Christmastime.

Our second Christmas was VERY anticipated! Last year was so laid back, and David and I had already been spending most of our days together, but this year it was different because he works six-seven days a week, and I go to school, so we don't have the same breaks like we did last year. So, I was looking forward to finishing my finals strong and spending a month out of school (STRESS FREE!) with him and the rest of my family.

David spent Christmas morning with his family, and I spent it with mine. We both ate lunch with our grandmothers, and given that we were supposed to be in for bad weather, he hurried to my house not long after lunch. We went to his house later during the week and spent the night with his family. 

(this was actually a find from Pinterest, and I tweaked it a little to be more relatable for me.)

"Twelve days of Christmas 

in the south: 

one deer in a greenfield,

 two southern belles, 

three sweet tea glasses, 

four banana puddings,

 five porch swings swingin',

 six church bells ringin', 

seven pickups honking, 

eight boots-a-scootin', 

nine magnolias bloomin', 

ten biscuits baking, 

eleven hunters hunting, 

twelve football games ❤"

These are two of the chalkboards I made during the holiday season. The first one I made the afternoon of taking my last final, and the one (I clearly stole from my Instagram) I made closer to the week of Christmas. 

Daddy cut these out of a thin piece of plywood from Lowes, and Mom & I painted them, attached wire to hang them, and added a glittery bow. The "C" was for David's mom, and the "P", of course, for us!

On the left, we got a bag of streamers from Fred's, twisted it around a foam cone, and tacked it with straight pins. In the middle, we used hemp string and painted furniture tacts, and on the right we used a Polyurethane spray to coat the cone, and rolled it in red glitter. 

this was our cottage (basically a storage room) display! We cut all these out of a thin sheet of plywood. Then we just painted & glittered everything! You can't tell how glittery the trees are, but they were! This was also mostly inspired by Pinterest!

I used to not be very crazy about getting into the "Christmas Spirit", but I think my Mamma is rubbing off on me. She is like a little person from WhoVille when it comes to Christmas stuff. She LOVES it! I think she lives for Christmastime, and I love that about her. She has some of the cutest ideas, and together I think we make a good team when it comes to decorating/creating things together. Our family picks on her a lot because of her crazy decorating habits at Christmas, but the truth is: it wouldn't feel right any other way!

Mom's homemade Red Velvet cake! 

She melted chocolate chips, placed it in a Ziploc, and created this tree on wax paper. She then sprinkled the tree with M&M's while the chocolate was still gooey. Once the tree was hard, she peeled it off and stuck it on the cake! 

So cute!

If you've read all the way back to last year's Christmas, you know that we decorated our first house (HA), and this year we did the same. I think little traditions like that are fun to carry on, and if you want to see that post, click HERE.

Don't you love a simple guy? "To: Girlfriend, From: Boyfriend", haha! 

David really outdid himself this year! He got me way too much, but I loved it all! It's hard to pick a favorite, but the tennis shoes with "ILOVEU" on the tongue of them has to take the cake! I also love the two ornaments (at the bottom), the cow and the train. I have loved trains for as long as I can remember, and since dating David I have learned to love cows. I used to be petrified of them, but they have to be the cutest (and funniest) animals alive. I just love them! 

The ornaments are a thing we started this year. I think it will be fun to put them on our tree one day when we have one together. It will be sweet to look back on the ornaments we gave to each other and reminisce on the memories of WHY we chose each one. 

Just for fun, these are my two pets in all their Christmas glory! At the top, Marlee is showing off my $2.00 PetSmart (PetsMart?) find, and underneath our fish, Bill, is giving a home tour of decorations. 

...at least I'm not a crazy cat lady?

This last photo was taking a few days before our break ended, and we were headed out on a hunt with Matt. It cracks me up because I'm in a huge Mad Bomber hat, and Matt & David look so serious as I creep in the bottom photo. Good times! 

P.S. We didn't see a living thing!