Christmas 2013: gift recap

I hope everyone reading had a merry Christmas or some time off well spent with your families! 

Mark had all week off and I had to work only Monday, so we have been soaking up lots of time together and with our families, who both live close enough for day trips. We spent Christmas eve with my family in Arlington and had a yummy dinner of beef tenderloin and sides prepared by the women (me, my mom, and my sister). Wednesday we headed up to McKinney for Christmas with Mark's side of the family. We spent all day opening gifts, talking, napping (some of us) and then ended the evening with a delicious traditional turkey meal.

Since then, we've split our time between dinner with friends, surprise birthday dinners for Mark, family weddings, and my extended family Christmas on Sunday. All of the time off has been great, but it goes by so fast when we are so busy! I'm crossing my fingers for a somewhat slow week this week before we start going back to our normal lives. I'll be back later this week to blog more about the time off... 

First, I wanted to share the spoils of my holiday! Here are a few favorite gifts I received:

The elves paid attention this year and went to 'my wish list' board on Pinterest. Best idea I've ever had! ;)

Mark got me this cast metal jewelry tree (in gold, not finding it online) from West Elm. I've been asking for something of the sort for YEARS!

I have recently gotten more into wearing necklaces (I'm weird and not much of a jewelry person) and pined over the popular J. Crew necklaces for most of last year. My mom and sister each got me a necklace from my Pinterest. Not finding them there or online anymore, but they were from J. Crew Factory and I've already worn them both twice! :) Here is one that I wore at Stephanie's wedding on Saturday.

Mark's sister Andrea got me this cute burlap pillow with our name and wedding year on it. Love!

Mark got me the two bowls above from anthropologie for some added flair in our new kitchen. I just love little things like that!

Mark's mom put together a fun little gift basket that included this sweet owl mug from anthropologie. You can never have too many mugs, especially when they are this cute! ;)

Those are just a few fun things that I received. What did you get for Christmas?

Happy Monday! :)