Hello! Can you believe Christmas is in 5 days? Why is time flying by so fast lately? I hope you all are finished shopping, baking, and have been enjoying all of the holiday things! This will probably be the last recap post until after the New Year (but who knows since I don’t have much of a consistent blog schedule these days!) I throw these together when I have enough content or find a good nap session to write. I so appreciate all the patience with the changing of the content lately ♥️ 
It has been so cold here the past few weeks. We used to have mild December weather, but it’s been in the teens in the morning and hovering in the 40s in the afternoon. The winds make it feel colder, and we even have a chance of snow on Christmas! That would be pretty cool for the south! Despite the cold temps, we have still been doing our daily walks. Tux gets his in the morning with Kyle, and Leo gets his in the mid-morning with me and bugs.
We had to bring Tux to the vet to get his blood panel for his upcoming teeth cleaning. The poor pup has some pretty dirty teeth that will take going under to get cleaned. It’ll help him so much with gingivitis and prevent him from diseases. Aside from that, he’s been AMAZING lately. He runs all over the house, jumps all over us in the morning, and has the energy of a puppy. Lately, he’s been lifting his leg for belly rubs, and it’s so cute! I can’t believe this is the same doggy we brought home over a year ago. He’s completely changed. He still doesn’t like strangers, but he’s finally come around with my mom.
We saw this huge Grinch on our walk, and I just had to take this photo since Leo looks just like Max. I need to make this into an ornament.
Last Saturday, I planted 1500 new tulip bulbs into the ground. I purchased them all on black Friday, and since we are in the south, we can still plant them in December. I cannot wait to see what they look like in the spring. It’s going to be so magical!
After spending the afternoon planting bulbs, we ordered Naf Naf for dinner. I get their rice/salad bowls with chicken, cabbage, falafel, and garlic sauce. It’s amazing. I have to stop myself from wanting to eat there every day.
I placed the tulips around my trees, my pots, and on the border of my garden bed. I clean the space by removing the fallen leaves and mulch, then place them pointy side up, add six inches of garden soil on top, and a few inches of fresh mulch. They were pretty around my tree last year, but I added many more this year! (last year’s tulips)
I added twenty different tulip varieties. I tried to place them all over, so they are blended. I took photos of the names by where I planted them to remember what was what.
Luckily, we don’t have a squirrel/chipmunk issue in our yard, so I haven’t had to deal with them eating the bulbs. Bugs sat on the porch in his bounce chair and watched. He’s so content when he’s outside. He loves watching cars, people walking their dogs, and getting fresh air. 
In late January and early February, I’ll prune my roses and clean out the rest of the garden beds. I’ve been begging Kyle to help me with my vegetable garden this year, so we will start the building process in January! 
After hours of planting, I treated myself to a hot shower and a cup of coffee.
On Sunday, we picked up Momos donuts and drove to my parent’s house to say hello. Their old-fashioned donuts are the best things I’ve ever had. They melt in your mouth.
For dinner, I made our favorite turkey meatloaf recipe. 
We had the meatloaf with butternut squash, brussels sprouts, and salad.
I’ve been eating the same thing for breakfast almost every day for the past three weeks. I have a muffin with peanut butter and coffee at 5 am and then a breakfast sandwich at 10 am after our walk. I make it with an O’doughs bagel, egg, avocado, and maple chicken sausage. Eating the same thing has made grocery shopping and my morning routine much easier.
Last week, my baking never ended. Kyle had a cookie exchange at work, so I made gingerbread oatmeal cookies with a chai latte buttercream filling. And the following day, I made a giant dessert charcuterie board for another work party. I LOVE to bake, so I was totally in the zone.
I can do a separate post with the details of this board if you’re interested! 
I spent the entire next day cleaning the house, watching Christmas movies with bugs, and then ordering Naf Naf for dinner. They accidentally gave me steak instead of chicken this time, but it was really good!
On Saturday morning, we decided to be festive and visit a few Christmas markets in Charlotte. We started at OMB because we wanted to grab coffee and food first. We started our lunch with two hot coffees and a pretzel. I gave bugs a few bites of the insides of the pretzel, and he loved it. He’s starting to eat more solid foods like banana egg pancakes, sweet potatoes, and chicken. I need to get a food blog up soon on that journey!
For lunch, I ordered a Chicken avocado club. It had chicken breast, avocado, bacon, pepper jack cheese, lettuce, tomato, red onion, and sriracha aioli on a pretzel bun. It was massive! The side salad was so good, and the croutons tasted like they were coated in pesto. 
We visited the Charlotte Christmas village at Truist Field in uptown. This was such a fun spot, and there was so much to do!
