Day 25 of Newlywed Christmas Activities - Merry Christmas!

MERRY CHRISTMAS, EVERYONE!!!!

Are you as excited as I am?

This year, Hubby and I decided not to give gifts to each other because we are still in that broke newlywed phase and would much rather save our money for a new washer and dryer in the new year. Even without gifts, though, we woke up this morning grateful to be alive and to be spending our first Christmas together, which has never happened even when we were dating.

We did have the Christmas letters that we wrote to each other on day 3. My letter from Hubby was so sweet and it made me so happy to be with him. I wrote an equally great letter, if I may say so myself, and I included a silly photo that I drew.

Next up was time for us to give presents to my mom and the zoo. The dogs got a new bed and "candy cane" treats while the cats received some small toys. (Unfortunately, their cat tower that I ordered didn't make it before Christmas...grrr...they won't know the difference though if they get it late.) My mom got a great sweatshirt and a gift card. Everyone was happy and loved their gifts.

Now we are about to sit down to a late Christmas dinner. It has taken FOREVER for the oven to finish the ham and the chicken. All of the sides were completed and we have been waiting on the main features. Better planning will be needed for next year. Lol.

After dinner, we plan on all cuddling on the couch to watch "The Christmas Story." Hubby would not let us watch it before now because he wanted to watch ON Christmas Day. Silly man.

Before I go get into my food coma, I want to thank you for following my journey into this 25 Days of Christmas activities. It has been fun at times, disappointing at times, but I do not regret doing this. Hubby and I have bonded so much this past month and I have truly learned so much about him.

Will I do this again next year? YES! My bestie even sent me a wonderful advent calendar that I can put on my wall. She even had our last name put on it. (She is amazing and I love her. Shout out to you, Cara!) It is super adorable and I can't wait to plan for next Christmas.

I hope you all have a great Christmas and a wonderful New Year.

Talk later - XOXO!
Crystal

Day 24 of Newlywed Christmas Activities - Christmas Eve Dinner Prep

Day 24 is a great day. My mom is here, it is Christmas Eve, and everyone is in a good mood.

For today's activity, we are doing a lot of Christmas dinner prep. We are southern so the Christmas dinner feast will be the usual classics - ham, mac and cheese, collards, dressing, rice and gravy. This year, though, Hubby has asked that I add my Peruvian chicken to the mix.

This chicken is the most flavorful chicken you will have in your life, but it takes a million herbs and spices and a whole 24 hours for it to marinate. Believe me, it is worth it and you must go out to get the ingredients to make it now. Recipe here.

Other than the dinner prep, mom and I grabbed a few bottles of wine that we will gladly drink this week while we catch up. Of course, my Jam Jar is one of those. :)

That is about all for now. I am looking forward to tomorrow being Christmas. 

Talk later - XOXO!

Crystal

Day 23 of Newlywed Christmas Activities - Mom is Coming!

Rain, rain, go away. Come again some other day!

No really, go away. On day 23 of our newlywed activities, Hubby and I went to get my mom for Christmas! I haven't spent any time with my mom in over a year. She will be staying with us until after the New Year.

Everyone says we look like sisters. I don't see it. Lol

The weather was horrible, though. Going to pick her up was shadowy and overcast, but on the way back, we came into heavy downpour. And guess who's turn it was to drive for the return trip...mine! I think we drove 50 mph on a 70 mph highway the whole way back.

This Christmas trip is really important to me because Hubby and my mom have not had any time to get to know each other. I want them to bond and get to love each other. I want them to love each other as much as I love them. We shall see. That may be another blog post.

My mom came in and was immediately overwhelmed by the zoo. She got to meet the new kitties and Frankie, while loving on the old members who she already knew. She, like I, LOVE animals and she even brought her dog, Boots. It was a full house now of animals and people.

Remember all of the work that we did to the guest room? She loved that too! I think we impressed her with all of the luxury that we put in there.

Oh well, that is all. It is two days before Christmas and we have lots to do.

