Another overdue Christmas post (sorry not sorry)

After our quiet Christmas morning at home we headed to my parents house where in true Hobbit fashion, we ate second breakfast, opened stockings and then more presents! One of my very favorite gifts was an illustrated version of the first Harry Potter book! Gah!

Then we went out to my Aunt and Uncle's farm for lunch and Aiden got spoiled with more presents and he got to ride on a horse! More on that later because let's face it, I took enough pictures of Aiden on that horse to fill an entire post.

Then it was off to Drew's  Mom's house for Christmas round 4. We ate a delicious Christmas dinner then opened presents in our matching jammies and tried our best not to fall asleep face first in our dessert. I can't get over how amazing Aiden did all day (sans naps). He is quiet the party animal.

We are so blessed to have had such a full Christmas day. A day full of sweet family, full of good food, full of thoughtful gifts, full of love.

Take me back to Christmas Morning

I can't let another day go by without beginning the recap of our Christmas! Just pretend it's still December, oh and still 2015. We had such a wonderful Christmas day, extremely busy, but wonderful.

I like for Aiden, Drew and I to have our morning at home just us. It's such a sweet way to start the day. We read the story of Jesus birth snuggled in bed together, cooked a big breakfast including the best french toast ever, let Aiden "open" his stocking and then it was time for presents. Just wait until you see what we got Aiden. Let's just say it's the gift that keeps on giving.

Here's a look at our Christmas morning, just the three of us...

Thomas the Train Powerwheel for the WIN!!!

After we managed to get Aiden away from Thomas for five seconds, it was nap time then off to my parent's house...

{Festive} Friday Frames {Out & About}

My life is so jam packed right now and while I'm loving all of the festive hustle and bustle, I don't want to miss capturing some of my favorite moments here on the blog so I'm starting something new. Meet Friday Frames, where I'll be sharing some of my favorite pictures or "frames" from the week (or weeks) past.

Here are some of my favorite festive frames from the last few weeks including Aiden meeting Santa (he's not a fan), Christmas at the zoo, my holiday work party at the Bengals Stadium, shopping and more.

Tonight Drew and I are heading out on a holiday date and I couldn't be more excited!

Baby's 1st Christmas

This Christmas was a whirlwind. Does anyone else feel like the day just flew by at lightning speed? I feel like I blinked and the day was half over! Despite that it went wayyyy too fast, Aiden had a very sweet first Christmas.

He attended his first candlelit Christmas eve service, watched Mickey's Christmas with Drew and I as we ate our traditional Christmas breakfast and slept through the night Christmas eve. Merry Christmas Mom and Dad! Even though he slept through the opening of his stocking and most of his presents he was such a little trooper and even endured us making him wear suspenders and a bow tie for a few pictures. Here is our day in pictures starting with a few Christmas eve pictures because they were too cute not to share...

We started off Christmas day with what I hope becomes a yearly Christmas morning tradition...Drew reading the story of Jesus birth to us aloud in bed. My Aunt and Uncle gave us this book for Aiden and wrote a sweet message inside. It's the little things...

Then there were still presents to be wrapped and food to prepare so in the Ergo went Aiden and Drew and I got a few things done before we enjoyed my favorite breakfast of the year. After a few hours at home with our family of 3 we headed to my parent's house for more festivities.

My favorite Christmas present from Annabee Jewelry. A necklace with Aiden's name on it!

Next stop, my Aunt and Uncle's farm for a late Christmas lunch and a pretty/ugly ornament exchange. My Aunt and Uncle own a horsemanship school so it's only fitting their gift to Aiden was an authentic rocking horse.

Last stop, Drew's parent's house where we ate Lasagna, opened gifts and played games. We always get Christmas jammies on Christmas Eve so they always make for fun photos. Even Aiden got jammies this year.

And no holiday is complete without a Pioneer Woman recipe. I made her Christmas tortilla roll ups and they were delicious and so easy!

I absolutely loved our first Christmas as a family of 3
and despite Aiden's face in this picture, I think he enjoyed it too.

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday!

Christmas Past vs. Christmas Present {A few of my favorite holiday posts}

This holiday season has been different than any other for Drew and I. Having a newborn around definitely changes some things, but in the best way possible! We love our little guy so much!

2013 vs. 2014

Instead of planning and having our annual Tacky Sweater party, I bought a sweater for Aiden and we got pictures taken with Santa.

Instead of coming up with cute holiday crafts, I am planning to get my baby's footprint in a mold and call that an ornament.

Instead of putting up lights on our house, we drove around and looked at other peoples.

Instead of putting up our big artificial tree, I decorated a ladder. 

Instead of Drew and I going out on a festive holiday date, we spent an evening snuggling on the couch with Aiden watching Elf and eating Peppermint ice cream.

Would I change any of it? Not for the world. I am seeing Christmas in a whole new light this year. I am so thankful to have Aiden around and to see things through his eyes. The twinkling lights, the sound of bells, the love and joy of family.

All these changes have meant that my blog hasn't been very festive this holiday season. I haven't shared many holiday parties, festive crafts or recipes and I miss that. So I decided to share some of my favorite festive posts from Christmases past...

Tips for throwing an awesome tacky sweater party

Christmas card photo book

The perfect Christmas breakfast

Anthropologie Inspired Snow Globes

Ornament Party cups

What festive things have you been creating and doing this holiday season?

Ladder Shelf {Christmas style!}

Last Spring my husband helped me complete yet another project I saw and fell for on Pinterest...a ladder turned into a shelf. It is still one of my favorite projects we have done together. The ladder shelf is in the corner of our dining room and we usually take it down and put up our Christmas tree there, but this year I decided to change things up. I decided to make my ladder a Christmas ladder.

We wrapped the ladder in lights and I put a star on top to make it resemble a Christmas tree. The bottom shelf I covered in a festive fabric and added some of our Christmas decor to. The middle shelf is a hot chocolate bar complete with festive hot chocolates, mugs and straws. And the top shelf is for a few cards that don't fit on my card holder. I haven't had time to do too much this year with a newborn on my hip, but I'm proud of this little bit of festive fun now in the corner of my dining room.

If you want to see a little more of my home at Christmas time you can check out my holiday house tour from last year here!

Linking up with Anne for her holiday Pin to present!

4 Jolly Christmases {and a Partridge in a pear tree}

I decided to compile all of my Christmas pictures from all 4 of our celebrations in one post so prepare yourself for a holly jolly photo explosion...

First stop: Kentucky where we celebrated with my Mom's side of the family. This always involves lots of games, laughing and all the cousins acting like we are five years old again.

My sweet cousin browsed my Pinterest boards to find an idea for me and made me this sweet cork board! I LOVE it!

Our annual cousin stair step picture!

Second stop: Christmas morning at our home. From the beginning of our marriage we knew we wanted to set aside some time just for us on Christmas morning and I love our tradition of making a huge breakfast, opening stockings and watching Mickey's Christmas Carol as we eat.

My husband MADE me these honeycomb shelves as a surprise. SEE THE TUTORIAL HERE!!

Third stop: Christmas with my family always includes amazing stockings and gifts, Sequence, blueberry muffins and great family bonding time.

Final stop: Christmas with Drew's family, which involves an amazing Christmas dinner, games of Heads up in our PJs (get the app on your Iphone immediately!) and more presents.

I feel so blessed to have so many amazing people in my life to share the holidays with. Our last Christmas celebration is tonight then I have a surprise planned for Drew that I can't wait to share with you next week. I can't wait to catch up on all of your holiday adventures. XOXOXO