Tree huntin'

Our search for the perfect Christmas tree took us on quite the tour this year. And to think that we were planning on doing it the "easy" way. We headed out early on a Saturday morning and stopped for bagels, coffee, and jamba juice before heading to our local (and in recent years, favorite) Christmas tree lot ... only to find that it was no longer there :(

We trekked to a couple of other places before finding a lot with many silver tip pines. I happen to love the look of those particular trees, so we stopped and ended up getting our tree there.

Despite the fact that it started to rain, Luke had fun!

Loading up ... kids and the tree!

Luke "helping" Daddy get the tree set up in the house

Mia "helping" decorate

Christmas Cookies

Earlier this month it was raining for days on end and I just HAD to find something special for Luke to do indoors. We ended up going to Bed Bath and Beyond and getting a cookie press, which we used to make Michael's Aunt Michele's colorful Christmas butter cookies. Luke loved this project, and the cookie press was even easy enough for him to use on his own.

So, I decided that we would make one more attempt at making Christmas cookies this year. I had a box of Gingerbread mix from Trader Joe's (my favorite place!), so I whipped up the dough, we rolled it out, cut out the cookies, and Luke decorated them.

He had fun, but this was definitely a messier project than some of the other baking that we've done this holiday season.

Are they finished baking yet? (oh, yes, we wear underwear around a lot, especially if we have an accident in the pants and Mommy is just too tired - and large - to haul herself upstairs for a clean pair!)

Inspecting his work:

Pleased with the final product (this is before the taste test!):

The downside? Luke discovered that he is not really a fan of gingerbread** ... oh well, live and learn!

**Note to all Mommies: The TJ's gingerbread mix is super gingery and spicy - yummy for adults, not really surprising that it isn't a hit with kids!

The Christmas Tree Adventure

Well, that title might be a bit much for our escapade this year. You see, we learned quite a lot from our quest for the perfect tree last year. Last year Daddy and I were somehow convinced that we could find a Christmas tree farm that had the perfect tree ... and even after finding one that we really, really liked, we kept shopping - only to end up back at the very first place we started, with the first tree we liked (which we ended up LOVING and calling the "best tree ever"). SO, this year, we went straight back to the place right around the corner where we got that beautiful tree last year. It took us about a total of an hour to get our tree this year (and that included a stop at Starbucks!). It was easy ... and short of cutting down a tree ourselves (which we will hopefully do someday), we aren't going to find a more beautiful tree.

Here are some photos documenting this year's trip:

On our way

Checking them all out:


We got one!

"Helping" Daddy bring it into the house (in Luke's words, "My help you, Daddy"):

Happy Thanksgiving

I have so very much to be thankful for - this year and always. When I think of the one thing in the world that I am most thankful for, you - Luke, is the first that comes to mind (and Daddy is not even a full thought behind!).

This Thanksgiving, because we are celebrating tomorrow at Uncle Todd's house, we spent the morning just hanging together as a family. We baked pumpkin bread, watched the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade, and you and Daddy started decorating for Christmas.

It was the most perfect Thanksgiving, the perfect morning, with my two most favorite guys - who I am so very thankful for.