Our First Christmas!

I had SO been looking forward to my first Christmas as a wife...and last year at Christmas I had NO IDEA it would happen this year! I wondered what it would be like...and it was absolutely everything I could have dreamed about and filled with even more surprises!!

 

As has been my tradition for many years, Ryan and I spent Christmas Eve sleeping on the living room floor with the Christmas tree lights on all night. (And the fireplace running.) I appreciated him being a good sport about that! I just love waking up to the tree and all the beauty on Christmas morning!

 

Here was how it looked before we invaded it:

 

Isn't it lovely?

We took an official "first Christmas" picture with our trusty chalkboards:

We started the morning with breakfast. I'd made quick cinnamon rolls the night before, so we ate those with (of course) coffee to start our day. (We were trying not to eat TOO much because we knew we'd be eating for the rest of the day!) 

 Then (and I LOVED this so much) Ryan read the last chapter of my Advent book before we started to open our presents. I can't describe to you the feeling of hearing my own husband read words I wrote before we were together...as he led us in devotions. It was unbelievable and so very redemptive.

Then it was time to dig into the presents! This was my first time ever to fill a stocking and it was such fun. I loved watching him open it and love what he found inside.

 (He found it comical that the mini Reese's cups came in a king size package.)

 I gave him some themed gifts...and in there was a coffee set: two mugs and this wooden tray. Coffee in bed, baby!!!

 We had to take a break to give Braeya her stocking. She was most interested in the treats. And since she let us sleep all night for a change, I was willing to give her one.

 My turn!! My first time to have a stocking not filled by my parents!!

 Another break...to give this one her toy....

 Among the treasures...a very cool travel mug. :) We love our travel mugs.

 Another of Ryan's themed gifts - five boxes of Zingers. (He's not a pig. I just had to get them before they stopped manufacturing them!)

 

Ummmmm did I not just give her treats??? Yes, I thought so.

Ryan's last gift - a big clock for our living room. He's been wanting one for months and I stressed over which one to give him. He really liked this one, so apparently I made a good choice!!

My turn for presents! A book I saw at work that I wanted...Praying the Promises of God. My devo book for 2013!!

 LOVE this sign he found for me. Quotes Genesis - "May the Lord watch between you and me when we are absent from the other." I loved that so much...we HATE being apart, even for our commutes and both of us always worry about the safety of the other one on the road. This is perfect!!

 WORKOUT CLOTHES!!!! I so appreciate the way he pushes me to do what I really don't want to do - and he does everything he can to make me feel cute while I do it!

 My last gift turned into a scavenger hunt!! I was so excited! I love scavenger hunts! :) A clue right by...my Christmas flowers!!

 Aren't they gorgeous? My GOODNESS I love flowers.

Another clue in the bathroom. (I had the wrong bathroom at first, so this one took me a while.)

 The last part of my gift - a necklace hanging on Chuck!!!

It was such a lovely Christmas morning. Loved it SO much. Thank you, my Love, for making it such a memorable and beautiful day. I loved sharing it with you!

Christmas #1 With Ryan's Family

I have a very small family. I'm not even sure there are enough of us to constitute a handful. :) I mean, we ARE a handful, but I'm not sure quantity-wise we are enough to be a handful. So one thing I've inherited with marriage...is the chance to attend multiple Christmas gatherings. And I'm not gonna lie - I've been pretty excited about it!

This past Sunday was the first of the celebrations - with Ryan's side of the family. We took a TON of pictures, but some of them were close ups of the kiddos and I didn't ask if I could post them, so I'll try to keep it generic here.

Ryan's mom and stepdad live in a gorgeous log cabin in the woods. (We had round 2 of our engagement pictures taken out there.) It's so beautiful all the time, but as you can imagine, at Christmas it's especially beautiful. And his mom is such a great hostess. She had the coffee cups (and many K-cups) ready for us when we arrived:

 One of the trees (ahhh yes, she is a woman after my own heart with many trees...) with our gifts stacked under it.

 Hanging out with Ryan before the festivities began...of course, watching football!

 We had a really great evening together...started out by sharing communion together as a family (which I LOVED) - and then we had breakfast for dinner. That was yummy! Ryan's niece read from Luke 2 and then all the kids dove headfirst into the Christmas gifts. The mosh pit of gifts....

 I was hanging out in the corner drinking more coffee. :)

 With this guy. Goodness he's handsome. I should marry him.

 Everyone was very festive. Even Bucky.

 Ryan's stepdad, Allen - who has made me feel very much a part of their family. I appreciate him!

 One of the nieces, ripping into her gifts. Doesn't it just make your thighs hurt to see kids sit like this?

 Ryan's beautiful mom, Nita. I love her so much. So thankful for a great mother-in-law!

 Ryan handed me Allen's drill so he could take a picture. When I grabbed it, I accidentally turned it on. Scared me to DEATH.

 The first of many official Christmas photos. What a great night with my new family! So thankful for them!!

Merry Christmas from the Shaffers!

