O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree...

...how lovely are thy branches.

Our house is looking festive and fit for the holidays.

We got our tree on Sunday and it's absolutely 8 feet of beautiful! Definitely our best one yet.

I love Christmas trees...real ones. There is something so fun about going and picking

 out just the right one.

We used to go to a Christmas Tree Farm and cut down our own when we were kids. We'd normally go Thanksgiving week. It was always so fun for all of us kids to traipse around in our snowsuits, voting on the best one.

We had to re-arrange our living room a little bit to fit ours in.

I love sitting in our living room at night with just the twinkle lights on.

There is something so beautiful and magical about it.
We got extra festive this year and put up icicle lights around our front porch. It added a little cheer to it's  otherwise drab appearance.

Do you get a real tree or fake one?

Bonte

too big tree

turkey day!

Well, I'm still recovering from Thanksgiving. Luckily, it's Monday and I made it back to the gym. 

But all that eating was well worth it. So delicious!

We arrived Wednesday night to this feast.

My sis prepared the most amazing meat + cheese spread ever, with crunchy crostinis, homemade apple chutney (which was to die for), olive tapenade, and a roasted pepper tapenade. We felt like kings and queens.

 beautiful and delicious.

 Leon dancing

 making Mom's homemade rolls. we just couldn't do without them. And we were so proud, they turned out just like hers!

 brie en croute appetizer

 This little cutie pie followed me around all day long. He would just look up with that darling little face and tug at my pants. Talk about melting your heart...I felt very loved. I'm not normally the favorite auntie:)

 sisters

Babe making gravy

 big kids + little kids

 me and Bep

 our turkey chef! it was scrump-dili-icious!

 cute + yum!

 oh luke, he never smiles...

 our rolls

 blackened carrots with goat cheese and arugula

 french green beans with sea salt and crunchy onions

 fig, brandy, sweet+spicy sausage stuffing...my absolute favorite

 of course, buttery, garlicy mashed potatoes

 Leon loved dinner, and patiently waited all day long for special pie...pumkin pie.

He was a fan.

 Bep + Dave

We cooked all Thanksgiving morning, through the day, until we ate that night at 8pm. The turkey took a wee bit longer than the recipe called for. My goodness, who would of thought how much planning went into that meal. It was quite the task to schedule what to cook when, when the oven would be free, and how long everything would take...in order to get it all done, ready and hot at the same time.

We were pleased with our first Thanksgiving meal cooked by ourselves.

Bep and I also did a few christmas crafts (also coming in a blog post). It was so fun to just relax the next day, work on projects, eat left overs, and just have sister time.

We got our Christmas Tree!!! Eeekk! That means it's officially the holidays now. I've been playing swinging christmas music on my pandora station and I don't think I could ever get sick of listening to old, jazzy, christmas music.

Christmas blog post coming this week, so check back in.

Bonte

Congratulations!!!

Drum roll please.............

And the lucky winner of the Holiday Give-A-Way is...

{Alice Lee Photography}

Thank you everyone for participating.

Stay tuned for upcoming give-a-ways and new product in our shop!

Bonte

P.S. Please leave your email address in a comment below, and I will contact you with instructions so we can get your new christmas item to you as soon as possible.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

I am so thankful, for so many things...

family,

and ones that now live close to me,

a wonderful, loving husband, who is my best friend.

provision,

moving forward in life and my dreams,

people who have taught me to love others,

and being loved.

After cooking all day, we enjoyed an amazing feast of food. It was delicious, and I can't wait to eat left overs tomorrow.

Stay tuned for the Holiday Give-A-Way winner, announced tomorrow!

Goodnight!

Bonte

source

Family

I have some of the best.

So often, family is something I've taken for granted, and I really shouldn't. I forget that not everyone, not even most people, are so blessed as to have what I have. I've grown to be much more appreciative and aware of what I've been given, especially now since I live across the country from most of them. I only saw my family twice last year, roughly 3 weeks out of the whole 52! And yes, I wish it could be all of them. It's definitely hard, and something I never thought I could do, but the distance makes our times together that much fuller and sweeter. 

We are a big, loud, opinionated, joyful bunch of people when we all get together. And we are also best friends. We get to dream together, and watch each others dreams come true. We believe in each other & fight for each other, but that's the way family should be, right? Sadly, the world we live in says otherwise. I guess I just so believe in family and what it's meant to be. And I want to be a part in changing the way our culture views the modern family.

{front: Leon E., David E., James, Luke, Lee W., Eleanor S., Jesse S., Josiah S.}
{Back: Bethany E., Maggie, Molly, Mom, Dad, Me, Rachel, Allison S.}

Here's to being thankful for for the amazing family I've been given!
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thanks

Well, Monday has come rather quickly again. It looks like it's going to be another sweet, super busy, super short week, which is perfectly okay with me. I've been eagerly anticipating the arrival of this week! Thanksgiving, family, and then we get to get our Christmas Tree!

It's never quite as bad to work extra hard for a few days, knowing you'll get to play just as hard the rest of the week.

Look at these pretty wreaths... I'm planning on making a festive holiday one in the next week or two.

"One act of thanksgiving when things go wrong with us, is worth a thousand thanks when things are agreeable to our inclinations."  -Saint John of Avila

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white wreath

rustic wreath

colorful wreath

a small feast

Thanksgiving has always been a favorite of mine. If you ask me, Thanksgiving till New Years is just the best time of year.

I'm especially excited this year because we are celebrating Thanksgiving with my brother, sister and her family. It will be a little bit different than the large family gatherings we're used to, but the part we've been most excited about is that we get to plan our own menu.

We've been recipe hunting all week, emailing photos/videos/ideas. And let me tell you, my mouth is already watering. I can hardly wait!

It's going to be a feast, and a delicious one at that.

What are your weekend plans? 

Today we are driving to the VA clinic which is about an hour away. Lee needs his eyes checked before he gets new glasses. We are only working a half day today and are then going to take off the rest. We might squeeze in a little Christmas shopping to. I'm looking forward to it.

Check out these pretty new looks from Opening Ceremony + Rodarte Fall 11/12

Hope you all enjoy yourselves and this chilly weather.

We went to the gym this morning early, early (way too early in my opinion), and it was 30 degrees out.

Maybe we will get winter this year after all.

Bonte

siblings

well, this past weekend i had 2 sisters, 2 nephews, and 1 brother come visit us!

it was a lovely time all catching up, talking, laughing, and of course, eating.

i love having my sisters around, and don't get to enough.

we spent most of our time sitting on the couch, talking, laughing, pinning, online shopping & magazine looking. so fun!

plus, one of my sister's brought her two little buddies along. they are so sweet and i love being an auntie.

here's a few photos from our weekend.

soli

leon

 haha, matching jammies. they are too cute!

sisters

 bonte + bep

 my babes

leon with uncle dunkle

 sweet lil Soli

 preggo Al:) only 7 weeks left

 siblings!

thankful for family and quality time with people i love.

Bonte