Welcoming the Christmas Season

I have been quite the slow poke when it comes to blogging lately. I will blame it on all of the exciting things we have been doing lately combined with the lingering pregnancy nausea & over all sleepiness : ) All that to say, I have been thinking about this post & what I could include to knock it all out at once so.....here we go!

First, a Valentine Family Tradition, we decorate the tree on the Sunday evening following Thanksgiving. We set it all up, minus ornaments while Char was asleep in the afternoon & she was in awe when she came out! She loves the lights & points at them frequently saying "dat" which means "that." She came right out and smelled the tree which is funny because ours is artificial. She continued to sniff the tree for a few days after.

The evening was kicked off by a sugar cookie baking session complete with Charlotte's first opportunity to "help." She was so happy to stand on her chair & help pour in the ingredients.

Our entire tree is covered in ornaments our families passed onto us plus those we have added over our years together. We found it very funny that the first year we each had our childhood ornaments, the two pictured below matched! Mine says 1985 on it, not sure when Rob's is from but I just love that we have them!

Our ornament extravaganza is not complete without "snackies." Sausage Balls & Piggies, two favorites in this household for special days. Sometimes when we don't want to cook a real dinner we say, "Do you want snackies for dinner?" Anyway, so tasty. Charlotte needs to learn some snackie etiquette....she would suck all the bread off & leave the piggie on the plate haha! Don't they look delicious though?

Here is the little silly goose doing her new trick. She is such an entertainer when it is just us at home but is a little more shy out in public. I will have to do a post dedicated to the little lady soon to update you on all her doing & growing.

The newest additions to the decor for the holiday season are a banner & pillow covers. It took me forever to find fabric I liked but was happy with my final decision & finished product!

A note on our Christmas tree....the first year we were in our house in Richardson we really wanted a real tree. We went to get it & saw how expensive they were. We settled on purchasing the cheapest one at Target for $25 with the plan to return after Christmas & buy a nice one on sale. Fast forward 5 years, here is our cute little $25 dollar tree all lit up. It has grown on us, not in height but in our hearts ; )

One of my favorite holiday stories from 2010. I had been looking for a nativity set for Charlotte to play with. She loves my Willow Tree one & wants to be on the couch constantly so she can touch it. I had my eye on a set I had seen online & looked at it nearly everyday for 2 weeks debating whether I should buy it or not. At the end of the 2 weeks, I received a phone call from my Grandma Shirley saying she had a brilliant idea. She wanted to buy a nativity set for Charlotte for Christmas. This idea had come to her mind the day before & she spent the afternoon searching for the perfect set but returned home empty handed. She started looking online & found the one she wanted. She even went to Toys R Us at 6am to get it! So during our call, she started describing the most adorable nativity set she had ever seen. What do you know....it was the same exact one I had been hoping to get! Something so small but so special that I know the Lord blessed me with.

Our prayer is that our home would reflect treasuring Christ through every season of the year. We are feeling the weight of responsibility to teach Charlotte the story of how Jesus came into the world as a baby with the purpose of dying for our sin so our relationship with God the Father would be restored. What a special time of year to focus on the birth of Jesus & what a special way to help her little heart & mind begin to grasp the love of Christ. Our prayer is that this nativity set would be touched by little hands for many years in our home as we share with our children the true reason we celebrate Christmas. Thank you Great Gran for helping us get started!

We definitely need to work on our character identification. Yesterday, Charlotte picked out baby Jesus & Joseph easily but when asked to bring Mary to mommy, she returned with a cow & a huge smile on her face. I love this little girl! Here she is in her Christmas dress that Robby's mom & dad gave us last year. She got grass stains on it from sitting & rolling in the wet grass : ) Such a girly girl right?

And finally, a picture of the growing belly. Last weekend I had the opportunity to step in for a sweet friend from work that had a bridesmaid cancel on her last minute. It was amazing that the dress only needed minor alterations! I think the style of the dress REALLY accentuated the growing bump. I don't look THAT pregnant all the time : ) The wedding was in Port Orange, Florida near Daytona Beach & we had a such good time at the ceremony & reception. We are just a few days away from our anniversary & are in reflection mode thinking about the week leading up to our special day so that makes a wedding super enjoyable!

We are fast approaching a couple trips to visit family & friends, company in our home over Christmas, Pierogi Day & New Years! We are close to frozen here in Orlando with highs in the 40s the past few days. Brrrr!!! Hope your next couple weeks are enjoyable & focused on the real reason we celebrate during this season.