Beginnings of the holiday season

I got very ambitious on November 30, the day we WERE supposed to come back from Phoenix. Since Tim was at said interview (referenced in the last post, thus the change of our travel plans), I went to work. However, since it was the Monday after Thanksgiving and the puppy was without daycare for the day (leaving her at home for more than 6 hours=bad news), this meant that I was subsequently taking a half day. Lucky for me, the puppy was relatively tired after spending the prior 4 days with our neighbors who have a boxer of their own. And two boxers together? 100% energy, all of the time. A little secret to anyone considering getting a boxer: THEY DON'T EVER STOP (especially when around other dogs ESPECIALLY when it's a puppy).

So, as a result, Monday I had a tired dog. And because of this tired dog, I was able to do what I wanted and not have to entertain her. So, what did I do? Put up our Christmas decorations! All by myself... A little surprise for Timmy when he got home. It wasn't the same because we usually have a Christmas decorating party but I knew that if I didn't take advantage of the time I had that day, it probably wouldn't get done before Christmas considering our work/travel schedules the first few weeks of December. All pictures below are taken with my iphone so, again, not the best quality but oh well.

A picture of the mantle with all stockings for Tim and I plus animals. They are the only kids we've got right now so of course they get personalized stockings! They are our babies. Though the cats are driving me nuts right now but that is an ENTIRELY different post....

A shot of the little decorations I put up outside on our porch.

And a picture of the wreath on our door. I actually made this! I brag about this every year. A few years ago (before I moved to Arizona) my crafty mom showed me how to make awesome bows and wreaths. This was one of the products of that. I still have all of the Christmas bows we made that go around candles, line the stair rails, etc. Of course, I can't remember how to make such awesome bows so I guess I need another training... I guess I didn't do awesome at taking many pictures of the decor but oh well! We elected not to get a tree this year since I was scheduled to be in Alaska for one week and Kansas City for 10 days (leaving me actually in town for about 9 days from the end of November to before Christmas). Tim also was going to be in Kansas City with all of us for 5 days AND we had NO IDEA what the puppy would do with a tree so it all worked out. We were festive enough!

Later that first week of December (that Friday actually-the 4th), I snapped the above shot at about 7am as I was taking Bella out first thing in the morning. We live in a pretty cool area, eh? Later that morning, I met my 8 month pregnant friend for coffee which was such a nice treat/visit (and turns out, 3-4 days later she went into labor and was in labor for, seriously, you are NOT GOING TO BELIEVE HOW LONG- 60, SIXTY, hours!! So she didn't end up having the baby until December 11th which was still 3 weeks early but wow, I keep telling myself she is my hero. Come ON! 60 hours!!! SIXTY?! Are you kidding me?! I guess the point of it all is, though, that at the end result, she has a beautiful daughter). Anyway, so I saw a beautiful sunrise, had coffee with a great friend to catch up (for what turns out to be the last time before baby!), and then that night Tim and I had dinner at our favorite Mexican joint in town. We met up with 2 other couples at the same place for drinks after dinner prior to going to my company's holiday party.

It was a great day, a great week, filled with the beginnings of holiday festivities, friends, great weather, and happiness.