Christmas Cards & a New Ride: Thinking Out Loud #125

Happy December! Holy moly where is 2019 going?! I keep waiting for life to slow down a little bit so we can catch our breath but recently it seems to be speeding up and flying by a million miles an hour. We're looking forward to mid-December when our calendars clear out a bit. This will be our first married Christmas so we plan on savoring every last second of it. Before I babble away, let's jump into this weeks thinking out loud!

1. Merry (almost) Christmas! I LOVE our Christmas cards this year. We used a mix of wedding and Christmas photos and I love that we got to include our pups. I printed them with Shutterfly because they're made right here in the U.S.A. so it supports American jobs. My family has always been very conscious of purchasing products made in America for Christmas (and all year) and that's a tradition Brent and I will continue to do. 

2. We hosted our very first Thanksgiving! The turkey turned out great (thanks to my mom for all the tips!), the side dishes were wonderful, and we were joined by awesome friends. Not being able to be with family for the holidays is really hard, but it's a lot easier when you have great friends who are like family. 

3. I convinced Brent to let us get a bigger Christmas tree. Target had them on clearance (onto the next holiday I guess) so we nabbed it for a little over $30! It was a steal and while I'm still firmly on team real tree this was an easier alternative, especially with two dogs who love to knock the tree around. It's honestly a miracle that it hasn't been knocked over yet. 

4. A new ride was added to the family. We finally traded in my 10 year old car, which I loved and miss, for a new car. Thanks to my awesome coworkers and friends we got a 2019 Lincoln MKC. It's beautiful and I'm still attempting to figure out how to work all the technology. The downside is car payments for several years and we have to pay taxes on the car in a month. We'll happily accept donations for taxes because taxes on cars in NE are ABSURD. Let alone I think it's criminal you have to pay taxes every year on your car when you renew you registration. 

5. Oh Ginger. Our sweet pup is finally adjusting to having a baby brother running around like a nut. While she may not like him all the time and sometimes they fight she is super protective of him and sometimes they even cuddle. She'll always be our baby girl and the sweetest pup ever. Zeke has sort of taught her how to play with toys, mostly they take them away from one another but it's an improvement over not touching toys at all. While Ginger and Zeke do drive us crazy some (or a lot) of the time they are very sweet and perfect for our little family. Rescue dogs are the best!

Have a wonderful Thursday and a great weekend!