Saturday, December 8, 2012

Christmas In Year's Past

As mentioned in this post, my husband and I started an ornament gift giving tradition back in 2007, our first year of living together.  As mentioned, we've Nick has since turned our tradition into a healthy little competition.  Admittedly, my husband has definitely "won" for the past few years.  I'm always excited to see what he'll think of year after year... he is so clever and thoughtful (two of the many reasons why I love him so much!!)!

Anyway, a new blog friend (hi, Erika!) suggested that I share our ornaments from years past with my blog readers.  So without further adieu, here is a peek at what Christmas has looked like for us over the past five years (Nick's ornament to me will be on the top and mine to him will be on the bottom)...

Christmas, 2007
 
Ok, so we I didn't start our first year of ornament giving off so hot... Nick got me an ornament of a yorkshire terrier (because I had been whining about wanting a dog for a good three years at that point - and I love little yorkies... Belle's half yorkie).  Sadly though, sometime over the course of five years, both ears have broken off. 

I got Nick two ornaments that year.  Truthfully, I have NO idea why I bought him the Santa ornmanet holding a rolling pin!  I think I just liked it for some reason.  That, and I totally slacked in trying to find an ornament for him, so I just grabbed the first one I saw while shopping at the Williams Sonoma outlet (waiting last minute like this is so un-like me... you would have thought that my mind was already consumed with infertility back then!).  I remember after having bought this first ornament, that I was at CVS during work one day when I saw this Red Sox ornament.  2007 was one of the years that the Boston Red Sox won the World Series, so I bought this ornament for Nick as well.

Outcome:  Nick wins!  I clearly had my head up my you-know-where in 2007! 

Christmas 2008
Nick proposed to me in 2008.  We were engaged on December 22, 2008, which was also the night that we swapped our ornament gifts.  I had been hoping that my ornament that year would actually be a ring... but he kept me in suspense for a little longer that night.  Instead, I opened a little paw frame ornament (for a dog that I didn't even have yet!) that Nick picked up at Walgreen's - his mind was on more important things (ummm, PROPOSING!!!) that year!

That same year, we also bought our first house!  We were still living in our apartment at the time that we swapped our ornament gifts, but closed on our house on New Year's Eve day that year.  I chose to gift Nick the house ornament with our names in the windows.

Outcome:  This is a hard one because Nick got a whole heck of a lot of points for proposing to me in 2008!!  Ornament-wise, though, I think I win, but... that sparkly ring (!!!)... I'll call it a draw!

Christmas 2009

Christmas 2009 was just a little over a month away from our wedding (February 6, 2010), hence my too-long hair that was desperately in need of a cut! 

Nick gifted me with an ornament that replicated the order that which our stockings hung on our mantle in 2009 (such great attention to detail... a man of my own heart!).  It was our first Christmas with Belle, so I think I had been stressing about where to buy her stocking for a couple of weeks (oh, the days when my sources of stress were regarding my dog's Chistmas stocking!). 

I gave Nick an ornament of our wedding venue.  The Hawthorne Hotel is a historic hotel in downtown Salem, MA and it is simply beautiful.  About a month later, the night before our wedding, Nick had left me with a gift to open... lo and behold, he had also bought this ornament for me (and he actually already had it on the night that we swapped our ornaments!) - great minds, I guess!

Outcome:  I think I win!  Afterall, this is one of my most favorite ornaments on our tree!

Christmas 2010
Note my dark hair in this picture... This was just a little after we had decided to start trying to expand our family.  Clearly, I thought it was going to happen quickly and that when it did, I wouldn't want to be hassled with having to highlight my hair every six weeks.  In recent pictures of me, you'll notice that I've gone back to the blonde...

Anyway, 2010 is the year that I started to slip with my ornament giving (I blame this on the beginning of infertility!).  This was also the year that Nick really, in my opinion, stepped up his game!  Our tradition doesn't just include swapping ornament gifts, but we make a night out of it.  We always order Chinese food for dinner and then cozy up on the couch for an evening of movies.  Hence, my husband's clever and thoughtful ornament idea that year... a Chinese food take-out box!

I, on the other hand, made an ornament with Belle's pawprint for Nick... I made him two, but only hang one of them each year on our tree.

Outcome:  Nick win's.  Again, the beginning of infertility on the brain for me.

Christmas 2011
Christmas 2011 was just after our first IUI... We found out that first cycle failed right after Christmas on December 28, 2011.

Last year, we went on our first camping/hiking trip together (in our ten years togther we had never gone camping, crazy, huh?) and this was the inspiration for Nick's ornament to me. 

I had a golf bag ornament customized to say "hit em' straight!" (it's hard to see in this picture, but the phrase is on the bottom of the ornament).  Nick demands that I say this to him pretty much every time he plays a round.

Outcome:  Nick wins.  Mine isn't too bad, but his is more special, I think.  Plus, infertility was (is) still on the brain!

So there you have it!  Five years of Christmas in year's past.  I'll be sure to post an update of our 2012 ornament gift giving night as soon as we mark it on the calendar

1 comment:

Erika said...

So cute!! Yall are so creative!!

 
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