Our Blue Christmas....

Ronnie's grandparents on their wedding day. Isn't this a beautiful picture? They were married for 56 years!! Our inspiration!!! She gave me this original picture back in September when she came to visit us in Georgia.

Our life was shaken and it has changed quite a bit since late December. It was definitely a blue Christmas. We lost someone who was an inspiration and probably our most biggest supporter. Ronnie's grandmother passed on Dec. 23. Ronnie is the person he is today because of her. She was so important to both of us. Granny now lives in our hearts forever. We went to spend Christmas with her in NC and we didn't expect to be in the hospital by her side for 5 days and eventually have what happened. It really shook us pretty badly, as well as the family. But we moved forward like she wanted. The first night in the hospital she gave Ronnie orders to pick up her order from Cracker Barrel for Christmas day and we did what she wanted. She was definitely the rock in his family. The one who kept and made traditions important. She LOVED Ronnie. He was #1 in her heart. We miss her dearly! Along with losing Bettie, we have been dealing with Ronnie's mother's health. Luckily it has gotten better. But she was shaken up of everything that has happened. Our life has been a whirlwind, but we are fine and moving forward. :)

This was on Christmas day in NC in front of Granny's house. It was definitely a site to have a white Christmas. We believe Granny had something to do with it. She always wanted a White Christmas!

I took this picture of Granny's tree the night we arrived to her house in NC. Her and I watched "Christmas Vacation" while the family picked up BBQ for dinner. She knew that was R's favorite food. And we watched his favorite movie! Crazy, right? Her tree is the kind of tree that has many memories and tradition, just like what made Bettie. She treasured family. I love her tree......

These are the kind of ornaments she has on her tree. This was Ronnie is 1st grade!! LOVE!

Strawberry Peppermint Twist Cupcakes!

I made these cupcakes to take to my neighborhood Christmas get-together tomorrow. My friend/neighbor Julie is hosting the get-together and asked me to make these after she found the recipe at homemadesimple.com. They were definitely a challenge because I've never made any kind of cupcakes that had a filling. These cupcakes are originally titled "Strawberry Preserve Cupcakes", but I added the festive touch of peppermint, pearls and sprinkles! They are moist, and the strawberry preserve filing is a nice surprise! I made the frosting from scratch, from the same recipe of the pumpkin cupcakes recipe I posted earlier this week. I added a touch a red food coloring to make it a light pink. I even had to give them my own original name because I thought they came out so cute! Enjoy!

STRAWBERRY PEPPERMINT TWIST CUPCAKES

Makes approximately 24 cupcakes

INGREDIENTS

1 package of moist strawberry cake mix

2 cups sour cream

3 eggs

1/4 cup water

1/3 cup strawberry preserves

2 muffin pans

24 paper baking cups

INSTRUCTIONS

Preheat oven to 350°F and line 2 muffin pans with paper baking cups.

In a large bowl, combine cake mix, sour cream, eggs and water.

Stir with a spoon and/or whisk until well blended.

Fill paper-lined muffin cups 1/2 full with batter.

Using a spoon, make a slight indentation in the center of each cup; fill with a heaping 1/2 teaspoonful of strawberry preserves.

Spoon remaining batter evenly over each filled cup; covering preserves. (Muffin cups should be about 3/4 full).

Bake for 20-30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. If toothpick goes through preserves, it will not come out clean.

Cool for 1 minute and remove from pan. Cool completely before adding icing and toppings as desired. Store in the refrigerator.

Christmas tree, oh Christmas tree!

Ronnie and I shopped for our Christmas tree on thanksgiving weekend. That's the earliest in the season we've ever gotten one. We searched online and found that we had several authentic tree farms nearby. We were super excited! We went to one about 10miles from our house and it was straight out of a story book! They had beautiful ones and it was hard to choose. They even had trees as tall as 12 feet high! They served cider and hot chocolate for free and sold other festive treats. I loved it and I can just imagine how much fun it will be to go there with a little family of our own! We got our biggest tree to date...an 8 footer! And it took us about 2 days to decorate! We used all o our ornaments, and only had to buy extra garland. It was so much work, but definitely worth it. We have friends visiting at the end of the month and I'm sure they will enjoy it! Here are a few pics of our trip to the tree farm! I'll post pics of our tree soon.









- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Thanks Shutterfly!

One of my favorite things about Christmas and being married is to mail out our yearly family Christmas card! We married in November 2007 and when December came around, I mailed out our first Christmas card with a preview of a wedding portrait and I've made it a tradition ever since.

The last 2 years, we've made it an event to take our portrait. But this year, it is a little different. We've moved away once again, and don't have any friends/family near us to take it for us. And we are on a budget, too, since only one of us is working right now. However, when there's a will there's a way. This weekend we were home in Miami and my brother Michael was able to get a nice snapshot of us. And even though I already got an ear full from Ronnie saying we have to cut back on how many we send out, I was still determined to send out as many as we could afford to our closest family and friends. But then, when I heard about Shutterfly's promotion for 50 free holiday cards for bloggers, I jumped with excitement!

You see, I've used Shutterfly since our very first Christmas card. I usually shop around, but have always managed to go back to Shutterfly because of their great prices, amazing quality and their abundance of choices!

Here are our portraits through the years,

Our first Christmas Card, 2007

2008

2009

I had difficulty decided which card to choose for this year. But here are some of my favorites!

I don't want to share which one I've decided on, because I think it will ruin the surprise for my friends and family, but here are the runners up. I like these because they are modern, yet traditional and would display any photo nicely. You can find them all by clicking here

To enter this promotion, head on over to their submission form. Check out more of what Shutterfly has to offer, like Christmas cards,holiday photo cards, Christmas invitations, Christmas gift tags, birthday invitations,address labels.

noche buena in nc

A very, Merry Christmas to all of my followers, friends and family! This is my first time ever to not be celebrating Noche Buena (Christmas eve) in my entire 28 years with my family. It is very hard, but I have to remember about how lucky and blessed we are to have them in our lives and each other. Nothing is more important than family. I've come to REALLY understand that the past 3 years. I will be OK.

God has blessed us with so much and here's to another great chapter in our fairy tale. We are full of faith and He never lets us down when we need Him the most. Happy Birthday Jesus!

Now off to marinate that turkey full of Cuban goodness! Oh, you didn't know? Yes, Erika is making her first official turkey. But something tells me this will be a team effort. My nails are too pretty in red to rub that turkey.

RONNIE!!!!!! :)

white christmas?

We've been "nesting in nc" for almost 3 years now and each year we have gone home to Miami for Christmas. But this year we are staying put and having Christmas like grown ups and like our own little family. It is bittersweet. Even though I've never experienced Christmas without my entire family, I am looking forward for Christmas between the two of us and creating our own official first family tradition(s). Not sure what they will be yet. But I think this will not only be a memorable one because it will be just the two of us, but it is looking like it will be a WHITE CHRISTMAS! Yep....SNOW! On Christmas! Being from Miami, we have never experienced such a thing in our lives! I think I will shed a tear or two seeing the snow...even if it is just on the ground! What a blessing.... especially since this might be our last Christmas in our first home. Merry Christmas!

christmas at home.

Christmas is finally at the Wray home! Phew! With so much going on, I barely got through decorating. Lights outside the house will probably not make it out because of the wet and busy weekends we've had. But we are ready inside! I picked out a bigger tree this year. I wanted a 7 footer and we managed to pick it out in 32 degree weather last Sunday evening at about 8pm. Talk about luck It rained all day Saturday so we had to wait. Not many new decorations this year, except a few ornaments we picked up on trips from this year (Disneyland, Biltmore House, Ronald Reagan Library) and some new kitchen decorations.

We wish you could be here with us to share our Christmas with you...but you are in our hearts. It is a little bittersweet this year because this may be our last Christmas in our first home. We will be spending it in NC and not in Miami with my family, too. But we are very lucky, hopeful and looking forward to what our future brings. We rely all of our fate to the Lord. God is good! Merry Christmas to all of our friends and family...our love and prayers for many Christmas blessings!

The mantle.

Tree closeup

Last year's Christmas card.

Our first Christmas card, 2007

View of the family room

My new favorite ornament I picked up at the Biltmore House Christmas shop.

First year of marriage and engagement ornament, the slipper. :)

Picture of the night we got engaged.

Our entrance

decorative pillows. I love the "Christmas Kisses" so much.

Kitchen towels

My favorite this year....my candyland in the kitchen!