K + P = love

i LOVE christmas music! to celebrate the spirit of christmas i thought i’d share some of my favorite christmas tunes.

1. christmas time is here – bebo norman

2. god rest ye merry gentlemen -bare naked ladies

3. all i want for christmas is you – mariah carey(duh)

4. comfort ye – daniel renstrom

Preview on iTunes

5. glory in the highest – shane & shane

6. it’s the most wonderful time of the year – amy grant

7. come & worship – bebo norman

8. it’s beginning to look a lot like christmas – shane & shane

9. christmas (baby, please come home) – mariah carey

10. santa baby – eartha kitt (a classic!)

yay! i love all the christmas decorations that are all around everywhere you go, and it is Decemeber now, so i feel like i cna officially let myself be excited for christmas! for some reason it kind of bother’s me when they start putting up decorations in the mall mid-october, and i don’t feel like i can truly enjoy it untill december.  i am extra excited about this christmas, because me, my mom, and my sister will be taking a girl’s trip to new york city right after christmas. i am excited to see all the decorations, and i am hoping maybe the tree in rockefeller will look like this one…freshly dusted with snow!!!

i am so excited about thanksgiving. it is wonderful to have a time of year where we can intentionally take time to reflect on God’s grace and all we have to be thankful for. also, the huge meal of amazing food isn’t too bad, either. i have been thinking this week about what the “traditional” thanksgiving meal is to me.  paul and i have been exchanging items that we consider “the staples” of a thanksgiving meal, aka what you HAVE TO HAVE for it to be thanksgiving!  it’s funny to see that what is “normal” and “necessary” to you, might not be to someone else.

for me, the “staples” to a good thanksgiving meal are as follows: turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, sweet potatoe casserole, green beans, my mom’s apple & cranberry crisp, yummy rolls, and of course, pumpkin pie!

what do you consider to be the “staples” of a good thanksgiving meal?? and what traditions do you & your family have? i love to hear how other people celebrate holidays!

happy thanksgiving!!!

p.s. for some thanksgiving decor inspiration, check out charminginnovations.com

i was talking to my mom tonight while i was making chicken pot pie for dinner, and she wanted me to give her the recipe…so, i decided i would post it on here for whoever might want to try it! it’s so yummy, and a perfect thing to have for dinner on a cold fall night.

chicken pot pie:

for katherine’s birthday today, a group of us went to five guys. i don’t think i’ve eaten that good of a cheeseburger & fries in a long time! i had fun hanging out with the girls! :)

happy birthday katherine!

lindsey telling her engagement story. and naturally the girls are loving it!

singing happy birthday!

happy birthday "princess katherine!"

group shot.

megan & matt were in town this weekend to visit sweet little adelyn, the newest addition to the ward family. they stopped by chapel hill on their way back to charlotte & we had lunch together. it was so great to see them! luke is getting so big, and he is so so so adorable! unfortunately i didn’t get a pic of me & megan, but here are some of the big boy himself:

i am not the biggest fan of halloween. actually, i kinda hate it. i won’t get into all that, but paul & i did dress up this year & headed to a friends house for a partaay. i was rebecca bloomwood from confessions of a shopaholic, and i’m going to be honest, it wasn’t too hard for me to play the part! i do love a good shopping excursion. :) paul was my credit card cause let’s face it – what’s a diva without her plastic! he’s so cute & sweet to go along with the ideas i come up with!

i got to take these cuties to lunch a couple weeks ago. we had so much fun! they are the sweetest, most mature, hilarious girls ever! i miss being with them every day like i was when i was in college. they are so grown up-i could hardly believe it when they told me they BOTH have boyfriends now! ahhhh. when i started nannying for them in college, mariah was in 4rd grade and alexa was in 6th. now mariah is a freshmen in high school, and alexa is a junior. wow, time flies by! i love you girls. :)

we tried the pumpkin pancake mix from trader joe’s last week, and they are so yummy! the perfect way to incorporate the tatse of fall into your saturday morning breakfast! last week i put white chocolate chips in them, because that was all we had, and they were very delicious! we made them again yesterday morning, and this time i put milk chocolate chips in, yummm. i think they are quickly becoming a fall favorite for us. rush out and get you some.  :)

p.s. the trader joe’s is now open in raleigh, yay!

p.s.s. i think i should get paid by trader joe’s for advertising for them so much! seriously.