Colin's Christmas Thank You

Another Christmas has come and gone, and once again, it was full of everything I love...topping the list being time spent with family and friends. It always amazes me how many gatherings we can pack in to only a few weeks, however am so thankful that we have so many wonderful people to celebrate with. Our stomachs are full (at least now that Jason and I are over the flu...ugh), some wonderful presents have been given and received and my new Christmas card clothes pin wreath (seen here) is overflowing with the faces of those who we are fortunate enough to know and love.

Colin was, not surprisingly, thoroughly spoiled this Christmas by our friends and family and he is loving his new toys. I, am loving his new clothes as well as some very special gifts that were under the tree just for me this year. It was pretty neat to watch him open each and every gift - equally excited and wanting to play with each one immediately. I can only imagine just how much more fun next year with him will be once he understands a little more and can really get into the Christmas spirit.

We are so grateful for all the amazingness that this year brought and if nothing else, want all our family and friends to know just how much we, and Colin appreciate every single one of them. Colin truly loves you all and therefore, sends his love and his thanks in his own, baby sign language way...

One, Two, Three.

Today, is Jason and my three year wedding anniversary. I know people say this all the time, and that I will probably be saying this after our 20th, 30th and 40th, but the past 3 years have flown by.

Jason and I met in the spring of 2007 and very quickly decided that we would spend our lives together. The timing of our meeting, I truly believe, was planned from the start. We had many opportunities where we could have met earlier, being that we have many mutual friends, however for one reason or another, it wasn't until a friends 30th birthday that our paths finally crossed. A few days after the party, came an invitation from Jason for a drink, which would now go down as our first official date. From that day, it took about 2 weeks for me to fall in love with him. It took about 2 weeks after that to decide that this was it for me. To be completely honest, I would have married him right then and there, 4 weeks after our first meeting. Instead we waited a little while, but not too long before sealing the deal and making our promises to each other in front of all our friends and family.

Timing has always had a way with us. The paths we took leading up to that first meeting took us many places, however I ultimately believe that they were all preparing us for each other. This year, for our anniversary, I decided to get Jason (and us, really), a bus roll graphic design piece highlighting the paths that our lives have taken which have ultimately led us here - to Clarence Rd. A local artist and graphic designer that I have really grown quite fond of, came up with the idea and sells them here. I sent her the list of places - streets, apartments, etc and she came up with this...


I am truly in love with it. I love the way it looks, especially in the spot we chose in our home, however even more so, I love what it represents. I love that we can look back and remember all the experiences we had individually, before we met and joined forces. I also love that although Clarence Rd is our squatting ground for now, something inside tells me that we won't be here forever and because of that, I am so excited to see what we can one day add to this list. At the end of the day, it just makes my heart happy to know that from Clarence Rd on, all the places we live will be together - and all the memories and experiences of this life of ours will be shared with my love and all the little loves that we are lucky enough to welcome into our family.

It has been a wonderful three years. Busy, but wonderful - just the way I like it.

Love you, J - you are my best friend and my whole world begins and end with you.

The wreaths of Clarence Rd

Ever since my Pinterest obsession started, an equal obsession with wreaths began as well and there is no better time than Christmas to start trying out some of the wreaths that I have been pinning over the course of the last few months.

I started with an extremely easy one...

This wreath now lives on the inside of the garage door and consists of a $3.99 wooden twig wreath I actually bought last year at Micheal's. After a quick spray with some white spray paint, and a bright red ribbon, it is simple, yet festive in its own way.

The second wreath was a bit more time consuming, yet much more functional at this time of year...


This wreath is made from a wire hanger (molded into a circle), wooden beads and plain old clothes pins - all sprayed white. Every year we are so lucky to have so many friends and family send us beuatiful cards with their beautiful faces. I always want to display them, however our fridge is stainless steal and therefore non-magnetic and our mantel is not quite installed yet. When I saw this idea on Pinterest, I knew it would be perfect and it really is! If anybody is intersted in making their own, a few suggestions:

- cut the hook part of the hanger off before trying to mold the hanger. I used a grinder and it did the trick quite easily.
- I couldn't find any beads that were big enough with holes already through the middle so I just bought plain wood beads from Micheal's and sprayed them.
- I sprayed all the pieces individually but realized after that it would have been easier to assemble everything and spray it once it was all set up. Would have been easier to ensure that it got a good coat everywhere.

The last wreath was an extremely easy, very quick craft that I put together this morning in about 10 minutes. Technically it is not a wreath per say, however it has the same feel.

I already had the pine cones from past years (in the past I just displayed them in a vase) however was looking for a new way to use them this year. Once again, Pinterest was the inspiration. I simply used the yarn that I had already purchased for gift wrapping this year and used my hot glue gun to attach the yarn to one end of the cone. This craft now hangs on the outside of our main bathroom door and adds the pop of red I was looking for in that hallway.

Now that our tree has been purchased and decorated, and all our Christmas things are out, I am getting increasingly excited for the holidays. Colin is so much more interested this year than last and his tree etiquette is improving slowly. When you love your family, friends and extended family as much as we do around here, Christmas really is the best time of year as it combines all our favorite people with good food, great celebrations and ultimately what is most important - time together.

2 Years Today.

It has been two years since we said goodbye to my wonderful Grandpa. It seems like just yesterday, but in the same respect, feels like way too long since I heard his laugh, or got one of his tight hugs. My sister and I were talking about him yesterday when her four year old son asked who we were talking about. We told him that we were talking about Grandpa's Daddy. He asked what he was like and the best words I could use to explain Grandpa to a four year old was "he was a lot of fun". He was.

I miss him everyday but love that he and my Grandma are together again - just as they always were and were always meant to be.