Oh-Bla-Di

One of the best winter traditions I gained when Matt and I got married was St. Nicholas day.  My family hadn’t ever celebrated on December 6, but Matt’s family always did, so we started to as well.  It’s kind of a nice tide-you-over celebration after the craziness of Thanksgiving and into the long wait for Christmas.  I’d imagine it’ll become more and more valuable as the kiddos get older and actually know that Christmas is coming soon.  

So, there are our shoes all lined up in front of the tree and St. Nick brought us all a special treat.  Matt got some new slippers, I got the new Twilight movie, Noah got a toy, and Ava got some replacements for her sparkle shoes.  Such a lovely morning surprise!

…and in with the Christmas tree!

It took a week of home recovery from our Thanksgiving shenanigans before we were ready to decorate again, but we got our Christmas tree up last weekend.  After our Christmas shopping excursion Saturday morning, Matt and I came home, got the kiddos in bed and then did the tree & light set up.  When Ava and Noah woke up, they got to help put the ornaments on.

Ava helped with the little tree in the TV room, too.  That tree has been Matt’s and my tree since we first started dating.  It has lived in our bedroom every year since we got the big tree in 2005, but we decided to share it with the fam this year.  As I was putting the lights on it, I asked Ava if it was pretty yet.  She said no, not yet.  I asked what would make it pretty and she said, “The star.”  We got the star on pronto and then it was “so beautiful, Mommy!”

This is the first year that Ava really gets the whole Christmas thing and I think it’s going to be so much fun.  Looking forward to all the fun winter/holiday activities heading our way in the next few weeks!

Even though it’s been nearly two full weeks since our favorite holiday, I can’t just skip documenting it here. Someday, I intend to get this ol’ blog printed, so I need a full and accurate accounting of our days.

We had a lovely Thanksgiving with lots of friend and family and food. You know, the three most important F’s in life.

Anyway, we had a houseful of people with Matt’s family, some expected…

…and some not.

Michael and Whitney showed up Thanksgiving morning as we were just headed out to fry a turkey. Such a big surprise as he was supposed to be in the field over the holiday.

Speaking of frying a turkey, this was new for us and turned out really well. Dave brought all the implements and, since we had plenty of men to gather around the fryer, everything went very smoothly.

Did you know there was a uniform for frying a turkey? It involves getting as redneck decked out as possible and holding a beer. Bonus points if you wear a beer holster.

I do most of my Thanksgiving cooking the day before, so Turkey Day is mostly centered on setting the table and waiting for the turkey to cook. That leaves me with plenty of time to be organized. Someone evidently found my organization amusing enough to photograph.

In my defense, tables like these don’t just happen.

So, there.

In the end, though, this day was perfect in that there was plenty of time for the most important stuff. Relaxing, hanging out with good friends and loving on our family.

We have so very much for which we are thankful.

: : We’re big fans of Playmobil around here and Ava was gifted a few sets for her birthday.  We don’t have this one, though, and that’s maybe a total fail.  Be sure to read the customer reviews.  Hysterical.

: : from the back of the van, gesturing to a man on a motorcycle

Ava: “Mommy, see that guy?  He’s a bad, bad guy.”

Mommy: “He’s a bad guy?  How do you know he’s a bad guy?”

Ava: “See that thing on his head?  That makes him very bad.”

Guess she doesn’t really approve of motorcycle helmets.

: : Noah is laughing!  It’s the cutest sound ever.  He did it for the first time yesterday and it was so very sweet.  He’s such a happy kid!  Love, love that baby boy.

: : Oh, the rollercoaster of living with a three year old.  One minute she’s talking your head off telling you neat things and the next she’s flipping out about goodness knows what.  Sometimes it’s frustrating, but sometimes it’s just downright funny.  Especially in a video viewed a few weeks later.  

: : We swapped child care with the Hoffmans this weekend so that the adults could do Christmas shopping together for the kiddos.  Such a wonderful thing to get to actually go choose a gift, rather than to order online or to shop solo.  I think it’s a new tradition in the making!

: : I have jury duty on Wednesday.  Half hoping that I really do have to go and that they’re really inefficient so that I get to spend hours sitting in a waiting room somewhere reading Harry Potter.  Of course, more than willing to do my civic duty also.  

Six years ago today, Matt and I were married on the Saturday after Thanksgiving.

One deployment, three Masters degrees, three PCSes, four houses, and two kids later, it’s still the most exciting thing we’ve ever done.