Talk later - XOXO!
Crystal

Day 22 of Newlywed Christmas Activities - Finish Gingerbread Village

Back on day 16, I started my gingerbread village. Unfortunately, I did not read the instructions to notice that it would take more than one day to complete because I would need to let the base dry. Well I kind of walked away and totally forgot about it. 

Today, the weather was bad, which eliminated the option to go snow tubing at Stone Mountain Park, which was supposed to be our original activity. Instead, we sat down and completed the decorating of our village. Not much to report here. Lots of icing and candy was placed and also a lot was eaten. In the end, we had a great village that we put up on the counter by our Christmas tree. Enjoy the great photos of our artwork!

Talk later - XOXO!

Crystal

Day 21 of Newlywed Christmas Activities - Christmas Themed Paint Night

OMG, it is officially the week of Christmas! It came so quickly. I must admit, readers, I have kind of lost some of the excitement of Christmas. The activities are definitely helping, but my energy level can't keep up. Well today, our newlywed activity gave me a huge boost of fun and excitement for the season.

On the 21st day, I booked us for a painting event at a local bar. A month ago, I came across a deal on LivingSocial for a Paint Nite event. They supply the painting materials and the teacher. All we had to do was pay for the drinks and bring ourselves. I loved that.

Hubby and I took the Marta train into the city which is a rare occurrence for me since I work from home. I hate all forms of public transportation and I despise sitting in seats that are probably filled with germs, but unfortunately, it was a necessity since we were going to be drinking. Don't drink and drive, people!

Public transportation...ugh!

We arrived at Publik Draft House about thirty minutes before the event and proceeded to order unlimited mimosas. Yes, you read that right...UNLIMITED MIMOSAS!!!! Can this day get better?! We people watched and talked while our teacher, Aleigha, set things up.

They give you a personal carafe of mimosas that
they make with a full bottle of champagne. 

There were about twenty people in the class and it was a great group. Hubby and I had a ball with the painting. Don't have much to say about painting, mostly because it would be boring to describe every stroke, but also because we had quite a few mimosas.

It was a great night. Afterwards, we stopped at Benihana for some sushi, then headed home. We haven't decided where we are going to put our paintings, though. Wherever they go, they are beautiful to me.

If you have a chance to do this in your city, get a ticket. It is a great time any time of the year.

Talk later - XOXO!
Crystal

Day 20 of Newlywed Christmas Activities - Ice Skating at Atlantic Station

Ahhh, Day 20, I had so much hope for you. The promise of a great outing was on the horizon, but alas, you were a bust. The title of today's post should be, "How I spent $26 to spend 5 minutes on ice skates."

All over Atlanta, there have been ice skating rinks popping up. I have never been ice skating in my life. No surprise since I grew up in South Carolina, but I wanted to try this year. I took Hubby and I to the newest one at Atlantic Station in Midtown Atlanta. It promised not only ice skating, but a fake snowfall every hour and lots of stores to shop in after we were done. 

It was a gorgeous night for ice skating. It was a clear, slightly cold night. Atlantic Station was totally lit with lights and had Christmas trees everywhere. I was actually quite surprised, though, because it was not busy to say it was the weekend before Christmas. 

A gigantic tree at Atlantic Station

We went to the skate store to rent our skates and store our things in a locker. The staff were quick and really nice, which I appreciated. After about 20 minutes, we were ready to strap on our skates and get on the ice. 

Picking up our ice skates. 

I should have known that something was not right when I closed the strap on that ice skate. It felt tight, my ankles started hurting right away and I could barely walk. I thought, "Oh, it is probably just because I am new and it will get better after I get on the ice." Well, Hubby had the same idea. He, like I, was complaining as soon as we stood up. 

So we trudge to the ice and took our first careful steps on the ice. And then it happened...the immense pain in my arches and sides of my feet started immediately! I was in real pain, ya'll. Not uncomfortable because it was new. Even with the pain, I took more steps. I tried doing the skating motion, but the more I tried, the more it hurt. 

I looked up to find Hubby to see if he was having any better time and by looking at the pain on his face, I knew we were done. The problem...we were now half way around the ice and had to make it back around to the exit. Oh no!

