It was a very merry Christmas here at the Bower house. When we waved goodbye to Jeremy’s family in Chattanooga, we headed straight for Birmingham to my older brother’s house. He’s the father of this little Thundercat. And Christmas with kids is so much fun, we almost didn’t want to tear into our own presents when we got back home.
Almost.
I then remembered how much I love opening gifts and how I just bask in the glow of love afterwards and it got me in the present-opening mood. I have this weird thing about getting gifts. I can remember exactly who gave me what item years later. It’s because I feel massive amounts of love from the giver whenever I see a pretty package with my name on it. Don’t ask me why.
Anyway – so on Sunday night my boyfriend and I sat down with a couple glasses of sparkling cider and some homemade fudge (thanks Nurse Vicki!) ready to celebrate. Here’s a little photo montage of some of Jeremy as he opened his gifts:
His big gift from me was a watch.
And a sleeping mask. Don’t ask.
I opened my gifts and basically swam in a pool of love as it oozed from my boyfriend’s choices:
I got way more than I expected. Especially when I opened this:
(thud) (whomp) (crash)
you just died of jealousy.
It’s a dock for my iPhone. I mentioned about getting one of these for the kitchen way back when we found out we were pregnant. Afterall, I want Baby Will to be a concert pianist (among other things). So a background in classical music is vital. And knowing who sings “Poker Face” will be important when he hits preschool. Ya know, so he can hit it off with the ladies 🙂
But the number one thing that put a smile on my face this year was being able to slip more moolah into the Baby Fund. It’s a really shmancy jar that we keep on the counter with our savings for Will’s gear and delivery. We figure that the delivery alone is gonna cost a pretty penny (even with great insurance) and the stuff that we need up front for bringing home baby #1 is skyrocketing by the hour. So my sweet boyfriend suggested a cash collection jar so that all our spare change, our holiday money and the cash we find in old jackets can be put to good use. And man, does it feel good whenever we hear the clang of a coin. It’s like a reminder that we are a wee step closer to meeting our little boy.
So now that you got the low-down on our earthly goods, tell me what you got this Christmas. Or maybe you budgeted toward one pricy family item – or just did a gift card exhange. Or maybe your favorite gift was something that was really small but personal. Whatever it was that made your Christmas spirit soar – spill those holiday beans and tell me the item. It’ll be like celebrating the gift all over again. But instead of with family, it’ll be with some weird girl on the internet 🙂
My sweet husband got me a wireless mouse and keyboard from the apple store (fancy!!) to synch to my laptop. The he found a shelf to put the laptop on. He wanted to gear up my “office” (ie apartment dining room turned place to study) so I’m ready to tackle my last semester (repeat LAST SEMESTER) of my master’s program.
Next year there will be three of you!!
Hi Katie! Husb and I didn’t exchange gifts this year. I decided that our missions trip to Mexico last Novemeber was a good enough splurge. Husb didnt mind…you could say buying gifts isnt his favorite thing to do…unless he has unlimited funds. Thats not happening 😉 I got pampered chef stoneware loaf pans from my mom and my mother in law and some fun stuff from Anthropologie from my sis. And…some MAC makeup from my other sis. The gifts this year were actually really great! Thanks for sharing your Christmas!
Merry Christmas!! from the’burgh! So glad to see that little Will will be growing up a Steeler fan!
Oh mizz Katie Bower you are just too adorable! I just love your southern charm that oozes from the pages of this bloggyblog! And I love the adorable little steelers bib for baby Will!
I only wanted one thing this year… and I totally got it which just had my whole Christmas season filled with excitement and anticipation (since I knew I was getting it when my pops ordered it Thanksgiving Eve) a pretty Nikon D3000 with regular and telephoto lenses!
Can you say SAWEET! I can… many times! Now my career as an artist is set 😉 No more doggy portfolio images with my little pocket cam… now I can take pro photos for my senior portfolio.. maybe some grad schools will want me now!!
Merry Christmas! and Happy New Year!!
