It's Finally Here!

Thanksgiving was great this year. We ate Thanksgiving dinner with the Slaters, then we walked across the street and had pie with the Gibbons. We love having our families so close to us and so close to each other. Sometimes it makes for a lot of back and forth, but it's worth it to us to be able to see both our families on every holiday.It's tradition at the Slaters that we write down what we are thankful for on our place card. I wrote that I am thankful that we could live close to our families for one more year before possibly leaving for dental school. Josh wrote that he is thankful that his family is healthy. Lydia wrote that she's thankful for daddy and the bus (that's what she said in the car on the way to dinner). She really gobbled up her turkey dinner!

We're pretty anal about waiting until after Thanksgiving to let the Christmas festivities start. We totally respect other people's wishes to start listening to Christmas music and decorating early. But Josh and I agree that for us Christmas time is the sweetest when we get to anticipate it through the rest of the year. We LOVE this time of year so much that the minute Thanksgiving is over, we buy a real Christmas tree, pull the decorations out, turn on the Christmas music, and watch our favorite Christmas show-Elf.
Josh is a pro at putting lights on the tree. I'm so glad he enjoys it because that's my least favorite job.
Each year we add something to our Christmas decorations. Last year I added homemade Christmas Stockings (made with the Domestic Divas of course). This year I made a tree skirt to match (also a Divas product).
I think Lydia has pretty mixed feelings about the whole thing. She's being tortured by having all these wonderful shiny new toys on the tree, but not being able to play with them (at least while mom & dad are around). She's learning, I'm sure she'll get it after a few hundred more time outs.

We wish you all a wonderful Christmas season!