It was freezing, so we started with hot apple cider and cured our sweet tooth with an apple strudel. 
Bugs loved seeing all the fun lights, set-ups, and fake snow. We finally got our crying picture with Santa 😆
When we got home, I made chocolate hazelnut Linzer cookies for a cookie exchange. These are one of my favorite Christmas cookies.
And after putting bugs to bed, I headed down the street for a much-needed girl’s night.
My friend, Samantha, who lives a few doors down, put together this stunning charcuterie spread and made all of us Jack Frost drinks (the recipe is somewhere on TikTok). It was a super fun night!
On Sunday, I started making my bags of peanut brittle for Christmas! Kyle brings them to work, and I drop some off for neighbors with our Christmas cards. I have a few more batches today, and I’m done for the season!
I hope you all have an amazing holiday! Thanks for stopping by to read 🙂
Not related to the recap post but I want to thank you for putting the time into a rescue pup when you got Tux! I just realized in the last few years how overcrowded shelters and rescues are bc so many want “cute” puppies from breeders. The crazy “doodle” trends have made this worse. So many dogs need homes and they are euthanized or there isn’t space for them in shelters.
I’ve been donating and volunteering at shelters for years! However, we just took on our first poodle foster dog in a long time and he is one of our toughest cases. He lived outside on an Amish breeding farm his whole life and has no human interaction. He reminds me of exactly what you went through with Tux. It’s been so helpful to go back and read your posts about the work you put into Tux and to see how far he has come! Our foster is getting better and more trusting each day but he will need time before he can go up for adoption.
Thank you, Kayla! ♥️ Tux is amazing, and I’m so glad he ended up in our home because we had so much space for him in our hearts.
It sounds like your foster has been through the same as Tux! If you ever need some help or have any questions on a few things that we did that worked, send me an email or DM on Instagram! I’d love to share. It has taken so much patience and understanding with him, but it’s so worth it in the end! Thank you for fostering that sweet pup and giving him the lvoe he deserves!
Where do you get your son’s clothes? They are so cute! I’m due in May with a baby boy and have no clue how to dress a small man, haha.
Hi, Amanda!
Congrats 😊 May boys are the best!!! (ok I’m biased)
I stuck with a lot of basic colors so I can mix and match everything (and so I can use them for a second baby in the future)
I have an amazon shop where I got a lot of the basic stuff, i love love love H&M, Zara, Carters, Old Navy, and Banana Republic.
Do you mind sharing where your pink coat is from? It’s so cute! I always love these posts. How you had the time for all that baking with all the other amazing things you do (while having a baby) is incredible! I have a two year old and can barely get 1 thing done, haha. I have 2 of your cookie recipes on plan to bake for this week and I’m definitely going to add these Linzers as well!
I bought it at Target last year! Luckily, he’s a good napper, and he loves hanging out while I cook! I’m sure it’ll get a lot harder. I can’t wait to hear what you think of the cookies!!
I love your posts whenever you have time to write them. In addition, love your photography as well. When you are out in about are you using an iPhone or camera? f so, which one? Happy Holidays!
Hi, Maria!
Thank you ♥️ I use both! Sometimes it’s with an Iphone adn sometimes its with my canon! I like the new iphone 14 quality of photos these days!
You’ve baked as much as a whole bakery!
😂 you’re not wrong!
I would love a post about Bug’s food journey! My girl is almost 3 months so I’m trying to learn as much as I can. She’s a big girl and a great eater so I know she’s going to love real food once she finally gets a taste.
Yes! I’ve been trying to document everything I’ve been feeding him, so hopefully a post soon!
Woo, this post gave me two goals for the new year. Definitely need some tulips for the upcoming spring-should wait for a couple of months for me though. And guess I am going to start baking properly-till now it was more like an event thing. As soon as I saw the piles of cookies couldn’t stop thinking “oh my god, that’s what I need!”. Why do I feel such calm whenever I read your post about baking? Feel like I can also be in the zone if I bake. x)
Thanks for giving me the delight to start a new year! Merry Christmas and happy new year, Taralynn. 😀
Hi, Soy!
Baking is ALWAYS acceptable any time of the year, day, or month! It’s so therapeutic for me.
I’m so happy you stopped by to read ♥️
Hi Taralynn,
I’ve been following you forever. I love hearing all about your journey as a new parent. I had my 2nd baby last Oct so I can relate about finding the time to do things now. I love reading your blog and just wanted to thank you for continuing even when life is so busy. Where did you order your tulip bulbs from? I’d love to plant tulips all over too!
Thanks again and enjoy every second and stage with your baby boy.
Hillary