holly jolly christmas

i haven't enjoyed christmas this much in a long time.  and this is coming from someone who LOVES christmas.  i love christmas music (even before thanksgiving), and lights, and snow, and christmas movies. but having a three year old is a serious christmas game changer!  he had his presents memorized for santa, and has been repeating them to everyone who's asked for the past month.  he also thinks that every kid was asking for the same thing!  it was freaking amazing to watch him open his presents.  he actually said "this is just what i wanted!"  i mean he's only three!  he's a good kid, he deserved it!

first, a little birthday photos

merry christmas!

santa parade

in honor of the post-thanksgiving/official-christmas-season/long-weekend-together-as-a-family i researched fun holiday activities and found the santa parade!  its actually a 20 minute holiday parade that is every night between now and new years but the first night is santa night!!!  20 minutes is the perfect amount of time for a parade on a chilly november night!  plus, one of the drummers took his place right next to us - squirt-tot couldn't stop staring!  we had a great time.  the kids loved it.  we'd do it again.

this is fake snow.  its actually bubbles, pretty clever.  it looked nice!

squirt was so obsessed with the horses that i think he missed the fact that they were pulling santa!

thanksgiving

another thanksgiving...another delicious meal.  george is the cook around here and as always he made an amazing dinner.  i never really cared for traditional thanksgiving foods until my husband started making thanksgiving dinner for me.  in fact, i don't think i had ever had gravy or stuffing until i trusted george to make the holiday feasts!

on thursday a friend came over for dinner.  tonight, we went to their house for a belated thanksgiving dinner, which was also amazing.  but tonight we went around and said what we were thankful for.  while i felt a little on the spot, since i didn't know half the people at the table, it's easy to say what i'm thankful for.  i'm blessed with a wonderful family.  my husband and sons are so beautiful and loving and amazing and i'm lucky to have them.  our extended family is so great as well, and so (good at pretending to be) understanding about us being so far away!  i'm thankful for my new job i'll be starting soon.  i'm thankful for my health, my friends, and all the opportunities that life has afforded us!

post thanksgiving nap snack

after naptime we took the opportunity to get a jump on our holiday decorating.  such good helpers!

then there was some brother bonding time on the batmobile!

"just practicing standing, no big deal"