Christmas + Finished Home Office

Merry Christmas! We had a great holiday weekend. Jared's sisters flew in from North Carolina and South Korea, so we spent a lot of Christmas Eve and Christmas Day at his parents' rental house in Redmond (their own home flooded and got lots of damage/mold, so it's been under construction for the past several months). We played lots of games and ate good food. Also opened so many thoughtful presents! We for sure need to up our gifting game next year. On Christmas Eve we got home pretty late, so Jared and I stayed up until the wee hours of the morning setting Christmas out and mounting our new frame tv above our fireplace (our Christmas gift to each other--I wanted to simplify Christmas this year so me and Jared just did one big present and stockings for each other). The frame tv is basically just a tv that mounts flatter against the wall and displays digital art so it can almost pass as a picture in a frame. You can buy bezels to go around the outer edge that make it look even more convincing, but it'll be a while before we spring for that. This gift was as much for Jared as it was for me. He LOVES art and has loved choosing different works of art to display each day.

Christmas really is so much more magical with kids in the house. Jack's favorite present was two little remote control cars that he and Jared have raced around nonstop the past few days. He also loves that stuffed fox Santa got him. He named it "Foxy Doxy."

^^The cutest thing Jack put on his list to Santa this year was, "A ring like my mommy and daddy's" (our wedding rings). Couldn't say no to the actual cutest request ever. Jared found him a dinosaur mood ring. Jack's already over it but I love it so much. 

^^Jack's preschool teachers gave him a cute book called "The Gruffalo." Love them. 

^^Jack grabbed my camera and snapped some pictures as I was making a little foraged centerpiece for our Christmas dinner. Love seeing myself through his eyes. We suspended that evergreen branch above our dining table for a dinner with Jared's parents and sisters last week. I love it so much that I think we'll do it again next year and put a water tube at the base so it lasts longer. Jared loves a real Christmas tree but we didn't want to pay for one this year when we already have an artificial tree. To me this felt like a happy, free sampling of a real Christmas tree (we found the branch on the ground on one of our walks through the forest). 

You might also have noticed the piano in the background. The dining room isn't where I initially pictured the piano going, but it's actually been so fun having it there. It gets played daily and adds a little something extra to the space. I also painted the walls a pinkish cocoa color. I'll do a more formal post of the dining room once I buy matching chairs and finish it up down the road. 

^^The views out our front and back windows. It snowed all Christmas night and the whole day after Christmas. This much snow isn't super common in this part of Washington, but I'm so happy it's here. Feels like home to have snowy houses and trees around Christmas. I LOVE how our little neighborhood feels with snow on those enormous trees surrounding us on all sides. It almost feels like we could be the only houses in the middle of miles and miles of forest. The perfect feeling for a cozy Christmas week at home (Jared requested this whole week off, yay!)

And finally, I wanted to post some pictures of Jared's finished home office! I got this all designed and set up as a surprise for his birthday last month. He was waiting on a desktop computer, which he got for Christmas, so now it's all finished. 

^^It's a pretty small room, so this is the only angle I could get since I don't have a wide-angle lens. Jared wanted a desktop area for a computer/work, and another worktop area to do some painting once in a while. I found this two-person desk that fit the bill perfectly. He also wanted some open shelving to display some books and treasures (his cute little fossil collection mostly). Right now we're using the bottom left shelf as a library shelf where Jack can come "check out" books that don't fit on the bookshelves in his own room. All that's missing from the office at this point are some blinds, but they aren't really crucial so we'll probably leave the window bare until the other necessary home projects are done. 

^^My favorite part of our office is the view. This isn't a great picture of it, but to the right there are tons of tall trees, and to the left are more tall trees, that cute wooden barn, and on clear days the best, most majestic view of three-finger mountain(s) off in the distance. 

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday weekend and some more cozy days ahead!