A Day Late

And a dollar short?  I think I can still say "Merry Christmas" on December 26th.  Drew and I both had a wonderfully busy Christmas day filled with lots of paper-tearin', food eatin', and family gatherin'.  Sorry, didn't mean to go all country-twang on you there.

The Christmas festivities started for Drew Babe and I at my parents house with a relaxing and tasty Christmas eve dinner.

My way cool sister (Kara) and I have an annual December 24th tradition of taking a picture together by the dining room table.

My mom always has the most beautiful table settings.  This year my mom went with a winter white and sparkly silver theme.  In the center she mixed various vases/trees/candle holders, all made of mercury glass, with fresh evergreen and holly tree greenery.  The mercury glass adds a lovely vintage-y glow to the setting.  Another Christmas eve dinner treat is the opportunity to be able to use my mom's festive Cuthbertson Christmas china.

The yearly family picture by the tree (really the only thing you see of the tree is on top of Connor's head, the star, ha).  Drew Babe got to be a part of our family photo this year too!

Our first Christmas photo at our house.

We successfully stuffed and hid each other's stockings so each of us were surprised with all of the little trinkets that filled them.

Ok, let me explain this....Drew Babe had stuck all of these pictures in my stocking and had me open them up one by one.  He used these to slowly give me a hint of a surprise trip that he had planned.  Can you figure it out?

How about now?

This should give it away.  Come on, New York Jets?
Yep, that's right, Drew Babe planned a trip to the marvelous city of NYC!  It has always been a dream of mine to visit the Big Apple someday and now I can't wait to go with my Drew Babe.  So excited!

My super cute little sis.

Christmas evening paper tearin' back at my parents house.

Just a few more details to help fill in the gaps:  We had Christmas Eve dinner at my parents and then headed to our church for the candlelight service.  Drew's parents met us there and afterwards, joined us back at my parents house for Christmas Eve hors d'oevures and cookies.  Drew Babe and I spent early Christmas morning opening our overstuffed stockings.  After stockings, we headed out to Drew Babe's parent's house for the famous breakfast casserole, made by Drew's mom, and a fun family paper tearin'.  After a quick nap and shower we made our way back to my parents for the final gift opening of the day.  It was truly a fun-filled day and we both feel so blessed to have much of our family nearby to celebrate with.

Perfect 1st Christmas as Mr. and Mrs. :)

First....

Our first Christmas.  Our first house.  Our first post.  All on our first blog!  

I really can't believe that December 25th is just two short days away.  For Drew Babe and I, this Christmas is our first together as a married couple.  Picking out our first real tree, finding the perfect tree topper, and decorating our cozy little home has been so fun for both of us.  Definitely looking forward to celebrating our Savior's birth together as Mr. and Mrs.

Our festive living room during the day......

We don't have our "stockings hung on the chimney with care" simply because we don't have a chimney, but Drew Babe thought of the perfect place to hang them.  We bought plain oil rubbed bronze stocking holders from Walmart for super cheap, and hung the stockings on our fairly new Ikea shelf. We wanted a simple decoration on the top of our "mantle."  Leftover pillar candles from our wedding and greenery from the Christmas tree lot came in handy for that.
BTW: Yes, the pictures in the frames surrounding the wall shelf are the same pictures that came in the frames when we brought them home from the store, simply because we haven't had the chance to fill them with our own personal pictures/artwork...progress :)

Our first married couple ornament :)

Right now we don't have room for the entire set, so this is only about 1/3 of my Christmas in the City village, given to me by my grandma.  

Drew Babe's mom gave me a bow making tool that is supposed make creating wreath and pew bows super easy. ha!  Well, after reading the directions at least ten times, intensely studying the diagrams, and even articulately reading the directions out loud to myself (thankfully Drew Babe wasn't home to hear that), I finally made my bow.  It's not as full as it could be because I 'm a cheapo and bought three yards of Dollar Tree ribbon instead of the six yards of specialty ribbon the directions called for, and I even used a pipe cleaner (yes, you got it, leftover from wedding stuff) because I didn't have any floral wire.  For $1, I think it turned out ok.

Our own little family heirloom; used to be Drew Babe's grandmothers tree. 

.....And here's our living room at night.

For a simple decoration, I filled a decorative bowl we already had on our coffee table with ornament balls.

The D and K are actually jingle bell ornaments that I just hung on the stocking hook.  

Here is our little home from the outside.  We kept it simple this year with candles in the windows and our Christmas wreath on the door.  Drew Babe wants to do lights on the porch or roof next year.

I was SO excited when we got to build our very first gingerbread house together!  We actually received this kit at a Christmas party gift exchange.  Hopefully this can be a  Martin House tradition every Christmas season.

Drew Babe, who is much more of an artist and perfectionist than I am, put the cute icicles all around the roof.

When FedEx delivered this package from Memphis, TN, I was literally jumping up and down.  If you know Memphis, then you know good BBQ, especially from Corky's.  For part of our Christmas gift, my Aunt and Uncle sent us ribs, pulled pork, and sauce from the best Memphis BBQ, Corky's.  Definitely can't wait to have a yummy BBQ dinner soon.

Now that we are a married couple, Drew Babe and I are beginning many new Martin traditions, as well as sharing many of our families' traditions.  We decided this year that Santa and his elves we are going to fill each other's stockings and open them together on Christmas morning.  We are still trying to figure out the logistics of filling each of the stockings on Christmas Eve without letting the other person see the stocking gifts.  Everything going into the stocking is a surprise and unwrapped.  We'll figure it out :)