I don't have access to our photos from my current location, but I just felt like this ought to be updated. So here I go.
The holidays this year were great! It's always a fun and exciting time, but it seems like each year Andrea and I learn how to enjoy them a little bit better.
November was a good month. My birthday was on the 21st and I told Andrea that I really would love to just go and shop together without the boys for a while. It was so fun! We weren't even shopping for ourselves, for the most part. We were able to get several things for the kids and we got a few Christmas gifts out of the way. We also learned a few things about the holiday shopping season that will help us immensely in years to come.
Have you ever heard of "Cyber Monday?" I certainly hadn't. It's awesome! It's like Black Friday but you don't have to go anywhere or compete for products. You just buy stuff online. During our shopping trip we had both gone to pick out some shoes for ourselves, but when we were getting ready to buy them I asked the cashier if they were going to go on sale within the next few days and she said "Yes. All shoes will be buy one get one 1/2 off starting tomorrow." So we put our shoes back on the shelf and waited. I went back to the store and they were running the deal, but they had raised the price of the shoes. So I waited. Then on facebook I saw an ad for Cyber Monday and the shoes were buy one get one half off, plus 20% off or something, plus free shipping. I bought them at that point.
I also had purchased some levi's (34x34, 514's, I will not wear another jean as long as I live) at full price, but on Cyber Monday they were 40% off! So I returned the pair I hadn't taken the tags off of and saved $15.
Moral of the story? Go on a pre-shopping trip before Thanksgiving to pick out what you want, then buy it online on Cyber Monday.
So that was fun.
We went to the zoo on Thanksgiving Morning to see the elephants eat giant pumpkins. That was really cool to see! Then we had thanksgiving dinner at Tucano's. Tucano's is always good, but I did miss the traditional food. Lucky for me, my Mom had prepared all of her usual food and I ate plenty of it when we got back to my parent’s house!
The day after, we decorated the Wrights house. It's always a big production that takes most of the day, and I LOVE IT! Every year Pam says "Hey you guys, we aren't doing it if we don't have help." And every year I think "Um, as long as I have a pulse, I will be here the day after Thanksgiving adorning your home with these beautiful decorations."
The following day, Andrea and I got family pictures taken by Masterpiece Images. They did our wedding and they are just the best photographers for our taste. I love them. You can see the photos they took here: http://mpimages.smugmug.com/Family/2013-Family/Luke-Perkins/n-X7Ktf/i-Q5G89cd/A
On Sunday, we went to my parent’s house to help them set up their Christmas tree. I LOVE THAT TOO!!! And for the past few years my parents have been saying "We really need to think about downsizing and getting a more manageable tree." And every year I think "Um, as long as I have a pulse, I will be here shortly after Thanksgiving adorning your home with this beautiful tree."
We also decorated our apartment a bit more extensively than we usually do. I did a great job, I must say, lining our windows with colored lights. I think white lights look prettier, but it's for the kids isn't it? Kids like some color! My Mom came and helped us paint Christmas stencils on our windows. It looked fabulous, and I enjoyed coming home and seeing it every evening.
Other than that, we got together with friends a few times, with family a few times, ate a lot of sweets etc.
Christmas Eve was REALLY fun! We were with the Wrights this year and we invited our friend Sumedha and her friend Vasu (both from India) to come and celebrate with us. It was a lot of fun to share our traditions with them, and they shared some of their traditions with us too. It was great.
After the party at the Wrights, went to my parents to spend the night. Grandma CeCe read Peter “The Night Before Christmas” and then helped him prepare some refreshments for Santa before he went to bed. It was really fun for me to “help Santa” this year to fill Peter’s stocking and leave him a note on the snack plate ;).
On Christmas morning we opened our presents with my Mom and Dad and later on the rest of the family came over. It was a very nice day. Except Max was fevery, but he turned out to be okay.
The next few days we purged our apartment of the old and useless. I think I might like doing that better than I like opening presents! Try it sometime, go through each corner of your home and ask yourself if you really need this and that, and get rid of the stuff you don’t need. You will feel like this: “Aaaaaaaahhhhhhhh.”
On New Year’s we went to the Wrights house and ate some freezer aisle goodies and watched some movies. THAT is the ideal way to spend New Year’s in my opinion.
Now the New Year has begun and it’s been great. We reflected on our past goals and realized that we’ve made progress! Then we set some new goals. We also decided to get with the times and purchase iphones. We LOVE them. Apple knows what they’re doing. Everybody acts like Apple is just good at Marketing/brainwashing consumers
. . . and they are. Part of that recipe is FANTASTIC products and FANTASTIC customer service. It’s like, they are just a great company or something. You shouldn’t hate on that.
Okay, that’s all. Maybe Andrea will put some pictures on to support this log, we’ll see.