This year Josh and I got a Wii that was for both of us, so no other presents. We have used it almost every day the last week, and let me tell you, the boxing game is a great workout!! My arms and shoulders are sore!
On a weird note; I dreamed about you and Sherry last night; I don’t remember many details, I think you had your baby. I’m less than a week away from my third trimester, we’re having a boy too. I’m due right smack in between you two favorite/famous bloggers. Oh, and with G+D due any day, I definitely am thinking of babies all the time. Getting a bit nervous thinking of boys, as we have a beautiful 2-year-old girl. Girls I understand. They are logical. Boys? Not-so-much.
Anyway, I know I still owe you bathroom pictures, I didn’t worry about it too much over Christmas, but don’t have an excuse now!! Happy New Year!
Your love language is gifts 🙂 I’m sure you already know that. Glad you had a merry day – I like your baby fund! What gift are you holding on your head?
OOOh I Love gifts.. I mean, who doesn’t? But, My favorite would have to be my Lisa Leonard necklace with the little girls names on it. My Pool boy, I mean husband got it for me. He also bought me a a sock monkey which I think may be code that he wants another baby. I say this because I always wanted to decorate a little boys room with sock monkey goodness. Hints maybe? He says I’m crazy, I think not. So now that you know my life story….. uh.. yeah.
Oh and Poker face (Polka dot face, around these parts) is a favorite around here. My girls who are 4 & 2 can sing the edited version like rock stars. They’d get along with baby Will. 🙂
Wahoooo! You got a Klean Kanteen! Super exciting. Am I a nerd to comment about that? I am. Fine, I can live with that. At least my water is so fresh and so klean, klean.
xo,
s
You’re going to love playing Sequence – it’s one of our favorites!
Love it! And I LOVE the Steelers goodies! We are HUGE Steelers fans from TX!! Congrats on the baby! 🙂 Oh, and you can follow my blog if you want to! I’m a photographer, which is obviously cool..duh!
http://www.shuttershotsblog.com
I love your photos. Seriously.
But.
As a banker’s daughter, I’m cringing at the jar. Even though interest rates are low, that money could be earning interest in the bank! A CD (Certificate of Deposit) is a super safe, set term way to get a little more money into that fund than if it sits in a jar. It’s “safer” than a savings account in that you can’t withdraw the money for the agreed upon amount of time (6 or 12 months are most common).
I still have my first bank book (used before everything was done electronically) and that first account was opened 5 months before I was born. It’s been over 30 years, but I still hold onto that bank book with pride. I can see each deposit in that book and think of my frugal, young mother depositing little bits of money over those months (with a few bigger deposits around the time that there must have been a baby shower). Thinking about her sacrifices during those months still gets me a little teary.
Anyway, the jar is cute, but use it as the “pit stop” for money that will soon be added to Matthew’s bank account! On top of all that, setting up an account now will lead to early lessons about saving, which will help him when he starts earning an allowance and then when he gets that first job. 🙂
Love the Steelers gear!
I was very spoiled this year – I got a remote start for my car and food processor and a storage bench and tons of other smaller stuff. I feel loved 🙂
your hubby got sequence? i swear that is the best game EVER! i got all my friends addicted to it. 🙂
My big gift this year…and for all time…was my engagement ring!! So exciting and definitely a Christmas gift that will never be topped. I couldn’t help myself from bragging, now to complete strangers, about the most awesome gift ever–for shame(the complete story is on my blog ;-)). I’m a loyal reader and love! your blog. Glad you had a Merry Christmas.
How do you get your man to actually let you snap all these photos? You have to give me your secret. My hubby, as handsome and fabulous as he is, always hides his face so I have almost no good shots of him (except our wedding and engagement pics).
Your question was about gifts huh. I totally got sidetracked. I got several things I asked for and several surprises as well. I won’t bore you with the whole list, but my big gift was the Silhoutte SD to help me with my obsessive scrapbooking habit. My favorite gift was a new Bama t-shirt cause this Bama girl has worn her other ones out this year (I also talk in third person sometime)!
My favorite gift to get was the quilt a friend bought me from a seller on Etsy. It’s all beautiful with its teals, reds, and blacks.
