Our Christmas

Another favorite holiday come and gone in a whirlwind!  I hope you all had the most amazing Christmas weekend!

We kicked off Christmas Eve morning with a puking 3.5 year old, who spent the rest of the day telling us, in the most pathetic voice ever, that he "couldn't be sick on Christmas"!  Thanks to lots of R&R, he was able to rally, and seemed to be feeling much better that evening, and 100% better by Christmas morning... leaving us all feeling glad that our plans to celebrate with family aren't until later this week, because the only thing worse than a sick kid, is traveling with one!

Sticking to tradition, we enjoyed appetizers and Christmas movies in comfy pajamas on Christmas Eve... sans fire this year, since it has been so darn hot... and M&E went to bed early enough for Mike and I to get everything together before settling down for our yearly viewing of Miracle on 34th Street.

We awoke Christmas morning and took things nice and slow, dragging out gift opening over the course of an hour or 2, because, since we had no real agenda, I thought it would be fun to actually enjoy the process, rather than rushing right through it!

We brunched, we played, and we lounged some more...

It was so much fun to watch Ella and Max play together and enjoy all of their new gifts from Santa!

Yesterday, we had the CRAZY idea to hop on train, and head to New York City, with our 2 little ones in tow.  I had always wanted to see Rockafeller Center at Christmas time, and although it was a bit chaotic and stressful at times, trying to maneuver through hundreds and thousands of people while pushing a stroller, I'm still thankful that I got the chance to check that experience off of my bucket list.

Now it's on to cleaning, organizing, and packing for a trip back to Pittsburgh to celebrate some more before we jump into a new year full of BIG, exciting things.

Have a great week!

Christmas Week

Despite the fact that we are not going to be traveling until after the holiday, this week hasn't seemed to be any less chaotic.

There have been several last minute Target trips, our Amazon Prime membership has been put to good use (Thank the Lord for free 2 day shipping!), and the dreaded BIG trip to the grocery store has been made... though there is no doubt in my mind, that something was forgotten, and we will be heading back again.

I've been spending the last couple of days scheming and gift wrapping, and scheming some more, with the hopes that everything will be perfectly in place on Christmas morning.

It's going to be very quiet and low key around here for us this year... It'll be just the four (and a half) of us for both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day... before we head out to see our family and friends back in Pittsburgh a few days later for the New Year.

I always like to try to stick with tradition though, so we'll be getting all dressed up for an early mass at church on Christmas Eve, and then we'll head back home for some apps and drinks (sparkling cider for me!) in front of the fire until the kids go to bed, when Mike and I get to play Mr and Mrs Claus and set out gifts/stuff stockings.  Then as we do every year, we will watch Miracle on 34th Street together until we can no longer keep our eyes open.

I'm sticking to a simple appetizer-style menu this year... brie, raspberry jam, and pecans in little phyllo cups, meatballs simmered in the slow cooker with cranberry sauce and chili sauce, arancini balls served with marinara, and of course this peppermint dip for a little something sweet!

For breakfast on Christmas morning, I ALWAYS make homemade cinnamon rolls, but I promised my husband I would make this Croque Madame casserole, so bring on the food coma!

Dinner will star these mini beef wellingtons, along with a side of these amazing brussel sprouts.

I'm totally looking forward to a lazy day in pajamas, watching Christmas movies, and playing with all of M&E's new toys... and then minus the road trip with 2 kids part, we can't wait to head home for some good festive times in Pennsylvania.

I hope you're all able to relax a bit and enjoy the holidays... they always go by too fast!  Merry Christmas!

Swoon Worthy

Eek, Christmas is less than a week away... how is that even possible???  I swear the month of December goes by quicker and quicker every year.

This next week is sure to be full of lots of last minute gift buying, menu planning, and running around.

As you can probably imagine, with the holidays weighing this heavily on my mind, much of this week's Swoon Worthy post is about all things Christmas.

So let's get down to it.  Here's what I'm loving lately...

1.  I swear that as soon as the New Year hits, I'm cleaning up my act, but for now, this dip needs to happen!

2.  So... I picked up one of these blankets the other day, and it the softest, coziest, most amazing thing I've ever snuggled up with.

3.  Friends who knit, are you looking for a great last minute, handmade gift idea?  This scarf pattern is definitely swoon worthy.

4.  I'm not sure if any of you have caught on to this yet, but I seem to be posting a lot of links lately for pajamas and lounge pants.  Well, I wouldn't want to let you down this week, so I'm sticking with the theme.  These are a new favorite, and they're currently on sale!

