Some Christmas goodies

I have to say, that as much as I love the holiday season, I'm kind of glad it's over. There's a lot of stuff involved, with all the shopping, baking, and "travelling". I say "travelling" because the most we travel for the holidays is 2 hours (so 4 hours roundtrip).

Add into the mix that MK's mother and I aren't exactly BFFs, and she loves to pit his poor, neglected family (her sentiments only) against mine, and it can make for a bit of a stressful time. (Now, don't get me wrong, MK's mother is mostly nice, but she and I have had it out in the past over a number of things.)

Anyway, on to the fun stuff! I was really happy with the gifts I received for Christmas this year. I don't know about you, but in my family, we still make lists. They're shorter now than when we were kids, and give them to my parents and my aunt and grandparents. MK and I also make lists for each other. Getting MK to make his list is such a process though. He always claims he can't think of anything he wants, and it is like pulling teeth to get him to write down a couple of things he'd like for Christmas. He usually just gets gift cards to outdoorsy stores, like EMS and REI anyway, and he's as happy as clam.

So for this year, I pretty much knew everything I was getting. MK and I actually created our lists in a spreadsheet in Google Docs, which we shared, so I was able to see which things I was getting off my list. I know, I know, this is a little counterintuitive, but it actually helped me out a bit.

My aunt and grandparents went in on a nice suit from Banana Republic for me, and my aunt had said to send her all the pieces, but in the end got the pants and the jacket. I was able to snag the matching skirt for 40% off, but that was only because I made MK spill the beans after he teased me that he knew what my aunt got me.

Also, the shared spreadsheet also provided a little bit of humor (MK left all his shopping until the last minute):

Okay, so here are my lovely gifts from MK:

A pretty set of measuring spoons from Anthropologie. I have always loved Giada's simply porcelain white and blue set, and have never been able to find them. Okay, I haven't looked very hard, but I thought these were very cute.

This Tiffany heart key and chain. The one I got I think is 1" long, so it's much, much smaller than it looks in the picture, but still very pretty. I got a 24" chain with it, which is pretty long. I actually don't mind it so long, but MK said he's going to get a shorter one so I have "options". Given MK's knowledge of jewelry, I thought that was pretty savvy of him.

I also got this Heart Frances cami from J.Crew. This one actually showed up weeks before Christmas, because I was working myself into an OCD frenzy that if MK didn't buy it RIGHT NOW, it would be sold out soon. Oh, and look, it's still available online.

Now, since I pretty much knew everything that I was getting, I told MK that he should get me a "surprise" present - one that I didn't know beforehand what it was. I told him he should just think about things I like, and surprise me. I don't know how anyone else's boyfriends or husbands are, but there was much hemming and hawing over this (and gnashing of teeth, even!). I'm amazed that after being together for almost 4.5 years, MK claimed he had NO IDEA what kind of surprise present to get.

In the end, he got two awesome surprise gifts - one was a boxed set of Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking books. He drove all over the place on Christmas Eve trying to find me a copy of Julie and Julia so he could give me the movie and then the books, but he wasn't able to find it.

The other surprise gift we actually got on the day after Christmas (or Boxing Day, for some of you), and had to go to a couple different places to find it, too. It is a speedlight for my DSLR, a Nikon SB-600! It was a great surprise, and MK was (rightly) very proud of himself for picking out such a great surprise gift!

As for other things, I got a gift card to J.Crew from my future in-laws, which I already spent on a super great deal - the long boyfriend blazer, marked down to $80 in-store, with another 30% off, plus my gift card meant out of pocket expense for me was about $5. This is great considering I had been coveting the schoolboy blazer, which was still a bit pricey on sale. Plus, I scored a great deal on a near lookalike from Gap anyway (marked down to $42, and extra 40% off sale!). The future brother-in-law gave me a Petzl Tikka headlamp, which I will wear when I go out running in the evening, and he also gave me The Cake Bible.

Lastly, this is probably one of my favorite Christmas goodies. This is the Skyfall dress from Anthropologie. I spotted this in my local Anthro, and loved it, but the price tag was a bit high. (Not even going to tell you what it is.) So then MK starts telling me he'll get it for me, and I can wear it all over Europe next summer. In the end, we split it, and I can't wait to wear it!

And if you're wondering why I posted that picture of the dachshund gift card, it's because I actually e-mailed my personal shopper at J.Crew to ask her if they were real, or if they were just printed for promotional purposes. I love anything dachshund-related, so actually bought myself a $10 gift card (the minimum amount) just to get the cute little dachshund reindeer. Please tell me other people do this too!

Hope your holidays were just as nice!! I'll be posting our New Year's recap and some New Year's recipes soon!