It's Christmas Time!

Let's round out the final events of the Taylor's Christmas 2012.

Adam and I hosted the second annual Ugly Sweater bash at our place. We had some pretty ugly sweaters and some even uglier white elephant gifts.

Adam was hard at work

Nothing says Christmas like llamas and poop

my creepy clown. I guess I win.

We celebrated Christmas Eve with a few of our local friends. We had a pajama party and ate delicious cheese and chocolate fondue, then played games. It was a perfect night!

Christmas day, Adam and I celebrated with a low-key day at home, just the two of us. Adam made cinnamon rolls for breakfast, then we opened our gifts.

Ah, the look of joy

I'm an official Rhode Islander with my very own Alex and Ani bracelets!

We spent the rest of the day watching movies and eating Christmas ham! Another perfect day!

Two days later, we celebrated our five year anniversary! Adam took me to a lovely dinner at Nick's on Broadway. It was absolutely delicious. I even tried heart and duck liver pate. I can't say I enjoyed either, but the rest of the dinner was delicious.

We even passed a real haunted house. Well, maybe it's not a real haunted house, but it sure looks it.

It's hard to believe we've been married five years already! At times it feels like we were just married, and other times it feels like we've been together forever! I feel truly blessed to be married to such a wonderful and caring man. I'm very thankful I get to spend the rest of eternity with him!

Here's to hoping the next two moths fly by. If you haven't heard, Adam's going to France for two months for a pastry internship.

Christmas Beginnings

This year, I had the desire to purchase a real Christmas tree. I was raised in a family where we only had a fake tree. I've never known the joys of the real tree. Before we set out to get my first real tree, I researched a few tree farms, but had not made up my mind where we were going to get our little tree (insert cool story).

A few weeks ago at work, I had gone to complete my initial assessment for a new patient. When I arrived to meet this new patient, he was end of life, and his daughter was with him at his bedside. I had the privilege of speaking with this daughter and learning a bit about this man who was unable to speak with me.
I came to find out, this man and his wife owned a Christmas tree farm in RI. His daughter then shared with me a children's book that was written about their tree farm. It was such a special moment to read this book while sitting with this man and his daughter. At one point my patient opened his eyes while I was reading the book next to him, I turned to the photo of him and his wife together and showed it to him.

He smiled the broadest toothless smile I have ever seen. Being who I am, I teared up a little bit at the joy this photo brought him.

This leads me to our wonderful adventure a week later. After learning of this man and his tree farm, I was bound and determined to get my first real tree from his farm, which is still in operation today, with different owners.

We drove to Tiverton, RI and arrived at Clark's Christmas Tree Farm. I felt like a kid! We walked around exploring all of our options, and making friends with the animals until we decided on our tree.

 We loaded our little tree into the car, and enjoyed it's beautiful fresh scent on the drive back home.

Now, for the fun part, decorating the tree! I can't stand how cute my tree is! I'm in love!

 Let's switch gears. Since Adam has been school free for a few weeks, he spends his time playing video games and baking. Along with delicious breads and other delicacies, he decided to make a pastillage (sugar) Nativity. It turned out pretty darn amazing!

Let's switch gears one last time. Adam and I went on a fun date to Boston with our friends. We went for a dessert tasting at a dessert restaurant called Finale. It was pretty fun, and super chocolaty! Adam gives the desserts two thumbs up, so it must be good.

We walked around Boston looking for the Christmas festivities. All we found was a big tree. I guess it's better than nothing. I sure do love this time of year! 

A Little of This, A Little of That. . .

Here are a few of the photos from my phone and life.

These are a few of my wonderful RI girls and baby Tate.

This is a lovely fall/red shoe day. Side note. These are my wedding shoes. I still get millions of compliments every time I wear them, even five years later.

Adam and I headed to Virginia for Thanksgiving 2012. Adam has two brothers who live there. We took the adventure on a bus. It was LONG. But, we didn't have to drive. Other than a few bits of drama along the way, things worked out fine.
We had a quick layover in NYC, so we ran to Rockefeller Center to see the Christmas spectaculars.

the famous ice skating rink. it's much smaller than I imagined.

ever wonder how they decorate that giant tree? scaffolding.

Many hours later, and a stop at the Panera Bread bathroom for a puke break, we made it to Union Station in DC.

The next several days were filled with family, fun and hilarious conversations.

At the request of Adam, I will now share a cute Gabe (see photo below) story.
Gabe had an eyelash on his cheek which I pulled off, he asked for the eyelash and stepped out in the hall. This is what I hear next.
"I wish. . .I wish. . ." Gabe walked back into the room I'm in and said, "what kind of dog is Scooby Doo?".
I replied, " a great dane".
Gabe walked back into the hall and said, "I wish for a great dane. . . Dang it!!"
I asked, "what happened Gabe?" He replied, "I dropped my eyelash, now my wish won't come true!"
I said, "sure it will, don't worry". To which he replied, "no it won't, every time I make a wish with my eyelash it never comes true". Then he walked out of the room.

Gabe's homemade mustache

Remy models his new glasses

family Thanksgiving mustache party

a trip to the city

botanical gardens we decked out for Christmas

everything was made from natural plants

another trip to the city to the air and space museum

thoroughly impressed by the Discovery spaceship

We took another long bus ride back to RI. We were literally one minute from missing our transfer bus from NYC to RI. Now we are back to reality (except for Adam who doesn't have school and plays video games all day, jealous).