After five more minutes trying to get to the exit, we both fell onto a bench and quickly took those torture footwear off. Total time skating? Maybe 5 minutes, with another 5 minutes hobbling on the wall trying to get back to the exit. Sigh...

We turned in our skates, vowed never to ice skate again, and then went to get something to eat. I was sorely disappointed, but like Hubby said, "We would not have known if we had not tried." He is so wise. 

That is all for today. Hopefully your ice skating forays go much better. 

Talk later - XOXO!

Crystal

Day 19 of Newlywed Christmas Activities - Christmas Guest Room Renovating

On Day 19, we did a little renovating for our Christmas guest who was coming. Yes, I know, it is not really a Christmas activity, but it was necessary and it gave me a chance to use my Christmas gift - my new power drill!!!!

It took Hubby and I a good four hours to clean and organize the guest room. We went through every box from our last move and put away, donated, or threw away all of the items in them. It was really cleansing to the soul to get rid of the clutter. I definitely did not want my mom to see all of that junk.

After we put the new linens on the bed and laid out the bedroom, I was so pleased with the outcome. It was super cozy, luxurious, and a true oasis. I was actually jealous that I could not stay in there myself. Lol.

Now it was time for my favorite part of the day...using my new power drill. Looking at me, you would not know that I LOVE power tools. Anything mechanical that causes holes make me happy to my soul. Well we had bought the TV and decided that we wanted to mount it on the wall, so we bought one of the wall kits.

I was so intimidated by this kit at first. My worst fear, that we would put it on the wall and the TV would just fall off, was at the front of my mind. However, after reading the instructions and getting down to it, it was super easy! I think, total, it took 35-40 minutes and it snapped right on to the frame and did not fall off.

Because we were so busy, I did not snap any pictures, but I will take some later to supplement this post. I am really excited for my mom to come visit now and know that she will love all of the hard work that I have done.

Talk later - XOXO!
Crystal

Day 18 of Newlywed Christmas Activities - A Little Christmas Shopping

On Day 18, we went out into the world to do a little Christmas shopping!

My mom is coming into town next week so we need to do some shopping to make her guest room the ultimate relaxing place. In addition, we were out to find some ugly sweaters.

Our guest room thus far has been kind of a storage/cat room. I have a bed in there with lots of boxes that we never opened from our last move and lots of books. It is not an oasis for a guest. I have, of course, been browsing Pinterest for ideas on how to make this room great. I found this great article and from this, Hubby and I went shopping. The main items that we were looking for were a new TV, luxurious sheets, and a side chair for the room.

I had already researched and zoned in on my TV at Best Buy. It was a good deal, what I wanted to pay, and would not be too large for the small room. The problem - when I went to check it out, it was super small at 24 inches! I literally laughed when the salesman showed it to me. Well, there goes my budget. I ended up buying the 32 inch TV that would look a lot better in the guest room and was a still great deal.

Next up, we did a Walmart run for some great sheets, new pillows, and some guest amenities that would make it feel even more oasis-like. Anyone who knows me knows I HATE Walmart. Not because of their products but because of the endless amount of time you spend in line due to them only having four lanes open. Compound that by Christmas shoppers and it was hell.

Our last stop took me to my favorite place, Second Life Thrift Store. I love thrifting because it is cheap, you find rare finds, and the things you find are often high quality. In addition, funds raised at Second Life benefit the animal shelters and rescues here in Atlanta. Ya'll know I love the animals!

I was in search of the perfect side chair for the room. Something that my mom could lounge in to watch TV or to sit while putting on shoes. Nothing too fancy, but nice for the small room. They have a wonderful furniture store there where I can usually find great pieces. We saw a few contenders, but they were a little too big. Oh shucks, well I will keep looking.

While we were here, Hubby and I went over to the clothing store to search for some ugly Christmas sweaters. Hubby is obsessed with ugly sweaters this season. He wanted the most vulgar, Christmas-themed one he could find. And as you know, I am up for all of his silliness, so I was on board. Alas, we didn't find these either. I think others may have poached them before us.

