St. Nick's Day 2012

Last year was our first married Christmas season and with that, comes St. Nicholas Day; it has always been one of my favorites.  I loved getting a new ornament each year.  I loved to wake up and see what "St. Nick" got me.  It was always personal to each of us.

Nick and I decided this would be a good tradition to continue within our own little family.  We love the idea of a personalized tree with ornaments that each hold a special meaning.  Last year I found Nick the perfect ornament...a Weimaraner that I had personalized with Yadi's name, the year, and wrote "Our First Fur Baby."  Nick is beyond obessed with Yadi and this year I just had to accept that I would not ever find an ornament he would love just as much.  I was already feeling defeated.

On St. Nicholas Day Eve, we set out to shop.  We both had slacked hardcore and hadn't bought an ornament.  So off we went to various stores.  Hobby Lobby (fail), Joann's (fail), TJ Maxx/Homegoods (fail.)  Then it was off to the mall. We walked in and parted ways.  I honestly had no idea what to get Nick.  I was thinking something along the lines of aviation but wasn't having much luck.  Thankfully Hallmark pulled through for me.

We came home and secretly tucked our ornaments into each other's stocking and then went to bed.

The next day we opened our stockings to discover our ornaments.  (We decided to forego candy this year because we have soooo much in our pantry plus we're on a very tight budget this holiday season.)
I made Nick go first.

Playing with the propeller

He loved his ornament.  We realized this was one plane in a series.  It was #16 but we had no idea how many more there would be.  We then looked them up on eBay and now I have ornament ideas for Nick for the next 16+ years!!!  He wants to collect them all.  We somehow have the Spirit of St. Louis plane from a few years ago so that's two down! lol

Then it was my turn.

I loved it!!!!  Nick knows I LOVE penguins (it's kind of a thing between us) and I just love penguins at Christmas time anyway.  And he knows I want an ornament every year with our "family" on it so this was perfect!  It's our first "family" ornament.  I really wanted one last year but didn't end up getting one.

I just love this tradition and can't wait until we have a child to buy ornaments for!

And now I'm excited to go home and get my ornament from "St. Nick" back at my parents house!!!!