Mrs. Clarkbar (and crew): Twas the 3 days before Christmas

Christmas is here! At work on Tuesday, I realized I had a 'Personal Holiday' I had to use before the end of the year, so my 3-day weekend quickly turned into a 4-day holiday vacation...starting Wednesday at 4:00! Score!

Being this is Josh and I's first married-Christmas, we were both really excited for it to begin! I will take this time to say that Josh is hands-down the best gift giver ever. His gifts are always perfect and thoughtful; every year I strive to give a gift worthy of anything I might receive...it's quite intimidating.

We usually are pretty strict about 'No opening presents until Christmas' but this year we had to bend the rules a bit. See, I had been eyeing this pretty little camera for a while and since the price was dropping for Black Friday (and Josh was scheming with my dad) I knew he was purchasing it for me. Eek! I couldn't wait to get my little hands on it the minute it entered our house. (Josh had it wrapped and under the Xmas tree when I got home). I convinced him to let me open it early. My reasoning: I had to be able to take pictures of our first Christmas (and everything in-between)! Duh.

Pretty isn't it?

Josh on the other hand is waiting until after Christmas to get his gift. He has been researching hours a day (no exaggeration) on the one thing he has been wanting for years: a new TV. He has finally decided on this huge monster. And since it is a pretty penny, every cent I might have spent on a present is going towards it's purchase.

Seeing how we both got big gifts this year, I didn't expect to receive any else. However, Josh being the sweet romantic he is, couldn't imagine having a Christmas without me opening something! And, me being me, I convinced him to give me the gifts early...he's such a sucker :)

(But on a serious note, we are spending Thursday-Sunday with the parents so it was our only day to have our 'own' Christmas time...good excuse, right?)