a merry little christmas 2015

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This year's loot

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That black & white polka dot paper? Yeah, I screenprinted that. *flexes giant muscles*

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Pretty Livvy

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My niece Catherine's first year as official present distributor

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Tommy's mom is way more excited than Tommy is about his present

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Fact: Doodles love Christmas

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Ellie got a new toy for Christmas, which will hopefully replace the slippers she usually steals carries around the house

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My first year not waking up early enough to look presentable = the only photo you get of me

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We realized halfway through the morning that Meredith had the whole couch all to herself, covered in presents.

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A man & his Han Solo socks

There are 13 photos in this post, which are the 13 photos that we took via camera on our trip back to Southern VA for Christmas. This is in addition to the solid 4 non-selfie photos that I took on my phone. I spent most of our Christmas break with my phone left in my purse. The camera off. The out-of-office email response up. 

& it was great.

2015 was so. much. I'm only really able to see that right in the moment -- today, the last day of the year. Before I started to write this post, I went back in my previous Christmas Day posts just to revisit formatting, etc., & was instead left in tears when greeted by images of my grandparents enjoying Christmas with us the past two years. It was our first year without grandpa drinking his multiple cups of coffee & observing the Christmas morning shenanigans from a safe distance with a smile on his face. My grandmother's health is touch & go, & she spent this year unable to leave the rehab facility that she was temporarily moved to after a scary week of tests & ER visits. It's hard. It's sad.

So, we spent this Christmas being present. Soaking up moments, staying up WAY too late every night, holding onto babies & visiting my grandma every chance we got. We were missing grandpa but overjoyed to be joined by 3 month old Olivia. Happy to have a chance to catch up & laugh with Jared's parents & the siblings that made it in town for Christmas. 

Other honorable mentions: listening to the Hamilton soundtrack nonstop (OBSESSED) & seeing Star Wars for the 2nd time in Imax 3D. 

I have to get ready for work, but just wanted to pop in to put these up while it's still 2015. Happy New Years Eve to you all! I'll be back!

may your days be merry & bright

https://www.tinyprints.com/product/66829/flat_holiday_photo_cards_bright_bundle.html

Bright Bundle design by Tiny Prints

2 - times I had to lint roll those hunter green pants before our shoot

6 - photos of 120 that were acceptable options for our Christmas cards

3 - years in a row that Amelia has taken our Christmas photos

7 - tourists that we had to strategically shoot around to take the winning photo

1 - pair of ear muffs lost in the Uber on the way to the Jefferson Memorial

3 - top contenders from Tiny Prints amazing holiday card selections before agreeing on this design

37 - degrees when we took these

2 - more sleeps until the Star Wars movie premiere

365 - Days that were merry & bright with this man at my side.

We are so happy to be celebrating another beautiful Christmas season in this city, & since we cheated with our Paris photos from last year (how could you not?), we wanted to do our Christmas card photos at one of the most iconic and my personal favorite national sites, the Jefferson Memorial. A huge thank you to Tiny Prints for these beautiful cards & perfect design!

The Cards of Christmas Past:

2014

2013

2012

2011

a very bethune christmas mix | 2015

It took about an hour of enduring Spotify's ads the day after Thanksgiving before I got on my phone & paid, once again, for a month of their premium access. HERE, CHRISTMAS, JUST TAKE ALL OF MY MONEY. (Helpful hint: If you've never tried their Premium accounts, you can get three months for $.99 by clicking here. I'm not being paid to tell you that, I'm just a very seriously helpful person.)

ANYWHO. The Bethune Christmas Playlist of 2015 has arrived in all of its glory & GUYS. It's a good one. 2 hours & 35 minutes of a good one, in fact. Hopefully there's still some good songs left for next year, ha! Keep an ear out for some undercover Nickel Creek, a healthy amount of Pentatonix & NSYNC, & a sneak attack Ying Yang Twins that we deliberated very hard over before deciding that yes, it should make it through to the final round. (If Simon Cowell Complex is a thing, Jared & Kelsey Bethune have it once a year in December, for sure.) 

In other news, our Christmas tree is located no more that 4 in. from my desk & I could only be happier if we finally had a dog in our apartment this year. Baby steps. But also, get back to me when there's actually a dog in our apartment & literally no room to move.

A Very Bethune Christmas Mix | 2014

A Very Bethune Christmas Mix | 2013