Merry Christmas 2013

I have not posted in a really long time but I really wanted to post pictures from our first Christmas as The Graves Family. We had a great time decorating our house for our first Married, Merry Christmas!

I was able to talk Chad into a fake Christmas tree. I know that seems terrible, but when it came time to take “Gloria” (our tree) down we were very happy with our decision on a fake tree. Yes, I named our tree. I tend to name almost everything. Gloria wore burlap ribbon and silver, white, and gold ornaments.

Two of my favorite new ornaments for our tree were two newlywed ornaments we received. One was from Chad’s Aunt Sharon with penguins. The other was a clear glass ball with shreds from our Wedding Program. 

Since we live in a planned community/neighborhood, everyone has one tree and they all look identical. We all put white lights on our trees. This was extremely neat for me because I grew up in a neighborhood that had a white light tree in each front yard. Chad put the lights in our tree on one of the coldest days in December. I learned not to walk outside and say, “You missed a spot”.

 

 
We used some of our leftover wedding credit to buy two pre-lit trees for either side of our front door and used some of my mom and dad’s old wreaths on our windows. SIDE NOTE: suction cup wreath hangs work and the sticky tape ones DO NOT (especially in the humid state of Alabama).

I still LOVE our stone fireplace. We asked for two old Coca-Cola boxes from Chad’s mom when she moved and filled those with firewood and Christmas lights. We put two silver angels on the mantel and added an old window with a wreath (thank you Pinterest).  

Another idea I pinned on Pinterest and used was the idea to hang our Christmas Cards on our kitchen cabinets. I used the same burlap ribbon from the tree and the old window. We are keeping or cards up through the end of January. I wanted to appreciate them a little bit longer.  

We used one of our wedding pictures for our Christmas Card.
 

We enjoyed decorating our house and can’t wait to put our decorations back up in 10 ½ months!

March Wedding Showers

March has been full of Wedding Showers!
Chad and I are so blessed to have such wonderful friends, church families, and family friends.  

March 3^rd – Troy Shower 
 Our first wedding shower was in Troy on March 3^rd. It was given by some of the ladies from Park Memorial (the church I grew up in and our wedding ceremony site) as well as some of my mom's friends. They had a cheesecake bar setup which allowed everyone to get cheesecake and pick their own toppings. I had never seen that at a shower before and I thought it was such a neat idea! 

Here is a picture of me and my mom with almost all of the hostesses from the Troy Shower.

March 10^th – Birmingham Tea 
Our second shower was a tea in Birmingham and it was given by some of Chad’s family’s friends and his church family. My mom came up the day before and we finally found her dress for the wedding! We had lots of fun trying on several dresses in an oversized dressing room at Saks. As soon as she put on her dress, we knew it was the one. It is perfect and she looks amazing in it! 

decor from the Birmingham Tea

with Christina and Amanda

Leah (my future sister-in-law), me, and Michelle

mom and me

 opening the gifts from the hostesses before the tea

March 16^th – Birmingham Shower 
Four of my bridesmaids gave me a shower in Birmingham. The shower was at a tavern downtown in the loft district and the menu was very me. We had lettuce wraps with chicken and peppers, French fries, veggies, hummus, and rock candy. The décor was the best shower décor ever!! Thanks so much to Lacey for the décor part! She is insanely good at decorations.

 LOVED THE TIFFANY BLUE DECOR!

 with Lacey

Didi, Alecia, me, Lacey, and Amy

All the girls at the shower

March 20th – Atherotech Shower 
Chad’s work had a shower for us. It was the first time I was able to meet some of his co-workers. Everyone was extremely nice! The fingers foods were great, they had a mini wedding cake for us from Olexa’s, and they gave us our pots and pans as well as an Anthropologie gift card to help with our bedding!

March 27th – BBVA Shower 
A few of the people in my department at work took us to lunch at my favorite lunch spot – 26. They gave us the vacuum and a few other items we picked out from Bed, Bath and Beyond as well as a Lowe’s gift card.

We have received so much love during our engagement. We can’t get over all the gifts and support everyone has given us. People are extremely generous and we are blessed!

10

days until the wedding!

After today we will be in the single digits!