Preparing for Christmas!

This year we started preparing for Christmas a little earlier than we usually do. Before we headed home for Thanksgiving, I decided we needed a little holiday cheer pronto! We put up our tree and all the trimmings so that when we returned, we would come home to a Christmas-y home :) 

It started like every other year does-- the ornaments. Every year, we go as a family and pick out a special ornament. Dustin and I started this tradition in 2009, the first year we were married and living together. This year Xavier was TOTALLY into it! He was SURE that he had to have the Mickey Mouse with the glasses! He pointed to it and threw a fit until we got it down for him from the shelf. He still points to it every evening at home and loves admiring it. I chose a Minnie Mouse decorative bulb to resemble our first trip to Disney as a family this year (and I just love Minnie :) Dustin, in true Dustin form, chose a Captain America bulb.

While we were there, I searched for something that reminded me of Penelope. I wanted to make sure she had an ornament this year. I almost settled for a cloth pink and white elephant that said "baby" on it but when we got to the check out, I put it back. We went to every hallmark and specialty store in the mall looking for an ornament that felt right. At the last store, I found this little angel baby for our little angel baby :)

Perfect.

 Once we got home, we put up the tree and Beanie got to put the star on top :)

:)

My Life

2013

On the Tree!

 We did very minimal ornaments on the tree this year simply because he can reach them and wants to play with them! As we hung them, we realized how quickly these "special" ornaments have accumulated! We put down our holiday rugs and hung Beanie's stocking. After returning from Indiana, we also hung the advent calendar that Deneen bought for Xavier. Lastly, Dustin put all of my holiday mugs up on our shelves. It is an ongoing joke that I've only been teaching for four years and have already received like 10 mugs as Christmas gifts from students! We are done shopping for Beanie and can't wait for him to open his presents from Daddy, Mommy, and Santa!