This was a good shopping trip. We were even able to pick up some gift cards for family members as gifts and of course, I had to pick up more decorations because I am obsessed with all shiny Christmas things.

Can't wait to get started on the room renovation for my mom. For tonight, though, we sleep.

Talk later - XOXO!
Crystal

Day 17 of Newlywed Christmas Activities - What an Idiot I am!

True story of what happened yesterday:

I put all of Christmas cards in the mail last week. I was so proud of myself.
I get a knock on the door.

Mailman: Ma'am, did you realize that you mailed all of these cards to yourself? They have already been stamped, so you will need to redo these and put new stamps on.

Me: (Face turns red from shame) Uh...thank you!

Yes, you read that right. I mailed over 20 Christmas cards to myself! Where I was supposed to have put the sender address, there is Hubby and I's name. Oy Vay!

Today's Christmas activity involves me going to get more envelopes and stamps and doing the process all over again. Now I am stressed that they won't get to everyone on time.

Sigh. Talk later - XOXO!
Crystal

Day 16 of Newlywed Christmas Activities - Build a Gingerbread House

By this time in the Christmas activities, Hubby is rolling his eyes every time he has to pull an envelope. Lol. And when he pulled this one out, he yelled, "Another art project? Ugh!" Maybe next year, I will do less art in my plans. 

For today's activity, I chose for Hubby and I to build a gingerbread house. Can you believe that I have only done this once in my life in elementary school? I have seriously missed lots of candy, sticky icing fun in my life. 

I was all game to do this from scratch, but since that idea seemed a little expensive, I just picked up a kit from good old Walmart. Who knew there were so many choices? Gingerbread house, gingerbread townhome, gingerbread train, gingerbread village. Being the overachiever that I am, I chose the village. Why mess up my dining room for one stinking house? Lol. 

Hubby and I had a really good time. To build the houses took some teamwork since someone needed to hold it up while the other glued it together with icing. And just when we thought we were done, the whole thing collapsed on us! How horrible! It took us about two hours to just put the basic assembly then it told us to wait overnight before we could decorate. Bummer. 

Oh well, we have a part two coming for this activity. Decorating is the best part though. Can't wait to share our masterpiece!

Talk later - XOXO!

Crystal

Day 15 of Newlywed Christmas Activities - Take Christmas Photos of Pets

So I was feeling better and ready to get back on track with our newlywed Christmas activities. On Day 15, we took Christmas photos of our zoo. As you all know, we currently have eleven pets in our household. They are our babies and we love them so much. Since we had taken photos of ourselves, it only seemed obvious that we needed ones of the zoo. 

Let me say that I now have a newfound respect for all pet photographers. I went into this thinking, "Oh, this won't be too hard. Our pets are pretty mellow." Ha! I lied to myself. Have you ever tried getting pets to sit still on crunchy paper that they hated, while looking into a camera? It is so hard! 

To set up my makeshift studio, I went into our guest room and constructed a background with some striped wrapping paper and some tape. In addition, I got an old basket, wrapped it in wrapping paper, and put the tree skirt from our Christmas tree inside. (The thought was that the cats could sit inside.)

After we had everything ready, we proceeded to wrangle the cats. To summarize the photos with the cats, they were NOT having it. They hated the paper, they hated the basket, and even with copious amounts of treats and toys, they refused to stay still long enough for us to get more than one decent photo. Here are the results. 

Artie

Silver

Midnight

Ray

Burnice - She was really not feeling this.
We could not even get her in the background. 

So now was the time to gather the canine members of the family. They were a bit easier than the cats, but they just would not look into the camera. Hubby did not help by standing to the right of me with treats, so they are all looking upper right in these photos. Sigh...

Biscuit

Rasbee

Another one of Rasbee

Frankie

Bella

Mumu

Shylow - our supermodel

Another of Shylow - We got her to pose in the
basket WITH the hat. Success!

Next year, I think we will forgo this activity and just take the pets to one of those "photos with Santa" events that the local rescues have. At least I have some good pics to remember this Christmas by.

Hubby and Shylow

Talk later - XOXO!
Crystal

Days 11 through 14 of Newlywed Christmas Activities - Sick as a dog!