I sat in church Sunday morning, listening to Ryan practice with the worship team and wondered...when did this become my life? (I know when...but you know what I mean.) I remember last Christmas. I remember wondering if "my turn would ever come." And I am blown away beyond all measure that this Christmas I write to you as a wife. That my Christmas greetings come to you from our home.

As you celebrate today - in whatever manner you do - please know that Ryan and I wish you a day of joy and a special awareness of Jesus' presence!

And I thought you might like an additional peek into a Shaffer kind of Christmas:

We received several ornaments this year to start our journey through life as told through Christmas ornaments. Love this one...looking forward to filling it with a picture from this day:

 And many other fun ones as well....like this one with our names on it.

 We never pass up the opportunity to use this guy...and can I just tell you how excited I am to have this in my home??

 Love seeing this name on a stocking over the fireplace. Even more...love the stash of gifts waiting to fill it. I've waited so many years to do this!

 And of course, we can't forget one of the original residents of this establishment. (Who, by the way, was recently renamed "The Hairy One" by Ryan. And who, by the way, has been keeping us up at night for hours at a time just crying. We think she's entered a jealous phase and it is wearing. us. out.)

 What a delight to wrap this stash of gifts for my sweetheart!

 And place them under our little tree decked out in our wedding colors...

 And Chuck. Dear, dear Chuck....our first live tree. We love him.

 All the gifts for our family - waiting to be shared.

 And little hints of Christmas here, there, and everywhere!

Merry Christmas to you...from Ryan and Bekah!

It's a Tuesday Kind of Honeymoon

Before I hit another honeymoon post...want to pause to wish my niece, Cassie, a very happy birthday!!! :)

Okay. Tuesday. We were VERY BUSY on the Tuesday of our honeymoon!!!

Started out by going to another local joint for breakfast. It was called Dutch Valley. You know. The place where they put the germ-x next to the ketchup:

 Hard to see me in this picture, but Ryan took it from inside the restaurant while I was standing out on the sidewalk talking on the phone to Lynne...on the air. Yep, I'm the one who called in to Mid-Morning from my honeymoon to talk about the wedding!!

 After breakfast, we got ready for a little adventure. Here were my thoughts as we were en route....

 Because I was about to get in one of THESE for the first time in my life.

 That's right. My sweet husband talked me into kayaking. It was on our bucket list. (We have a collective bucket list that we each contribute to. Guess who suggested this one??) I was most nervous about flipping the kayak and losing my camera.

The kayak place was so nice - gave us this nice map to get us around the little island.

 And off we went. He worked hard to row. (Do you row a kayak? Whatever.) I worked hard taking pictures. And I rocked it, I don't mind saying. (The picture taking. NOT the kayak.)

 Part of the way through our little tour, we stopped on a beach to see the coastline from another view.

 There he is! My handsome husband!!

 Trying out our new tripod. All that messed up sand in front of us was from our frantic climbing to get up the tiny dune before our 10 second timer went off!!

 Back in the kayak and we um...hit some shallow water. Yep. Pretty much got STUCK.

 I was freaking out but Ryan stayed perfectly calm, got out of the boat, and pushed us back into the water. He's a genius.

 The kayaking really was fun. We were out for a couple of hours and the day was really nice for it. Not windy, mostly sunny - and a great time together. And don't tell him I said so, but I really enjoyed doing something new that was out of my comfort zone.

We came back to our hotel and got cleaned up in time for sunset. We got some lawn chairs and coffee from the hotel office and headed to the beach to watch the sun go down.

 And do sand art. :)

 Not disappointed!!

 And since we were there...some beach weed pics.

 One of our wedding guests was my college roommate, and she lives right there near where we were married. She texted us some suggestions of places to visit, and one of them was this restaurant.

 The Old Salty Dog was featured on Man vs. Food and she said it was good! So we tried it out! It was dark out but such a lovely evening that we asked to eat outside again. Ryan wanted to try the same thing the guy on Man vs. Food ate: the foot long beer battered hot dog loaded with multiple kinds of cheese, mushrooms, onions, and many other things.

 I went for the "dog bites" version. Just beer battered hot dog. "JUST" - because that is lower in calories. LOL!!

 After dinner, we drove to St. Armands Circle and walked around looking at the shops and restaurants there.

 Funny story from there...as we tried to drive through the roundabout that makes the circle, we encountered a car parked in the road, and the driver was out talking to people parked in the angle-parking off the road. We were trying to squeeze through and the driver of the car in the road waved us on, saying we had "plenty of room." She went on to say, "Oh we're just exchanging toys." Once we got through, I said to Ryan, "Is this some rule of Florida roadways? It's okay to block a road if you're exchanging toys AND you explain that to those trying to get through?"

After we walked off dinner, we had dessert at Big Olaf's. We shared a waffle cup....

 Which was MOST yummy.

 We were STUFFED, so we left and went back to the resort, where we took this little photo-into-the-future.

And once done, we saw the sign that said to stay off the shuffleboard...

WOOPSIE!!!