The 12 Dates of Christmas

Christmas 1Christmas 2Christmas 3This Christmas was amazing. Not only did we bring home a bundle of (puppy) joy, but we started a brand new tradition! I mentioned here that we did a little thing called "The 12 Dates of Christmas" (inspired by Rockstar Diaries). Jeremy and I both agreed that these small dates made the Holidays feel more eventful and special. They helped us to slow down and enjoy our first Christmas as a married couple. We loved our little dates even more than giving gifts this year! We both wrote 6 dates each on pieces of paper and sealed them up in envelopes. It was so much fun to wake up each morning and open another envelope. Here's a little recap of what we enjoyed together….

12 Dates of ChristmasThese were our 12 Dates of Christmas… 1. A coffee date at The Hub. 2. Building Fort Christmas 3. Shopping for vintage wrapping paper (Jeremy's idea!) 4. Fill a stocking for Suki. 5. Look at Christmas Lights (forgot to get a pic… oops!) 6. Watch a movie at The Moxie + then have dessert! 7. Shop for a Christmas record 8. Brunch date 9. Make a Holiday cocktail together (we made spiked apple cider… it was amazing) 10. Go wine shopping (one of our favorite geeky things to do together) 11. Creperie date! 12. Wrap gifts together.♥ 

I hope your Holiday was full of warm memories. xo, elsie

  • I love this idea of mini dates during the holidays. It was something I really wanted to start this year with my fiance but with our travel plans it didn’t work out.

    Congrats on your first married Christmas! I can’t wait to start planning my wedding 🙂

    xoxohannah
    a cup of subtle tea

  • My husband + I do a similar tradition. We have a small activity to do every day leading up to Christmas. We don’t get them all done, but it does add so much more magic to the holiday season! 🙂 I wanna try the 12 dates of Christmas next year ♥ I think it’s a sweet idea that you both chose 6 dates! I’m usually the one coming up with the ideas. It’s our first year as a married couple too. Wasn’t it the best??? I love being married.

  • This is so sweet :). I hope you guys have a wonderful, memorable and love filled marriage. My hubby and I are 8.5 years in (woohoo!!) and time is somewhat nonexistent when you are with an amazing partner. Maybe next year we’ll start a 12 Dates of Christmas :). Great idea!

  • that is a great idea~ that the first picture, your new puppy is KILLING ME. what a cute little dear.

  • I love your new tradition. I’d love to try something like this with my boyfriend too. I’d be fun!
    Looks like you had so much fun! And the new family member (pup) is soooo CUTE! Is Suki being a good big sister so far?
    I wish you all the best and a Happy New Year! 🙂

  • I LOVE the 12 dates! My husband and I did the 8 dates of Hanukkah and had a blast!

    Brooke

    thebebebirds.blogspot.com

  • You’re having great holidays! Love the small dates idea!
    the puppy is soo cute! I want to cuddle him! or it her? sorry, no mention

  • I saw you do this and I thought it was a great idea so me and my bf wrote down some ideas. Our best one was buy some blank glass ornaments and paint them. We didn’t paint traditional Christmas things on them but things like characters from our favorite video games and our favorite bands’ logos. Another good one was we started reading one of our favorite books (The Perks of Being a Wallflower) aloud to each other. Sadly though we didn’t get through all 12 dates, Christmastime can be so busy. We had some funny and kool ideas though such as buying cheesy Christmas pjs/undies/socks for each other and wearing them, going to a nice restaraunt and only ordering dessert. We’ll try again next year. : )

  • Oh gosh your new puppy is so adorable! And I really love this idea of 12 dates! Unfortunately I work at a bakery and christmas times are very busy, so I don’t really have the time to do this with christmas, but it is a great idea for the summer holidays too!

  • Did you come up with a name yet for the little bundle? She is so cute! I still love the mentioned (Apple Dapple Dumpling) on your first post of her!

    Love & Lollies… Jessa

    Confessions of the Cupcake Countessa

  • Oh puppy, so cute! What a fantastic idea for a Christmas tradition, I will definitely do the 12 Dates of Christmas next year 🙂

  • i love this idea so much and look forward to starting the same tradition next year! Also thank you so much for all of the fun gifts i have been receiving from the December holiday giveaway! i think my mailman thinks i have an online shopping addiction, haha

  • Love your 12 dates! But most importantly, I love your dapple dachshund! We have 2 pie bald long hair dachshunds and they are THE BEST dogs ever! You will love having that little character as part of your family. We will NEVER be a house without one! More pictures of that pup please!!

  • What a lovely idea. I feel like i may change this up slightly and do this with my roommates next year!

  • i told tristan about this, we’re going to do it next year! it’s the cutest idea!!
    thanks for sharing and wishing you two a wonderful holiday season xo!

  • such a sweet idea! in the crazy pace of life it is important to make every and any excuse to settle down with your hubby! will definitely be ‘borrowing’ date ideas for next year! you can see how i made my 12 dates of christmas calendar for my man on my blog!

  • Absolutely LOVE the idea of the 12 Dates of Christmas! Next christmas will be mine and my future husband’s first christmas as a married couple..if we can stick to it, we’d love to start this tradition as well! It’s such a great way to slow down during the crazy season & enjoy time with each other and also give us an excuse to maybe try something new 😉
    Thanks so much to you and Rockstar Diaries for the idea! Love your blog and your sweet new puppy!
    Happy New Year! 🙂

    http://www.whitneyloves.blogspot.com

  • Congrats on the doxie! You’ve entered a family of dachshund lovers, myself included. Dapples are darling!