Dear BMC Readers,

Days 11 - 14 were not very enjoyable for me. I was sick. Sore throat, earache, and all over body ache. In between work, sleep was my best friend during these days. Although I was not at my best, I rearranged some of our newlywed activities around so that we could do some of the more tamer ideas, like watch movies and mail our Christmas cards.

On Day 11, the plan was to lay around and watch "The Christmas Story," but Hubby objected to this idea because he wanted to watch the 24 hour marathon on Christmas day. I was up for another suggestion, so we instead decided to watch "Let's Be Cops." I know, I know! Not a Christmas movie at all, but any excuse for me to cuddle up to Hubby in my feverish state is good with me.

I actually did not expect to like this movie and truthfully, most of the plot was obvious, but it gave me a few laughs and it fulfilled my new crush on Damon Wayans, Jr. I watched him in Happy Endings and now in New Girl and he is funny!

On Day 12, we mailed out our Christmas cards. After a few days of texting, emailing, and calling people for their addresses, we finally had all of the info to mail out the cards. It felt sooo good to put those envelopes in the mailbox for the postman to pick up. For once, I succeeded in getting Christmas cards on time! Right? Stay tuned.

On Day 13, we made it another movie night, but with the added pleasure of apple pie! There is nothing more soothing to the soul than a warm slice of apple pie with cold vanilla ice cream. And while you are soothing the soul with good dessert, you should also add in my favorite movie, "Love Actually!"

Dear Makers of "Love Actually," You took everything I like about romantic comedies and put it into one amazing movie. Thank you and I thank God for you wonderful souls every time I watch it. Love, Crystal (Ok, that is enough of my ode to "Love Actually."

PLUS

EQUALS

    

Here is a very funny parody of the movie that you must watch. 

On Day 14, I was feeling so much better. Still not 100%, but good enough to get out of bed, play with my dogs, and cook dinner. So on this day, I went out and picked up some needed items for the next few days of activities. Plus, my mom was going to be coming into town, so I needed to get the guest room ready for her arrival. To round out the day, Lifetime was having a marathon of Christmas movies, so all day, the TV was on and I was watching some great movies about Santa, finding love, and the general spirit of the season. 

In all, these four days did not go as planned, but I think Hubby and I made the most of the situation. A lot of the Christmas activities that you can do don't have to involve a lot. Just use that time to spend some needed time with a loved one and cuddle. And if all else fails, watch every Christmas movie that you can get on TV and enjoy!

Talk later - XOXO!

Crystal

Day 10 of Newlywed Christmas Activities - Family Game Night

For the tenth day of newlywed Christmas activities, I thought I would bring out our competitive sides. There is nothing better for raising the blood pressure than a spirited game of Monopoly, right? Well for tonight's family game night, I introduced Christmas-opoly! (Evil Laugh)

My friends will tell you that I can get very competitive and very serious quickly. No matter the game, I tend to hyperfocus on winning and when I lose, it is not good. Recently while in Las Vegas, I became addicted to Bingo. While my friends were laughing, joking, and probably missing numbers, I was focused on getting every number, double checking my board, and daubing the paper like my life depended on it. At the end of the game, it looked like I had killed a marker because I had blue ink all over me. I did not win the first night, which led me to go back three nights in a row until I finally won. Anyway, when I thought to do a Christmas-themed game night, I promised myself that I would not get so into it and try to enjoy the spirit of the game. Did I succeed? Uh, sort of...lol. 

I decided that Monopoly would be a great game. It is about strategy, versus luck, so I knew Hubby would like it. I searched Amazon to purchase the game and came upon a Christmas version. It was called Christmas-opoly and was super cute. The board, the player pieces, and the cards were all created with Christmas themes. And for less than $25, it was a good value. 

Front of Box

Back of Box

Hubby and I set-up the board, ordered a pizza and proceeded to play. For the next three hours, we played...and played...and played. At first, Hubby was winning. He had lots of property, money, and was beating me at every turn. Well, this is where I started getting serious. No way was I going to lose! I starting buying properties, multiplying my value, and soon, I was on top again! (HAHAHAHAHA)

The board game before we started playing. 

