Hello again! I was pretty excited to create a post full of fun and festive photos from the holidays, but a series of unfortunate events left our "happy holidays" slightly less than cheery. I almost abandoned this post completely, but even unfortunate moments are memories and maybe we'll get to laugh at these ones in the future. The far future. This is how the events of our holiday season unraveled.

1. We got a pretty unexpected negative reaction when we made the decision to spend Christmas as a family in our own home instead of travelling to see family like we've done in the past. (Mind you, we live in a separate state and it is always us traveling several hundred miles with a toddler and five year old rather than anyone coming to see us).


2. A few days before Christmas I got a call from my midwife saying that my last test showed a little bacteria, but she couldn't tell if I had an infection so I had to take antibiotics for the next week just in case. Ugh, my pill count just went up from four to six per day.


3. On Christmas Eve, Liana fell on the hardwood floor and her top front teeth went through her bottom lip, leaving her gums purple and bruised, an open wound on the inside of her mouth, a fat lip, and a WHOLE LOT of blood and tears.


4. On Christmas Day, Abel had a crying fit because he didn't want to come visit us for the weekend. He was extremely over tired and super grumpy until he finally fell asleep in the car.





5. On New Year's Eve while visiting friends, Liana tried cranberry juice for the first time. She loved it! Then she vomited several times.


6. Also on New Year's Eve at our friend's house, Liana got her head stuck in between the stair railings. This unleashed a lot of screaming, stomping, and many tears. Within minutes of being freed (Ashton and Chris practically had to pull iron bars a part), a giant egg appeared on the right side of her head above her ear because she panicked and was pulling so hard.


7. On New Year's Day, Liana and I were sick all day. I spent half of the day in bed sleeping. Liana wanted to fight it so she spent the day on and off napping while Ashton dealt with the whiny inconsolable toddler tantrums.


8. On the second day of the new year, it was Ashton’s turn. He spent the entire day in bed after spending most of the previous night sleepless and vomiting. Apparently Liana had passed on her misfortune.


9. To top it all off, Liana has been a bit crankier than normal anyway because, oh guess what, she's teething again! Can she fit any more teeth in her mouth? Well her back molars on the bottom are almost all the way through now. She just has the top two left and teething will finally be over!

Many bloggers participate in a fun little challenge called "blogmas", which means we blog every single day in December. I did not participate last year, as my blog was only three months old, and I am not sure if I will have the time to do so this year. I am already beating myself up about how infrequently I am able to post, however, I am going to take on the challenge anyway and see how far I get.

For my first December post, I decided to make it a bit Christmasy, as well as do a little bit of self promotion. I've been scouring pinterest any time I get a free moment and have been pinning fun Christmasy things like crazy. I am feeling very festive a little early this year since it is Liana's first Christmas and I want it to be a memorable one. I thought I'd share a few pinterest inspired ideas with you all. (Also, be sure to follow me on pinterest for more holiday updates!)



1. Stocking stuffers for babies. This was an automatic re-pin for sure. Click through for fifteen great ideas for what to put in a baby's stocking. (Liana will be getting a few of these!)

2. Christmas crafts for baby. How cute are these? I'd love to do this to keep as a memory of Liana's first Christmas, as well as make a few to give to close family.


3. Unique gift wrapping. These are shown as packaging for cookies, but I think they'd make decent packaging for small children's toys as well since kids have small hands to reach to the bottom and they would probably enjoy shaking it before unwrapping to guess what it is!


4. Handmade ornaments. This is such a cute idea for a Christmas tree ornament. I would think of Liana's "birth day" every time I looked at it. I think it would also be cute to make one each year with new memories in each one. Maybe as the child gets older, let them choose what they want in their "memory ornament".


5. Photographs of the Christmas season. Being a Mum and being a blogger means there is not one single moment that I would want to miss. Here are just a few ideas on ways to capture your Christmas. I've pinned a few other posts as well.


6. Holiday themed treats. This pin has 31 super simple ideas to satisfy your craving for Christmasy snacking. In case you're wondering, no these are not vegan treats, although if I were to make any of them I would substitute ingredients to make them vegan.


7. Family traditions. Creating family traditions is something that is really important to me. My favorite part about Christmas as a kid was when we all opened up one present on Christmas Eve and it was always new pajamas! (Another tradition that my sisters and I created was waking up, scrambling to the living room, emptying out our stockings and then stuffing everything back in before waking our Mom). I'd love to start a tradition like the one pictured above: wrapping 25 children's books and opening one each day in December to read to the kids before bed.

I will definitely be thinking up and pinning more ideas the closer we get to Christmas. Let's hope I put some of these thoughts into action! Check out more ideas on my Christmas board:



What traditions does your family share? What is your favorite holiday treat? What activities do you do with your kids during the holiday season?

Work Christmas party.

For the dinner they had place cards for people with special diets, and I was so excited they had a special meal prepared just for us! (And it was delicious!) I ended up having a good time and felt bad that we had to leave early because Ashton had to work at his second job later that night. We got to take our champagne glasses home and I got a mini white rose in mine from my sweetie.♥

Baking fun.

Among the several treats I conjured up, were these scrumptious pistachio-cherry-chocolate cookies. I took a picture of the magazine article I used for inspiration and then my finished product. Not to brag, but I think mine turned out better looking than the magazine photo! Other treats included chocolate peanut butter oatmeal bars, pumpkin cheesecake bars, gingerbread brownies, & marshmallow-pretzel-peanut clusters. I altered all of the recipes to be vegan and I'm pretty sure no one could tell the difference, as they were a huge hit with everyone!

Family time.

Ashton and I went to my mom's later on and spent the night there. I hadn't spent the night before Christmas at my mom's in a while, so it was really nice. I loved waking up on Christmas morning to a warm and cozy house.


I had a really wonderful time at my mom's (as usual!). Both of my sisters came over as well as Devon, Aaron, and my mom's boyfriend Pete. It was so nice to have all of us together at once. We had a super yummy early dinner, played a trivia game that we were all terrible at, and then exchanged gifts!



Mom presented Ashton and I with our very first family ornament for the Christmas tree. It was so sweet, I only wished we were living together at that point and had a tree to hang it on. It will definitely be admired on our tree next year though!




Deasha and Devon picked out these cute onesies for their neice. How stylish will she be!








Mom and Pete spoiled their granddaughter with her first set of books! Mom says they are for Ashton to read to my belly since baby can hear us talking to her now. ♥







Look at this sweet little fleece hat! It is so adorable and I am imagining it to be super warm. I love this so much.






As a tradition, on Christmas night we all ventured to my Aunt's house for our huge family Christmas party. Ashton and I had to leave a bit earlier than we would have liked because we both had to work early the following morning and we still had a 2 1/2 hour car ride ahead of us. :(

Other baby-related gifts that we received this Christmas include this cute set of baby washcloths from Ashton's sister, and these comfy little booties from my roommate. So precious!


This year was one of my favorite Christmases. I enjoyed every minute of being able to see my family since I live in a different state from them all. I am definitely looking forward to next year when baby will be here and get to experience it as well. She is going to love her new family and I have a feeling she is going to be spoiled a bit!

I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and was able to spend time with family throughout the holidays. Warm wishes to you all. ♥