Zelda The Wind Waker HD one! I was beyond excited to say the least. From my Aunt and Uncle that live in Florida, on top of a gift card, I also got a Good Eats(as in the show on Food Network) cookbook. Mom and I were flipping through it Christmas day and it looks interesting. Lots of info to go along with the recipes, but I'm sure that doesn't surprise anyone who has seen the show.
      We decided not to take our gifts for each other to Mom and Dad's, so we opened them when we returned home Christmas night. He got me two books(Bloodlines and The Golden Lily both by Richelle Mead), a Jack Skellington snuggie because I love The Nightmare Before Christmas, and two CD's unfortunately that were a bit older and I already have most of the songs from. I'll have to exchange the CD's but I was very happy with the rest. :) For him I got a set of two "zombie" swords with sheath and shoulder strap(he collects knives and swords), Lego Marvel Superheroes and Devil May Cry for Xbox 360, and a stuffed Creeper(from Minecraft) doll I had noticed he liked at the mall. The Creeper has now taken up residence on top of our TV, haha. He was definitely thrilled.
   

 All of my gifts.

Just look how awesome the gamepad is! XD

      While we still have to exchange gifts with the boyfriend's Mom yet, I'd say we lucked out on gifts this year for sure! My only complaint really was that I had to wait til late Thursday night to finally get to play Wind Waker. The Nintendo servers were so busy that I couldn't get the game to download. I have been enjoying it since though, including a decent part of last night and most of today. I finally took a break to make dinner, and after we decided to play co-op Lego Marvel which has been fun so far. Had to stop for a bit though so I could catch up on here. ;)
      I hope that everyone has been enjoying whatever they may have gotten for the holidays, and that you didn't have too many returns/exchanges to do this weekend! Just remember, over everything else it's still the thought that counts. See you back here later!

Christmas of Course! pt. 1

      After my whole one day off(gotta love being in retail) I had quite the busy day! I hope everyone had a very merry Christmas yesterday, or have/will be enjoying whatever holiday you may celebrate! Time for a recap. After getting off work Christmas Eve, the boyfriend and I went to my parents as is becoming our tradition. Christmas day and eve has always had a special place in my family's heart because Christmas Eve was my Grandpa Wood's birthday. Of course there was plenty of cooking and eating all around! My Mom and I made lots of delicious appetizers and sides while my Dad deep fried the turkey and Mom kept sending the boyfriend to check on him, ha. The couple things that I made by myself were Jalapeno Popper Bites, and fruit pizza for dessert. Dad and my boyfriend don't really like things too spicy, so for half of the poppers I switched out the jalapeno for a small piece of colby cheese but you could use whatever you have in the fridge. You could taste the jalapeno, but they weren't too spicy, just flavorful. The cheese ones tasted pretty good too. ;)

I marked the ones with jalapeno with x's to tell them apart.

      Fruit pizza has kind of become my 'thing' for gatherings funnily enough. I started making them when I was in high school after finding a 'Fruit Fish' in my Mom's Taste of Home and have been making it ever since! Fruit pizza is simple, and tasty for all ages. I wanted to make mine feel more festive, so I used only green and red fruits, but you can use whatever combination you like! Here's what I used to make one in a 9x13" baking pan:

• 2 tubes of sugar cookie dough (or your favorite sugar cookie recipe)
• 2 8 oz. packages cream cheese
• 1/2 C granulated sugar
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 container strawberries
• 1/2 container red raspberries
• 4 kiwis
• handful of pomegranate(Mom had some extra in the fridge so I decided to add some!)

1. Spread the sugar cookie dough evenly in the pan and bake according to the package directions. When done, cool completely.
2. While the cookie is cooling, beat together the cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla until smooth and creamy.
3. Once the cookie is completely cool evenly spread on the cream cheese mixture. 
4. Wash and slice up all fruit and place on top of pizza any way you would like!

Making different designs/patterns with the fruit is always my favorite part!

      I almost forgot, but my Mom also made a rum punch that we all enjoyed. Think I may have to get the recipe from her for New Year's Eve. ;)

      This is it for the food, but I will be making a separate post with what I got for Christmas soon! Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday filled with lots of good times and good eats. See you back here later!