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 :)