My favorite gift to give was the new civilian clothing I bought my honey. He’s no longer military and needed normal clothing. I had so much fun buying him stuff… I went a little overboard.
Love the steelers onesie and bib! yay to respresent us fans in pittsburgh, pa!!
So my husband and I kind of splurged on a gift for ourselves this year. We got a Canon T1i, and I love it!! After seeing the pictures you’ve taken I though “If Katie can do it, well, so can I….hopefully, or I’ve just spend a lot of money for nothing.” But I’m learning some tricks and starting to feel confident about taking pictures. One of our motivations for saving up for this puppy is when we have children, I don’t want to spend loads of money taking them to some portrait studio to have someone else take pictures of them, and hope that I like them. By the time we welcome a baby into the world, I’ll be able to take semi-professional looking pictures, for free. Say a prayer for me, about the camera and a baby!
YAY – I am loving all the gifts that you guys received – especially the shmancy cameras! Here’s to us all learning new photog skills!
And A HUGE congratulations to Lindsey – awesome girl! I can’t wait to see wedding photos!
And Amanda – girl…give your man a big ole fat thank-you hug from me…and tell him that he looks like a model in his new digs 🙂
XO – KB
Sequence = funnest game ever. 🙂
The gift I’d like to share is actually an after Christmas gift I bought myself. It connects back to the whole baby in your belly deal.
My husband & I are young newlyweds & don’t plan on a baby for quite some time buuutttt the future Mommy in me could not help but buy this sweet little gift. We sometimes refer to ourselves as little love birds; so, I thought it fitting to buy these small white ceramic ( yes, I know… this made me think of Sherry too) bird ordaments. At first I had found only two buuuuttt then I saw birdy #3 and just had to get it. This is thinking far ahead, but I plan on giving it to him when the time comes. I’m thinking along with a little note that says something along the lines of, “We’re adding a little bird to our nest.”
I got money to put toward my first d-slr camera (I went with the Sony Alpha a500 and LOVE it). I got my husband a Garmin GPS. It’s already proven to be very useful. 🙂
Ohhhh Claudia – you should have never told me that you have birds. I am OBSESSED with anything bird related. In fact, the new PB catalog has a bunch of bird cages and bird related decor items and I almost died right then and there.
So now of course, I must hunt you down and steal your birdies.
Sorry but it must be done 🙂
XO – kb
I see you guys got Sequence! We got that this year too! It’s very addictive! 🙂
My amazing husband planned a week-long trip to Chicago for us! We’ve always wanted to visit and we don’t mind the cold. Also, we ate deep dish pizza three times. Oh yeah!
Here we go, Steelers, here we go! Looks like you guys had a lovely Christmas!
Looks like you got a bluetooth headset for your phone – I did too and it’s my favorite thing! So great for talking on the phone in the car. My favorite gift is the crystal and white gold ring my bf got me: http://www.swarovski.com/Web_US/en/1791469/product/Sparkle_Ring.html?CatalogCategoryName=0112. Merry Christmas to you, your bf and baby Will.
So this Christmas was mine and my hubby’s first together. We are 22 years old and were married 4 months ago. We bought our first little white cape cod in August that is 66 years old. I just finished up nursing school so this Christmas the bills were all up to my sweet husband…every penny. So when it came time for presents there wasn’t much under our tree. However, my husband felt horrible about not being able to buy me much (even though I think a house is a lot) and got creative. He sent me on a scavenger hunt through our house that ended with an amazing massage and a wonderful book of coupons…one of which was a shopping spree to ikea when i start my job..and of course one was for him to do the dishes for a week :)The whole point of my story is that this was the first Christmas that tons of presents weren’t involved, but it was also my absolute favorite. We were able to focus on the best gift of all, baby Jesus. I will cherish this Christmas forever and always remember that the true reason is family, friends, love, and most of all Christ. However, I can’t wait to be able to take fun pictures of all my neato presents next year like you all! (JEALOUS) Thanks for your inspiring and hilarious blog!