  • That’s a really good idea, your idea with the 12 dates. Seems you have a lot of fun with each other. I wish from the bottom of my heart that you will go on this way for the next decades.

  • i love the 12 dates of christmas idea sounds like you guys had a blast i love that you both split up the date ideas!

  • I just love this idea! I keep thinking about it and hope to do something like this next year. So sweet and fun.

  • I was hoping you’d share what your dates were! One of my goals for the New Year is planning a date with hubby every week–but they need to be economical, so your ideas help.
    Catherine Denton

  • I love your coat! I had just seen a girl wearing it while I was shopping in St. Louis and then I saw you’re pic. =) Its too cute and such a great color!

  • I love your blog, and all of your great ideas, I would like to know why forts are built for the Christmas season. We don’t have that tradition here in the UK and I think it’s a great idea

  • Elsie! Love your Blog. We adopted a puppy (Avery) last year to be a little sister to our older dog (Isabelle), and she came from the rescue with a fuzzy sack JUST LIKE the one you’re holding your new baby in in this post! The girls fight over who gets to sit in it which means we need a second sack. Can’t find one anywhere and am close to making one myself, but if you purchased yours somewhere (etsy?) could you please let me know?!! Isabelle and Avery (and me too!) would be ever so grateful!

  • You guys look so happy, it’s lovely to see!

    I wondered where your beautiful pink coat was from? It’s so pretty, perfect for what I’m looking for!

    x

  • This is such a great idea. It really brings back to real reasons why Christmas is so great, taking some time out of your busy schedule to do fun things with the people you love. Although this shouldn’t be just a Christmas tradition but rather all year around.

    http://www.qacreate.com

  • So fun, I loved seeing all these in progress over on IG! Also, the winery you got the Reisling from makes an awesome Merlot (a wine I’m usually not into…I’m more of a Pinot Noir gal). I think it’s called the Velvet Devil…how approps!

  • Soooo sweet! I am definitely doing this with my Honey next year. We did accomplish to slow down a bit this holiday season. Got to enjoy driving around the neighborhood to see Christmas lights and squeezed in plenty of early morning breakfast dates.

  • You are so cute! What a lovely idea. My husband and I are also trying to invent our own traditions, and I think I might pinch this one from you!

  • 1. The invention of the ineasdcncent light bulb. Until that time, available light sources consisted of candles, oil lanterns, and gas lamps. In 1809, an English chemist, Humphrey Davy used a high power battery to induce current between two charcoal strips. The current flowing through the two charcoal strips produced an intense ineasdcncent light, creating the first arc lamp. 2. The American Civil War (1861–1865) was a civil war between the United States of America (the Union ) and the Southern slave states of the newly formed Confederate States of America under Jefferson Davis. The Union included all of the free states and the five slaveholding border states and was led by Abraham Lincoln and the Republican Party. Republicans opposed the expansion of slavery into territories owned by the United States, and their victory in the presidential election of 1860 resulted in seven Southern states declaring their secession from the Union even before Lincoln took office.The Union rejected secession, regarding it as rebellion.3. The discovery of penicillin by Scottish scientist Sir Alexander Fleming in 1928 and the development of penicillin for use as a medicine. 4. German engineer Konrad Zuse invented the world’s first functional program-controlled computer, the Z3, in 1941 (the program was stored on a punched tape). 5. All of the war(s) in the middle east :1948 Arab-Israeli War1956 Suez War1967 Six Day War1970 War of Attrition1973 Yom Kippur War1982 Lebanon War1987-1993 First Intifada1982-2000 South Lebanon conflict2000-2007 al-Aqsa Intifada2006 Lebanon War . I’m not into politics, but we are all heavily effected by the U.S. militatry’s involvement in the middle east.I could have used events like the first known stone tools made in Kenya 2.4 Ma, or other boring ancient stuff like that but I chose to use more pertainent and relatively recent events.

  • I seen them in columbia sc and i must say i wasnt iseepsmrd with haste the days set. i found myself standing mindlessly nodding my head with EVERY one around me. songs on attack of the wolf king sound so slow and drawn out live and it doesnt hit like the cd does. and it seemed like their heart wasnt in it. go out there and go through te motions, barley any crowd interaction even though they are tearing the walls down for you. not a good last impression to leave die hard fans of your legacy

  • Haha Michael we have completely dineerfft tastes I think. I LOVE this lineup as well as Haste the day, and am so freaking sad that they are not coming to Indianapolis on this tour I hope their absolute very last farewell show is here and they’re gonna do something super awesome and they’re not telling us about yet

  • Normally 26th December, however, as Christmas Day is a Saturday and 26th Decmber (boxing day) is a Sunday it means that the Monday and Tuesday are puilbc holidays therefore opening hours will be limited on 26th December (maximum of six hours) and some stores may not strat their sales until 29th December this year.

  • Same here Melanie! And October 8th is my birthday! No joke! I was giddy. Now I’m sad Any cnhace this show might come back? Or that there is another date for Salt Lake? Also, Jeanna, do you know why it was cancelled?

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