Being recently married I have found myself trying to document our many ‘firsts’ together as a wedded couple.  First morning as husband and wife turns into first coffee as husband and wife which spirals into first car ride, target trip, lunch, Tuesday, October, etc.  I’m not sentimental/crazy enough to photograph and mentally file away each and every one of these firsts, but it’s been fun to take a step back and notice the veil of newness that’s been cast over our lives.  Our daily life from the outside looking in probably doesn’t appear that different, and most days it doesn’t feel that different – but that ‘newness’ is there all the time.  It’s funny to every once and awhile look up at Jon over some mundane task and think ‘this will be the only ‘first time as husband and wife’ loading the dishwasher.  It takes me by surprise occasionally, and I even get a little bit sad when I acknowledge that these firsts only happen once and that tomorrow it’ll just be an ordinary task.

One of the biggest firsts to happen so far was a double whammy.  This Christmas was both our first as a married couple and first in Denver away from our families. It was surprisingly lovely.  Marlo thoroughly enjoyed the tree, specifically the cord for the lights.  In discovering her love for chewing cords she has successfully ruined 2 pairs of headphones, two of my laptop cords, and the entire top half of our once nicely lit Christmas tree.

To curb Marlo’s boredom and aid in our laziness I created an ingenious toy.

It’s curly ribbon hanging from a vent in our ceiling with some crumpled up tissue paper tied on the bottom that has another string of ribbon running to the couch where Jon can yank on it.  Genius.

Merry Christmas Marlo : )

Christmas Eve night we had dinner reservations at a local Italian restaurant and one of our favorite cozy spots, but before heading there we went downtown to get out of the house, look at some beautiful lights, and grab a cocktail.

There was a wonderful band playing that night and it wasn’t until they did an acoustic rendition of ‘Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas’ that I broke down in homesick tears at the bar.  Poor Jon you say?  Poor bartender.

My breakdown quickly dissipated and shortly thereafter we headed home to Skype with the Hendrickson family and open gifts. It was fun.  We were spoiled.  Which was also fun!  I got some Anthro dishes I’d been pining over, an adorable first married christmas ornament, and some bath necessities from Restoration Hardware – Jon got what is currently one of my favorite sweaters he owns from his favorite store in the world, Len Druskin.

Christmas morning Jon and I woke up early to give our gifts to the other and eventually got Skype up and running on my christmas gift from him – a new iMac!

It was fantastic to have the technology that allowed us to ‘be’ with our families from the comfort of our own home.  It truly made all the difference in the world.  That weekend was a really great way to cap off what had already been a spectacular year for us. Just Jon, myself and our cat/dog Marlo in what will go down as one of my favorite firsts.  Speaking of my favorite firsts – a parting gift for you.  A HILARIOUS video of a couple sharing one of the most important firsts in life on their wedding day.  Not that.  Get your head outta the gutter.