O Christmas Tree...

Several Saturdays ago, our family went to get a tree from a Christmas tree farm connected to one of Adam's co-workers. We are so thankful for their generosity!! Since we didn't get a tree last year, this really was Michaela's first Christmas tree outing experience. She loved it. I realized how come I love the Christmas tree cutting day so much - I experience all of the reward, and all of the hard work is done by Adam! He just smiled when I observed this - apparently he had already noticed that fact.

Posing with our selected Christmas tree - notice their matching boots!

The face of pure excitement

More excitement as it appears the tree is coming home with us!

"My first Christmas" bootie ornaments from Grammy (we received them last year, but they are unappreciated by a 4-month-old)

Ta da!

From Baby's Point of View

Now, when I say "baby" I actually mean Michaela's baby doll, who, for lack of creativity and effort on the part of her parents, is largely called "baby doll." It's 9:00 am, and where is baby doll currently spending her time? In between being carted around in the arms of her loving, if not gentle, mommy Michaela, she is tucked into the green tupperware lettuce crisper that has been in Michaela's play drawer for months. Every morning (and sometimes several times during the day) the lettuce crisper is dumped upside down to empty it of unwelcome toy contents and carried to baby doll. Baby doll is placed in (right side up, thankfully) and then carried around. This morning, however, there is an extra special touch. Baby doll has been wrapped up cozily in my kitchen dishtowel (surreptitiously stolen from the oven door where it hangs) and then placed in the crisper. Of course, by the time I finish this post, Michaela's moved on to other things and I didn't get a photo to prove it, but just enjoy the mental picture. Happy Friday, all!

Giving Thanks for Family... and Heat

A bit about Thanksgiving...


Michaela is happy to be eating her 2nd, or 3rd, bite of chocolate!!



Our little family had planned to travel up to Adam's parents for a couple of days prior to Thanksgiving. Then, be prepared, everyone-- the warnings for Arctic Storm 2010 appeared on the news! As many of us predicted, nothing too wild and woolly actually materialized, and so we continued north, where things got considerably colder and snowier. Adam's parents told us that they didn't have power, which happens a lot to them so we didn't think it through. The difficulty specific to this storm, however, was that the tree across the street had actually fallen on their power lines out front. So when we arrived for family fun times, the temperature in their house was 56 degrees. By the time the power company had taken down the tree, fixed the power lines,  and the heat kicked on (24 hours later) the house was 50 degrees. Not terrible, but enough for Adam to walk around shrouded in a blanket the whole time. I still maintain the memories will not soon be forgotten: eating dinner by candlelight, sitting talking around the fire, drinking mugs of warm hot chocolate and cider to stay cozy, playing board games by daylight, and analyzing the tree on the power lines outside.



Michaela and super-cute cousin Greyson

 We tried not to ponder what prepping Thanksgiving dinner was going to be like if we only had the gas stovetop. It was the closest I've been to camping all year, and I savored nearly every minute (the toilet seats were pretty cold).


 

 Luckily, the power came on just in time to prepare desserts for the extended family dinner. As you can see, Michaela was loving the pumpkin pie. She tried and seemed to like most everything on my plate, but I'm pretty sure she ate almost an adult-size serving of dessert. Her mother's child! We had fun with the three second cousins being together: Cousin Sally's daughter is 2 1/2, Michaela at 15.5 months, and Greyson at 4.5 months. Greyson slept through Thanksgiving dinner, as apparently we weren't exciting enough for him. He'll take it all in next year, though, I'm sure.

So very much to be thankful for.