Icy outside, warm inside!

It's been a wonderful weekend for orders, I just mailed six packages full of prints and paper dolls to points across the country! Last Monday I had five packages from holiday sales, and several more trips throughout the week. Needless to say, the folks at my local post office think I'm a rock star, and frankly, I'm feeling like one.

This morning I blended a pineapple banana smoothie (I even remembered to put the lid on before I hit 'blend'), I fired up Christmas tunes, and I got my Etsy orders together. There's ice on the cherry tree outside our living room window, but Puck and Elvis were curled up cozy on the couch. The electric heat was roaring, the Christmas tree was sparkling, and I was preparing prints for shipment, feeling really wonderful and blessed.

The stress of the season hasn't quite hit yet. Right now I'm a few gifts ahead of the game, but I know me. Soon I'll get comfortable and miss a day or two of scrambling. Before I know it, I'll be covered in wrapping paper and bows, screaming at the tape dispenser which will have somehow stuck my hand to my face. However, I'm not there yet. I'm still enjoying the 'cocoa days' of the season.

Last night Ryan and I took some photos for this year's Christmas card. It's our first married Christmas, so we wanted to make it special. And by special, I mean ridiculous.

Oh, yes.

We were going for 'Christmas creeps' or 'Awkward Christmas'.
Ryan shaved a weirdstache for the occasion and we even got the rats involved!

A photo Ryan took while adjusting the camera.

Unfortunately for our families,
we're pretty sure this shot is making the card!

And some nice photos....

...See? We're not total monsters.

The photo project was Ryan's idea, and it only confirmed my love for him. Originally he wanted all the rats on us to be wearing Christmas sweaters. (Can you even imagine? I couldn't stop laughing when he first came up with it). We attempted it, but rats are pretty intelligent. They casually slipped them off and that was that.

Milo was the only rat to really enjoy wearing a sweater. He was bruxing--their form of purring--all over the place and strutting his stuff up and down the couch.  

It's the most wonderful time of the year!

I hope you're also in the 'cocoa days' of the holidays! Maybe the stress will never arrive this year...Yeah, I don't think so either, but it's nice to pretend.