'Twas the night before Christmas. . .

It's finally here, folks: Christmas 2014. 

Even though I was fairly late in sending out our cards, most should have received them by now so I'm happy to share the design and, more importantly, the sentiment, with you all: 

picture courtesy of my cell phone, design & print courtesy of Vistaprint

Jon and I are off to our hometown for Christmas, where we'll hop from house to house both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, visiting and eating and drinking. 

I, personally, am most looking forward to the day after Christmas, when my cousins from Atlanta and I will partake in our annual tradition of drinking, rehashing the inevitable ridiculousness of the holidays and general silliness and debauchery. 

Happy Holidays to you and yours! 

Holiday Traditions: To Do or Not to Do?

True Confessions: I'm not really a holiday season type of girl. Don't get me wrong, Winter Candy Apple is a great scent and I love pretty lights as much as the next person, but overall it gets a meh from me. 

Maybe this will change if we have children but for now, Jon and I are on the same page: yes, we'll use it as an excuse to throw a party and sure, we'll buy gifts and exchange happily, but at the end of the day, we'd also be just fine cheersing you from afar. 

That having been said, we do still participate in a few established traditions.

Christmas Tree: Do

As you guys may know, we usually do a Christmas tree - a small one, a fake one, a white one, but it's still a tree. We improvised this year but typically this gets a Yes from us.

Christmas Cards: Do

This is a first for us! We are sending Christmas cards this year and I'm pretty excited about it. We were fortunate enough to receive so many that this year I can't imagine not. Plus, we took a really cute picture in, like, July and I've had the idea for our card since then. I took care of the ordering and addressing, Jon took care of the licking and stamping. Team effort, you guys. This one was mostly me, but he's a good sport. 

via a HILARIOUS Buzzfeed article, My Sister-in-Law's Lonely Christmas Cards

#ApartmentLife: Happy Holidays Edition

Growing up, I used to insist that living in an apartment would be way better than living in a house. You can say that television is to blame for this, and I might even agree with you, but apartments symbolized cool to me. They were everything city, everything bright lights and busy streets, everything that my rinky dink depressed hometown was absolutely not.

Flash forward: I am a grown up (I think? I'm supposed to be anyway, right?) and I am living in an apartment and it is damn cool, so there. 

Jon's and my homestead trajectory has been pretty simple, fortunately. Our furthest move has been 3.4 miles.

image via Pittsburgh Neighborhoods Wikipedia | The gold stars are us. . .approximately. ;)