Let the Holiday Season Begin!

Our stomachs are stuffed and we're getting ready for our first holiday season in Gilbert.  We spent Thanksgiving with friends and family, and a TON of food.  I was glad to be able to take home just as many leftovers too! 
I was also glad to be able to say Happy Thanksgiving to my family back East, with the help of facetime.  Now, according to the rules of society and strict rules of my husband, I can officially start thinking about Christmas.

Living in Arizona, I do find it a little hard to get into the holiday spirit.  It just doesn't feel right to sing "Let it Snow" when you're 99.9% sure that it will not.  Sure, we're all wearing scarves and boots, but the weather is still at least 75 degrees when the sun is out.  Believe it or not, year three in the desert has thinned my blood so much that I'm wearing jeans and boots right now.  The other day I even wore a sweater.  At night, it's been dipping down to the high 40's, giving us just a glimpse of that crisp, Fall feeling.  

During this time of year, I compensate for the lack of cold weather with Christmas decor.  This year, for the first time, I'm very excited to have a whole house to decorate!  I went through our Christmas box today and quickly informed Drew that we will have to purchase more decorations soon.  I hit up a Black Friday lights sale and came right home to put them up.  I was surprised to find out how much effort, persistence, and Griswald-level frustration it took to hang just a few strands from the roof.  Maybe we'll put up more lights next year.  For now, Drew and I are hoping the 4-foot-tall inflatable penguin we ordered will convince people that we are indeed in the holiday spirit. 

It's Settled.

Drew's leg is healing nicely, and we're officially settled into our new home.  It took several craigslist calls and a few cans of paint, but I'm very happy with what we were able to do with our furniture and some slightly used items.  It took us a lot longer to unpack here than it did when we moved to Tucson, but then again, we've got a lot more space to fill.

Here's the view of the living room, kitchen and dining area from the front hallway.

Here is the living room by itself.  I made those pillows to match the painting, courtesy of Heather Clements.

This is our kitchen table and pantry area. 

This kitchen is bigger than our previous one, so I've made it my new personal goal to do more cooking!

This is your room.  That's right, you.
Come visit us.

This is our hobby room.  Not shown in this picture is my craft table with scrapbooking, beading stuff, and sewing machine.

This is the guest bathroom.  I got a special corner shelf for the rest of my duck collection!  They're finally all together!

This is our master bathroom.  We got almost everything in here as wedding gifts.  Thanks!

This is our master bedroom.  I'd like to add a new bedspread and curtains.

This is the other half of our bedroom.  That dresser cost $35 on craigslist and I painted it and gave it new handles.  Good as new!

Now, for my favorite part:  The backyard:

Now that you've seen it online, come see it in person! :)