Post-Christmas

Well, here we are, folks. Christmas is behind us, and New Year's is just around the corner! We hope you and your loved ones had a very blessed and special Christmas, and are as excited as we are about the New Year!

Our Christmas was a little different this year. Of course, it was our first Christmas as a married couple, which was fun and exciting! Then, with Harris getting his promotion, and since they wouldn't have hired his replacement before the end of the year, he agreed to work a few days in his old job. Two of those days were Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Now, it ended up not being a big deal at all - he ended up not really even having to work at all on Christmas Day, but it did mean we were tied to staying in Norfolk. We were very excited about getting to spend this holiday together, and, while we would have loved to see all of our extended family, it was also fun to start some of our own traditions this year.

Santa had left an early present under our tree withe instructions that it should be opened on Christmas Eve. Inside, we found new pajamas for the family, hot chocolate and mugs, a box of popcorn, and copies of Elf and It's A Wonderful Life! You may have seen on the Christmas post, or on Instagram, for that matter, but, Lucy was not a fan of pajamas! She will wear a sweater or what have you, but I think the PJs on her legs was just too much for her. She was pitiful, but adorable.

Cookies were baked on Christmas Eve from the cake mix cookies recipe, and, after our traditional Thai takeout for Christmas Eve (fa-ra-ra-ra-ra, anyone?), we settled in with some eggnog and cookies to watch It's A Wonderful Life. Oh, that Jimmy Stewart. Just simply one of the best movies ever.

Christmas morning started off bright and early around here! Harris & Lucy were up at 3am (I woke up, and then proceeded to doze in and out of consciousness for another hour or so). We made some cinnamon rolls, turned on the tunes, and then set about the business of opening presents! Lucy was very helpful in the opening of all presents and stockings, not just her own. We got some really great stuff, including almost everything on each of our wish lists (Harris, Courtney, Lucy)! Harris said his favorite gift was the gift set from the Art of Shaving that I gave him, Lucy's was clearly the blue bone-like toy with taggies that was on her wish list, and mine was a Pandora bracelet from Harris!

Harris did such a great job of giving me a meaningful and special Christmas present (FYI - he is the best gift giver in the family). The charms he chose for my bracelet were: a flip flop (to represent our first date at the beach), a puppy (for our first child), a hot air balloon (for our engagement), and, for our wedding, a passport and a red pave heart. I loved it! (and cried, of course).

We made it til 10am before the Champagne was popped, and then it poured freely until lunchtime (when the wine was opened!).

Later in the day, when catching up with my friend Michelle about Christmas and her kids, I got the following text (just a bit of humor for any of my coworkers who read this blog):

We spent the remainder of the day eating, napping, talking to family via FaceTime, and so forth. Overall, it was such a wonderful day, and we created lots of fun family memories. The rest of this week, Harris will be working, and Lucy and I will be alternating between working hard (around the house), and hardly working (also around the house). It will probably be much more of the latter, but, shhh...don't tell!

Christmas Wish List 2013: Harris Edition

Rounding out the family wish lists today with my sweet husband's list for 2013. There are a couple really good things on here that I think would be good for any of the fellas in y'all's lives, so take note if you have any last minute shopping to do!

01 / 02 / 03 / 04 / 05 / 06

01: We love North Faces around here, and, in the wintertime, at least, Harris usually wears one for his daily walks to and from work. We have had the same half dozen or so for several years, so it would be nice to get him a couple updated ones this Christmas!

02: Walking to and from work every day (as referenced above!), Harris definitely gets in lots of steps. This little wristband tracks your daily steps, stairs climbed, calories burned, distance traveled, and active minutes. At night, it tracks your sleep and even has an alarm to wake you up in the morning! He will definitely enjoy tracking all of this stuff.

03: We have a new Art of Shaving store in the mall, and recently went in to get a demo of how their stuff works. It's actually all pretty cool, and has a classic feel. Harris was given some samples, and thought the products were pretty awesome. Being in corporate America and having to have the clean shave definitely makes this worthwhile for him. The kit includes a bottle of their pre-shave oil (which Harris swears is what makes this shave so nice), a huge jar of their shaving cream, brush, and after-shave balm. There are four different scents to choose from, and they all smell really nice!

04 & 05: With the new promotion, I definitely wanted to celebrate a little and also update Harris' wardrobe a bit. He is pretty classic in style, especially when it comes to work, and virtually everything (okay, no just everything) in his work wardrobe is from Land's End. He loves their dress shirts and dress pants (and, well, really pretty much all of their stuff) the most. These supima shirts are incredibly soft, and he always looks really sharp, so anything new in this department would be a great Christmas gift for him!

06: This is actually something that I recently picked up on a whim in Bath & Body Works. I was in there updating my travel size stuff, and they had a sale on men's products as well. I really liked the way the CO Bigelow Elixir Blue smelled, so thought, why not! He has been rotating it with his Bleu de Chanel, and I have been pleasantly surprised at how good this smells! The scent also seems to last a lot longer than other colognes (sorry, Chanel) - he can put it on in the morning, and sometimes I can still smell it on him when we get in bed at night!

So, there you have it - the Ligon Family Christmas Wish Lists! I can't believe Christmas is in 7 days!!!