The Christmas Season

Dan and I are trying to soak up this Christmas season, especially since it will be our very last without kids in our lives. While we are both so stoked to welcome our little man into the world this coming February, I for one am a little sad that it will no longer be just the two of us. Dan and I have had an amazing last 2.5 years, and I can't imagine having had a baby any sooner than we are. I look at some people I know, who got married and had babies immediately, and I'm so glad that that worked for them. But I'm also glad for the amazing time Dan and I have had to ourselves; getting to know each other, making tons of fun memories, and enjoying our time as newlyweds. I always feel the bittersweet twinge of any change, and this is no different. I am so excited to meet this little guy, I know life will be wonderful as a family of three!!! But I can't help but cling to these last few months of just Dan and I. 

In order to make sure we don't miss out on important events, things we really want to do, or fun get-togethers, we made a list of the Christmas activities (including movies) that we don't want to miss out on this holiday season! Our list consisted of roughly 25 things, so we have been trying to do one a night, so they will all be accomplished by the time Christmas rolls around. 

Of course the very first thing on the list was to decorate our house for Christmas! We got our tree up, and I absolutely love it!! We always string our own popcorn and make homemade paper chains. The first year we were married we did it because we didn't have any decorations and barely any money to buy some. We are pretty much still in that same situation two years later, but honestly I think we will have popcorn strands and paper garland on our Christmas tree forever. I love how homey it makes our house feel. We did finally buy some glass balls and a star for our tree this year!! We both love this spindly, Charlie Brown, one-of-a-kind tree! 

Another fun thing we have done, (and I think we have done this every single holiday season since we very first met in 2011) is go to the Riverwoods to walk around and enjoy the lights. 

We always stop at Blickenstaff's anytime we go to the Riverwoods. We are both just like big kids, and that store is so fun and they have so many cool toys!! Here Dan is playing with magnetic sand! It is the texture of sand, without the mess of it. It's feels grainy, but its kind of like play-dough. It was pretty neat!

Here I am sporting my 30 week baby bump! I can't believe we are 3/4 of the way through this pregnancy already! It really feels like yesterday we saw that second line on the pregnancy test and knew we were going to be parents!

Then tonight for date night we made gingerbread houses, or graham-shacks as we called them. I think we both realized it was a first for both of us, and we had lots of fun!! It took some patience, getting the graham crackers to stand up and be a solid base for the candy, but I think the end products turned out really great!!

just getting started!

We also watched The Santa Clause while we made them. It was so good, and I'm pretty sure between the two of us, Dan and I could quote the entire movie!

Here is Dan's final product! It had some intense structural thought behind it. You can't tell from the picture, but the inside has some structural support and extra graham crackers to hold the whole thing up! I love my engineer of a husband :)

And here is mine! I think it turned out pretty well, although my icing skills definitely need some help!

We have had lots of fun celebrating the holidays so far, and I'm sure the fun will only continue!! We both love the Christmas season, so I'm sure the next few posts will cover even more of our Christmas activities!