Defeated! (Mortal Kombat sound effect)

As you can tell from the photo above, I won! While, I did get somewhat competitive, I was able to have a lot of fun. Hubby, as always, stayed calm and merely laughed at my serious nature. And the game kept it fun, by making us sing Christmas carols at various parts of the game. We definitely will be playing this again before the end of the year, especially when my mom comes to visit because she loves playing games. 

What is the moral of this story? Don't ever play games with Crystal and please keep me out of the Bingo Halls...lol. 

Talk later - XOXO!

Crystal

Day 9 of Newlywed Christmas Activities - Take Cheesy Christmas Photos

On the ninth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me...cheesy Christmas photos of Hubby and me! Can I tell you that I have been really excited about this activity for over a month?! For today's activity, I arranged for us to take a special Christmas photo.

I love photos! I have thousands of pictures on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and my cell phone of myself, Hubby, our animals, our food, and random things I see. I am just a visual person and to me photos are the ultimate memory. And lucky for me, Hubby indulges me in my obsession.

With most of my Christmas activities, I tried not to spend a fortune for a good time. You don't need to spend lots of money to create memories. With a little research and discount shopping, I have been able to keep most activities under $30...most being absolutely free. With that being said, for this activity, I went to my favorite deal site, LivingSocial!

Last month, LivingSocial had a deal with the Picture People for an in-studio photo session with the following prints:

• One 10x13 Print
• One 8x10 Print
• Four 5x7 Prints
• 16 Wallet-Sized Prints
• and 30 Gift Tags

I only paid $15 dollars for this great deal!!!! The value of this package was over $130!!!! (Did I use enough exclamation marks there?) With this deal, we could only choose one image for all of these, which was a bummer, but we knew this going in. 

For this activity, I actually had to let Hubby open the envelope a day early because we had an early morning appointment and needed to coordinate our outfits. So away I went to do a fashion show for Hubby!

The next day was picture day and Hubby and I went to the Picture People studio in Perimeter Mall here in Atlanta. The studio was well lit, colored in bright, festive colors and our photographer, Courtney, was amazing! We let her know from the start that we did not want any cheesy, hand-on-shoulder, high school photos. We wanted fun, silly, and very us! She definitely got what we were wanting and after 20 minutes of posing and laughing (mostly from her because we were being our typical comedy act couple), we got some great shots. 

They let us review all of the photos then we selected the one we thought was the best. This was not an easy decision and we had to pull in some fellow picture takers to give their feedback. In the end, we choose....DRUMROLL...

We plan on sending our Christmas photo to family members to enjoy in their Christmas cards. I hope they like it as much as we loved taking the photo. 

Also, BONUS, Hubby said it was his most favorite activity of all and couldn't stop talking about all of the fun that he had at our photo shoot and how beautiful I looked (blushing). Gosh, I love that man. 

Talk later - XOXO!

Crystal

Day 8 of Newlywed Christmas Activities - Decorate Front Door

Day eight of our newlywed Christmas activities consisted of more Christmas decorating. In our neighborhood, some people are really starting to get the Christmas spirit. There are lights on trees, large blow-up figures, bows, garland, the works. Well tonight, we bundled up and did a little decorating of our front door. 

Hubby with our "baby" Shylow. 

While I would have loved to go crazy with the decorations, we have a strict budget, so I kept it simple with some cheap decorations from the Dollar Tree. I picked up some garland, red bows, and two sparkly Christmas wreaths. Hubby and I aren't very crafty and own barely any tools, so our decorations went up with some staples and tape. (Don't laugh, that is all we had!)

In the end, I think it looks very simple and classy. I am going to go out and get some white Christmas lights to add to it, to give it a little more glamour. It took us about 20 minutes to put everything up and gave us some much needed fresh air. 

I hope you are getting great ideas for your Christmas activities. Even if you can't do 25 days, I encourage you to grab one or two of these ideas to do with your kids, pets, or significant other. 

Talk later - XOXO!

Crystal