A Very Schneider Christmas: December in Review

Blogmas Day 31

There is a deep sadness in my heart as I write this post because my favorite time of the year is now over. And while I'm already looking forward to next year, I think it's going to be pretty hard to beat Christmas 2014...so here's a look back at a crazy event packed December with us Schneiders! 

This holiday season started early for us and it began the way that every season should...with charitable giving. We loved participating in Operation Christmas Child. And I had the opportunity to be involved through school by helping with fundraisers for our patient fund and collecting winter accessories for the local Boys & Girls Club...love that cute mitten tree and loving that we added these new charities to our normal contributions. 

We decked our halls by decorating my cute little apartment for Christmas...loving it even more now

Husband must have loved our yuletide trimmings as much as I did because he agreed with me that we should celebrate Christmas all year round...he even put it into writing. Can't take it back now! Did I mention that I'm OBSESSED with Christmas? 

Finished all of my Holiday DIY projects just in time for our upcoming Christmas party including decorating holiday wreaths, painting and assembling a cute chalkboard sign, and my absolute favorite project....

...my $25 DIY Holiday Bar Cart. Things are just more special and more appreciated when you do them yourself

We hosted our annual holiday party 
as we love any excuse to celebrate the 
holidays and spend time with cute friends...

 I was so proud of this years party theme: "Merry Christmas ya Filthy Animals". Our "naughty" and "nice" drink cocktails were a big party hit though I think more people decided to be naughty than nice. 

Husband flew back to Boston for two weeks and during that time we both finished up our school semesters, can't believe how much work I had to do in that short period of time with finishing up projects, lots of dental labs, and way too much studying. Thankfully, I had lots of yummy mugs of sleigh fuel to help me get everything done.

I also filled up my month with lots of baking....grateful that Santa (aka my parents) gave me my Christmas gifts early so that I had a pretty tiffany blue stand mixer to help me bake all of my holiday treats and a nice new Canon camera to take pictures of all of them with. 

Baked so many holiday goodies to give to friends and family. I even shared some of my favorite recipes with all of you like my peppermint bark, double chocolate chip cookies, the tastiest sugar cookies, and this holiday pineapple cake that I think I need to make every single year from now on. 

All of the Christmas gifts were wrapped and put under the tree, while our Holiday cards were sent out to loved ones...

Husband returned to me, and we went on a Christmas date to see the Nutcracker....love that he is willing to take me to the ballet. 

Then we were off to enjoy Our Christmas Present to each other this year...a wonderful trip to Asheville North Carolina where we spent time with family, participated in Christmas at the Biltmore Estate, and marveled at the creations at the National Gingerbread Competition. 

And while we were there, I of course had to pick up an ornament for our Christmas tree :)

We had the perfect trip together, it was so romantic thanks to horse drawn carriage rides through the historic cobbled streets of Asheville and staying at the nicest Bed and Breakfast called The Lion and the Rose...

loved the perfect breakfasts served with the cutest Prince Albert China

After leaving Asheville, we picked up the cutest puppy from doggy daycare, they spoil him so much that they even sent him home with a Christmas gift...

Then we headed to my family's home for a relaxing Christmas Eve and Christmas Day together....

Lucky us that we had Double the Merriment with a second Christmas when we visited my in-laws on December 26th.

Since Christmas, we have been spending quite a bit of time with my in-laws. We love them so much so it was the perfect way to spend the end of the month before heading off to visit friends to celebrate the New Year!

I hope that you all had a fun packed December!