The holidays this year were great! It's always a fun and exciting time, but it seems like each year Andrea and I learn how to enjoy them a little bit better.
November was a good month. My birthday was on the 21st and I told Andrea that I really would love to just go and shop together without the boys for a while. It was so fun! We weren't even shopping for ourselves, for the most part. We were able to get several things for the kids and we got a few Christmas gifts out of the way. We also learned a few things about the holiday shopping season that will help us immensely in years to come.
Have you ever heard of "Cyber Monday?" I certainly hadn't. It's awesome! It's like Black Friday but you don't have to go anywhere or compete for products. You just buy stuff online. During our shopping trip we had both gone to pick out some shoes for ourselves, but when we were getting ready to buy them I asked the cashier if they were going to go on sale within the next few days and she said "Yes. All shoes will be buy one get one 1/2 off starting tomorrow." So we put our shoes back on the shelf and waited. I went back to the store and they were running the deal, but they had raised the price of the shoes. So I waited. Then on facebook I saw an ad for Cyber Monday and the shoes were buy one get one half off, plus 20% off or something, plus free shipping. I bought them at that point.
I also had purchased some levi's (34x34, 514's, I will not wear another jean as long as I live) at full price, but on Cyber Monday they were 40% off! So I returned the pair I hadn't taken the tags off of and saved $15.
Moral of the story? Go on a pre-shopping trip before Thanksgiving to pick out what you want, then buy it online on Cyber Monday.
So that was fun.
We went to the zoo on Thanksgiving Morning to see the elephants eat giant pumpkins. That was really cool to see! Then we had thanksgiving dinner at Tucano's. Tucano's is always good, but I did miss the traditional food. Lucky for me, my Mom had prepared all of her usual food and I ate plenty of it when we got back to my parent’s house!
The day after, we decorated the Wrights house. It's always a big production that takes most of the day, and I LOVE IT! Every year Pam says "Hey you guys, we aren't doing it if we don't have help." And every year I think "Um, as long as I have a pulse, I will be here the day after Thanksgiving adorning your home with these beautiful decorations."
The following day, Andrea and I got family pictures taken by Masterpiece Images. They did our wedding and they are just the best photographers for our taste. I love them. You can see the photos they took here: http://mpimages.smugmug.com/Family/2013-Family/Luke-Perkins/n-X7Ktf/i-Q5G89cd/A
On Sunday, we went to my parent’s house to help them set up their Christmas tree. I LOVE THAT TOO!!! And for the past few years my parents have been saying "We really need to think about downsizing and getting a more manageable tree." And every year I think "Um, as long as I have a pulse, I will be here shortly after Thanksgiving adorning your home with this beautiful tree."
We also decorated our apartment a bit more extensively than we usually do. I did a great job, I must say, lining our windows with colored lights. I think white lights look prettier, but it's for the kids isn't it? Kids like some color! My Mom came and helped us paint Christmas stencils on our windows. It looked fabulous, and I enjoyed coming home and seeing it every evening.
Other than that, we got together with friends a few times, with family a few times, ate a lot of sweets etc.
Christmas Eve was REALLY fun! We were with the Wrights this year and we invited our friend Sumedha and her friend Vasu (both from India) to come and celebrate with us. It was a lot of fun to share our traditions with them, and they shared some of their traditions with us too. It was great.
After the party at the Wrights, went to my parents to spend the night. Grandma CeCe read Peter “The Night Before Christmas” and then helped him prepare some refreshments for Santa before he went to bed. It was really fun for me to “help Santa” this year to fill Peter’s stocking and leave him a note on the snack plate ;).
On Christmas morning we opened our presents with my Mom and Dad and later on the rest of the family came over. It was a very nice day. Except Max was fevery, but he turned out to be okay.
The next few days we purged our apartment of the old and useless. I think I might like doing that better than I like opening presents! Try it sometime, go through each corner of your home and ask yourself if you really need this and that, and get rid of the stuff you don’t need. You will feel like this: “Aaaaaaaahhhhhhhh.”
On New Year’s we went to the Wrights house and ate some freezer aisle goodies and watched some movies. THAT is the ideal way to spend New Year’s in my opinion.
Now the New Year has begun and it’s been great. We reflected on our past goals and realized that we’ve made progress! Then we set some new goals. We also decided to get with the times and purchase iphones. We LOVE them. Apple knows what they’re doing. Everybody acts like Apple is just good at Marketing/brainwashing consumers
. . . and they are. Part of that recipe is FANTASTIC products and FANTASTIC customer service. It’s like, they are just a great company or something. You shouldn’t hate on that.
Okay, that’s all. Maybe Andrea will put some pictures on to support this log, we’ll see.
Duuuude...cyber Monday! What rock have you been living under? It's the way I've survived Christmas for several years now :) I'd like to see some pictures :)
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