We had a second Thanksgiving with some additional members of Michael’s family who came in from out of town—including his sister, her husband and their kids.

It was good time. I once again ate way too much food. I’ll need to tone it WAY down over these next few weeks to ensure I don’t gain 10 lbs. this holiday season, geesh. It’s hard to do when all of the vendors my company works with send gift baskets full of chocolate and cookies and all sorts of other terrible things EVERY DAY, it seems.

{Michael with his godchildren.}

It’s always nice to see everyone, especially Michael’s sister. Hard to believe that the next time we see them, it’ll be for Christmas!

This morning, before we went to my in-laws’ for the party, we took Nora outside while we finished putting up the rest of the lights on our house. It was cold—snowing a little, even—so we had to bundle up. Here’s my little cold weather baby! Love her.

Through this experience, I was reminded that mittens are the devil. Yes, they’re warm, but the poor kid couldn’t do anything (except grip the wheel here) with them on. What are kids supposed to do? I predict battles over wearing mittens this winter. Ugh.

When a lot of people are busy hitting the stores on Black Friday (no thanks), we are always chomping at the bit to unearth our Christmas decorations. This year was no different.

We relaxed this morning, playing with Nora, but then got ready and went out to a tree farm to pick out this year’s Christmas tree. The weather wasn’t PERFECT like last year (hey, that was an anomaly). It was slightly rainy and overcast, but the temperatures were decent, so we took advantage since the temps are going to plummet the rest of the weekend.

We again met up with my brother and his wife (and their baby) to do the tree hunting.

We were really pushing Nora’s naptime, so she spent most of the time being a tired girl.

I have never in my life had this much trouble finding a Christmas tree. We walked one whole side of the farm and had found nothing. So then we crossed over to the other side to see if our luck was better there. The farm was busy!

We soon found trees that fit our standards, so cut down two of them.

The guys dragged the trees back to the base so we could pay for them, and while we were waiting in line, we decided to attempt to convince Nora to stand by the candy cane to get her photo. In her mood, she was not having it. But then, as fate would have it, a mother walked up with her two little girls (the youngest probably less than a year older than Nora) and had them stand and take a photo by the candy cane—and both of them happily obliged. I PLAYED THIS UP LIKE YOU WOULDN’T BELIEVE.

“Look, Nora. You see those two little girls taking their picture with the candy cane? Isn’t that fun? See, she’s saying cheese! You like to say cheese. It’s their turn right now, but do you want to have a turn next?”

Her immediate reaction was a simple “no,” but a second later… “Yesss.” When the little girls left moments later, I plopped Nora on the ground and she happily ran up to the candy cane and let me take her picture. MULTIPLE TIMES. Too bad we didn’t have this same luck when I was trying to take her pic next to the pumpkin at the pumpkin patch last month! :)

We had our trees trimmed and bailed, then loaded them up to take them home.

Nora was way past due for a nap, so we put her down and then got to work getting the tree into the house.

We kinda underestimated the size of the tree out in the field, haha. We brought it in and the top (just one long branch as the tip) was scraping the ceiling. Oops. A quick trim here or there and it’s all good, but A LOT bigger than last year.

A little after 3:00, I went upstairs and woke Nora because we wanted to get her back on her regular sleeping schedule after 1) being up late last night and 2) being late to nap today. I brought her down with promise of a surprise, and she perked up and was thrilled when she saw the tree in the family room and I told her she could help with the lights!

She also had a grand ol’ time telling me what color each of the “balls” were. :)

We also brought out her Little People Nativity Set and Michael removed all of the pieces for her, telling her about each one. In this pic, she’s telling Michael that this one is the “mama” (as in Mary, obviously)… but that’s really a wise man. HA!

She is loving the nativity set, though. She spent the better part of tonight with the baby Jesus in the cart (meant to be pulled by the mule), with Mary pushing it like a stroller across the floor. I was apparently in her way a few times, because she’d bump into my foot and say, “Coos me” (Excuse me) over and over. I love this kid.

After the tree was decorated and the stockings were hung by the chimney with care, it was time for Nora to go to bed. But not before we posed for a few “cheeses” with our best girl…

We can already tell that this Christmas season is going to be our best one yet.

I am sitting here on my couch, in my pajamas, feeling half-comatose with a food hangover. Today’s Thanksgiving feast was plentiful.

This month, I’ve been posting on my Facebook page (my personal one) every day with something I’m thankful for. I’ll continue to do so through the end of November, but to celebrate the day itself, I’ll share here the things that I have listed so far.

November 1: Thankful for the cozy, dry home I have to sleep in tonight. Remembering and thinking of so many people in NYC, NJ, and all over the world who are praying for the same.

November 2: Thankful for the friends I have, both near and far. And that although we are all in the midst of very busy times in life, we can pick up right where we left off whenever we talk and/or see each other. It’s the best kind of friendship!

November 3: Grateful for a house we have the opportunity to make our own. Even if I find myself painting something for the one millionth time, and swear to myself repeatedly that I will NEVER do this again.

November 4: Thankful for an extra hour on a Sunday. Even though I hate the time changes, blah.

November 5: Thankful for 1st floor laundry! The convenience is totally worth sacrificing half the space in our large pantry closet.

November 6: Grateful to have the opportunity to vote. And thankful to have been raised to make my own decisions, while also being tolerant of others with opposing opinions.

November 7: Thankful for a gigantic, cloud-like bed I get to collapse into at the end of each day.

November 8: I’m so thankful for my baby girl, today and every day. She is the joy of my life and makes me laugh every single day. I couldn’t love her more.

November 9: Thankful for the opportunity to spend time with my dad and see my grandparents and other family this weekend.

November 10: Thankful for good wine.

November 11: Thankful for veterans and the sacrifices they have made on my behalf and for the betterment and safety of this country, particularly for my brothers (Chris and Trevor) and my dad who have all served.

November 12: Thankful for vacation days, and that I have a job (one I really like!) to return to tomorrow.

November 13: Thankful for my husband. He’s my partner in life, a wonderful father to Nora, and an overall good guy. I think I’ll keep him around. :)

November 14: Thankful for digital photography. I have thousands and thousands of photographs of our lives, and of Nora throughout her first two years. Priceless.

November 15: Thankful for the Buffalo Bills. They never let us down when we… wait. Scratch that. I’m just thankful for craft beer.

November 16: Thankful for bedtime with Nora. Those moments of rocking and reading books, then snuggling and singing songs… they are all too precious, and too fleeting. Enjoying every moment of it while she still lets me.

November 17: Thankful for flannel sheets.

November 18: Thankful for the ability to DIY so much of the work around our house. It is trying, it is exhausting, but we are slowly and surely getting it done. Fourteen months in, and we still have projects coming out of our ears.

November 19: Thankful for closet clean-outs. It feels good to purge, and everything looks so nice and organized now. Plus, I’m donating three garbage bags full of clothes. Win-win-win.

November 20: Thankful for my team at work. It’s really great to work every day with people you genuinely like.

November 21: Grateful for a woodburning fireplace. It’s a perfect backdrop to an evening, especially one that kicks off a 4-day weekend.

And tonight, in addition to all of these things above, I am thankful that this year, we had the opportunity to have BOTH of our families around the same Thanksgiving dinner table… and that it was able to happen without having to host it/cook it myself. :)
(Thanks, Mom.)

I’m certainly counting my blessings.

I hope all of you have had a Happy Thanksgiving. Can you believe it’s over already? On to CHRISTMAS!