It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Our Christmas Card pic this year!

Since Thanksgiving, we've been having lots of fun getting into the Holiday Spirit.  I have a strict policy on not decorating, wrapping, or listening to carols before Turkey Day... but the day after is open season!  So far, we have: paid a visit to Santa, picked and decorated our Christmas tree, built a gingerbread train, greeted Buddy (our Elf on the Shelf), baked Christmas cookies, hung icicle lights outside, went to the Livermore Holiday Parade, made cinnamon ornaments, gone for several trips around the neighborhood to look at Christmas lights and even took a day off work to "play Santa" (minus Andrew, of course).  Whew!  No wonder I'm exhausted... or maybe that's due to being 35 weeks pregnant... either way, we've been enjoying the season and embracing the festivities! 

 I was really tempted to try and do a humorous holiday card with this one instead.

Picking out the perfect tree.

There was a neat old truck parked in the middle of the lot. 

This family farm had peacocks, an Indian Village, and Santa's workshop...  quite the eclectic mix.

Mike hard at work.

Andrew and Pop starting to build "Andrew's" Gingerbread train.



Andrew actually didn't do too much of this project at all... but the adults sure had fun!

Our beautiful tree and Buddy the Elf with a surprise for Andrew!

Andrew got Christmas PJs, an Advent Calendar, his Elf on the Shelf book, and Twas The Night Before Christmas (from Gram and Pop).

We froze our tushies off at the Livermore holiday parade... but it just wouldn't have been right to be warm... right?

Baking Christmas Cookies with Gram - all that was missing was Aunt Amanda and an Italian Margarita.

So, there's a funny story behind the next shot.  The weekend after Gram and Pop left, I decided to make cinnamon ornaments with Andrew (thanks to Pinterest).  The recipe called for 2 cups of cinnamon, so Mike  picked up a huge bag of cinnamon from our local grocery store for only a couple dollars (do NOT buy cinnamon in one of those big McCormick jars if you have access to bulk bins!).  I carried the bag over to Andrew, explaining that we were going to make ornaments out of cinnamon and applesauce and they would smell really good.  I held up the bag for Andrew and said, "Here, smell the cinnamon."  And, for some reason, Andrew thought he should take a bite out of the bag instead.  The look on his face when he had a mouth full of cinnamon proved that was all the "punishment" he needed for making such a big mess (we were both covered in it from head to toe - this was actually a staged shot after rinsing out Andrew's mouth and cleaning ourselves up).  Mike couldn't believe that I found this whole episode so amusing (instead of being frustrated at the mess and Andrew's inexplicable actions), but I don't think I'll ever forget the look on Andrew's cinnamon covered face - I hadn't laughed that hard in awhile.

Andrew had his own bowl of cinnamon and applesauce for eating after deciding cinnamon alone wasn't quite his thing.

The finished product!