#Microblog Mondays: My Favorite Things

Ahhh, Christmas -- our very first Christmas together as a defined family of two. It felt more sweet than bitter as we really enjoyed every second (and I have yet to enjoy the delicious roast duck, wild rice, and sauteed red chard that's to come tonight), and really celebrated each other.

Here are some pictures of my favorite presents from Bryce and our (decorated) tree. It is lovely to be with someone for so long and to still be surprised and also feel just so...known by the gift giver. I don't have pictures of the presents I gave Bryce, but some of my favorites are half finger gloves from Mr. Reynaud (ha ha ha, because he has Reynaud's), gorgeously glazed and agave-plant-stamped mexcal sipping cups from Agave Oaxca, a National Parks & Monuments map poster for chronicling and planning our adventures and then a National Geographic guide to the parks for the same reasons, and this thing called a Love Book that I made through www.lovebookonline.com that allowed me to write our story and why I love him through stick figures and illustrations and text that I could customize. It was highly personal, highly emotional, and a huge hit, and I could NOT wait for him to open it!

Merry Christmas and Joyous Yuletide and Happy New Year way in advance to all of you, may the close of this year bring peace, joy and happiness to you and yours!

Christmas Eve present...dark chocolate vanilla buttercreams from Fannie May. Mmmm. There might be a couple missing.

First present -- standing spoon rest. Insanely clever invention!

A set of two polar bear pillows like this that I saw and admired at a local shop but was told "ENOUGH with the pillows!" sneaky sneaky...

So, I gave Bryce the moose in the middle and thought I was SO SNEAKY because we admired all three of these (the bottom being my favorite) and I went back to get the moose without Bryce, only to find that there was a tag that said, "I knew what you were up to all along!" But now they look lovely as a little collection on our wall. :)

I could not photograph this without my phone showing up, but this is a gorgeous print that now lives in my office. I am in the process of naming him...I'm thinking Hector? Horace? Help me give him a suitable name! 

Yesssssssssss

I got the first book by this guy, "Tales from the Loop," last year from Bryce...this looks gloriously creepy. And the tag is hilarious.

A Danforth Pewter PUFFIN! Love this! 

Even more so because it has an inscription. Made me SO happy. 

A wick trimmer! I am such a weirdo for dying for one of these, but I love it! 

He totally cheated and put these individually wrapped in a giant box to look like one present, but HOW AWESOME are these books? He always curates a collection for me at Christmas and my birthday. That cookbook is one we saw in an Italian pottery shop in Santa Barbara. SO THOUGHTFUL. 

So very fortunate. Such a good little tree! 

Want to read more #Microblog Mondays? Go here and enjoy!