tis the season

Good morning! How was your Thanksgiving weekend?  We had a wonderful time in Pennsylvania with family.  My dad wanted to re-create the first Thanksgiving by eating dinner outside by the fire.  He even went so far as to make Pilgrim hats for everyone.  My cousin, Adam, grilled us an amazing turkey, and we all enjoyed spending time together around the table.

"Cheers!"

Yesterday, as per our tradition, we headed out to the Christmas tree stand to find the perfect tree for our tiny living room.  We usually try to choose a pretty small tree so it won't take over the whole room.  This year, we let Tommy choose a tree and ended up coming home with one a little bigger than we're used to...when we stood it up in the living room, it scraped the ceiling.  Luckily, it didn't leave a bright green line up there like one of our childhood trees did.  (I could tell you so many crazy stories about my dad putting up our tree when WeThree were little...trees scraping the ceiling, broken tree stands, uncooperative lights, and my favorite, one tree that fell over so many times that my dad actually drilled holes in the floor so he could tie it to the pipes in the basement.)  

After giving our tree a little trim, we got to work stringing lights, hanging ornaments, and putting up the rest of our decorations.  My mother-in-law loved Christmas and had several collections related to her favorite holiday.  When she passed away, we brought a few pieces from each collection here to our house.  Having them around is a wonderful reminder of her during her favorite time of year.  Here are some photos of our family's official first day of the Christmas season.

Looking for the perfect Christmas tree.

Found it!

Cutting off the net.

Ready to decorate.

Hanging up the ornaments.

One of my favorite ornaments.

Another favorite.

"Always in our hearts" - to remember my mother-in-law, Mama Phyllis.

Phyllis had a collection of beautiful nativity sets.  This one - my favorite - now lives in our bedroom.

She also had a nutcracker collection.  Love these on the mantle.

Pretty.

Tommy loves Christmas!

A pretty snow globe from my mom.

Will put the lights in the windows for me - I don't like that job.

We waited until after Annabel was in bed to do the ornaments. When Tommy was her age, he broke an ornament while it was still in the box.....so we packed the boxes back up, put them away, and only had lights that year.  We kept a few plastic ones out for her to put on this morning and made sure to put the rest up high where she can't reach.  I think she'll be so excited to see the tree when she comes down this morning.  I just love this time of year!  Happy Christmas decorating!