5.  Looking for a festive Christmas cocktail?  In my opinion, you can never go wrong with a good mimosa.

6.  Maybe it's the iced coffee lover in me, but I think these little ornaments are the cutest.

7.  I wouldn't be mad if Santa left these under the tree for me!

8.  I've kind of made it a tradition to make homemade cinnamon rolls for breakfast on Christmas morning, but this super simple recipe has me totally intrigued.

9.  I'm not sure if winter is ever going to arrive here in NY, but just in case, I want to be prepared with these adorable mittens.

10.  In need of some gift wrapping inspiration?  My girl Martha never lets me down!

Enjoy the weekend!

Holiday Home Tour

Nothing makes me happier than when our house is decorated for the holidays.  "Kozy" nights spent watching Christmas movies next to a brightly lit tree are pretty much my favorite thing ever.

I can, by no stretch of the imagination, call myself a home blogger, but I wanted to share some photos from around our house while it is all decorated for Christmas anyway!

I'm sure that none of you will be shocked to hear that I couldn't get enough of Target's holiday collection this year, so you'll definitely find pieces from it sprinkled in with our traditional decor.

Christmas is all about traditions for me, and I love mixing new with old.  Our tree is covered in ornaments from both mine and my husband's childhood, as well as new ones that we have been collecting since we have been together.  I make it a point to buy each of my kids a new ornament every year, so that when they are grown they will have a collection of their own to start out with.

It has always been a dream of mine to have a really tall tree, and this year's is by far our favorite tree to date thanks to higher ceilings in our new home.

Max and Ella each have a mini tree of their own in their rooms, and we decorated a small tree with colored lights and bright and whimsical ornaments for their playroom.

I honestly wish that we could keep our house decorated like this all year long!

Seeing Santa

This past weekend, we took M&E to see Santa.

In an effort to avoid the chaos that is the mall this time of year, we opted for a different approach, and went to see the big guy in his sweet little cottage, downtown.

Max was pumped about getting to meet St. Nick, and thrilled at the opportunity to talk to him.  Ella seemed to be too... Every time we asked her if she wanted to see Santa, she replied with a "ho ho ho", and then burst into giggles.  I was weary though, I just had a feeling that when it came time to sit on his lap, a meltdown would almost definitely occur.

Call it mother's intuition, but I was right on...

This Santa was a little quirky, but he really took his time talking to each child, and I was totally entertained while Max listed off the 100 things that he wanted for Christmas, told him how old his sister was, and then announced to him what we had bought for his daddy for presents the day before... right in front of Mike.

The second it was Ella's turn to climb into his lap, she wanted NOTHING to do with him... these photos are the proof.  She couldn't get out of there fast enough.

As soon as she was safely back in her stroller she was all smiles again, as both her and Max went to town on candy canes.

Memory making at its finest!

Holiday Gift Guide for Littles

ONE//TWO//THREE

FOUR//FIVE//SIX

SEVEN//EIGHT//NINE//TEN

I've been in the holiday spirit for a bit longer now than I should probably admit.  This time of year just makes me so, so happy.

I'm trying to be proactive this year, and have already started my shopping, with the hope that I am not completely overwhelmed a week before the big day, though let's be honest, I most likely will be anyways!

I love putting together these super fun gift guides, so keep a look out for a bunch of others in the near future (Handmade favorites, for him, for her, etc.), but in the meantime, I thought I'd share some of our already-owned favorites, as well as some of the items that will be under our tree this year.

What are some of your favorite items for little ones?  I'm always on the lookout for new ideas.

Our Christmas

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I've been a bit absent this week. I took a little vacation from the blogging world, if you will.

As much as I love using this space to share photos, and ideas, and to talk about all of the items that we love, in addition to about a million and one other  random things... Sometimes it's nice to just unplug.

The holiday season has flown by at a pace that I wasn't even remotely prepared for this year.  Add to that the unexpected circumstances that life likes to throw your way, and unfortunately, Christmas day came and went with me feeling a bit like I didn't accomplish everything on my to-do list.  Such is life I guess.

Christmas was still as magical as I had hoped.  Sharing it with my little family filled my heart with happiness.  Watching Max open gifts and then insist on playing with those gifts rather than opening the rest was exactly what I expected.  Seeing Ella wave wrapping paper all around with a drooly grin on her face was pure perfection. Forcing myself to allow my house to look like a toy tornado tore through it while my kids enjoyed their new toys over the last couple of days, all while we all stayed in our pajamas for far too long, was exactly what the doctor ordered.

So instead of my usual Saturday Swoon Worthy post, I am sharing some photos from our Christmas.  I will definitely be resuming my regular blogging schedule next week, but for now, I'm going to try to slow it down a little, at least for a few days.  I hope you all had the most wonderful holiday, and as always, I can't thank you enough for taking the time to follow along and read my incessant rambling.  I'm so excited to continue to share with you in 2015.
-Jessica