Over Thanksgiving weekend we ventured down to the end of our street to pick out our first Christmas tree as a family of four. Caroline had a blast running around the lot and since it is located in our neighborhood we ran into several friends while scouting out the perfect tree.
He is also really into faces these days and loves feeling Matt’s scruffy cheeks and grabs for his glasses.
We had good behavior all around from the kiddos. There was a brief moment while informing Caroline that we couldn’t get the little tree that we prepared for a a full fledged public toddler meltdown, but thankfully she was quickly distracted.
As soon as we arrived home the Christmas tree was whipped straight inside, furniture was rearranged and Matt brought all the Christmas boxes down from the attic without one argument…so we celebrated with festive champagne cocktails (with rosemary & cranberries). Now, stringing the lights was a different story. Ha! After a few “discussions” about starting at the top versus the bottom, I finally conceded and agreed to let Matt do the lights this year because it still hurts to reach above my head. And shhhh, between you and me, he did a great job too. So, more champagne!
This year Caroline was allllllll about “helping” which made decorating the tree take two days longer than usual. Every time I turned around she was unrolling ribbon throughout the house, digging through boxes of ornaments or trying to plug lights together. So basically one of us had to be on Caroline watch while the other worked on the tree.
See what I mean by helpful? She also managed to hang and remove the ornaments on the bottom of the tree two thousand times.
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The Pentatonix Holiday Pandora station is guaranteed motivation to start wrapping gifts too. I love the pretty plaid wrapping paper I picked up this year (from Michaels). The kiddos gifts will be wrapped in a more obnoxiously busy
and bright paper.
And a few pictures of the minis in their adorable matchy matchy jammies in front of the tree. I actually won one of these sets from a Smocked Auctions giveaway last summer and have been so excited to finally pull them out.
A little dance party. We love living room dance parties.
This year we hung our Christmas cards on our pantry doors with washi tape. And since this is the busiest place in our home I get to smile a lot while I’m fishing around for animal crackers.
In full disclosure, the thought crossed my mind to remove all of the kiddos toys, vacuum and fluff up the present that Caroline has obviously figured out is a riding toy before snapping a picture of our stockings and half decorated mantel. Buuuuut, this is real life right here folks and the decorating probably won’t get finished anyway!
Also, every year I frame our Christmas card and add it to our collection. And every year Matt says “you should just buy a lifetime supply of these frames in case they discontinue them” and I laugh and tell him that’s a terrible idea and remind him how tiny our attic storage is. Of course, this is the year that my silver frame was discontinued and now only available in black. That was a fun shopping discovery with Matt.
A new tradition we started this year was our Advent calendar! We received this as a gift the day before Advent began and it has been one of our favorite things to do after dinner together each night. All of the boxes are filled with m&ms and before we open the box we have to each say something we’re thankful for. Caroline participates in her own language but I’d like to think I’ve made it on her list at some point. She also loves to share her candy with each of us which is pretty awesome.
We always receive a lot of compliments on our Moravian star. This advent symbol is rich in history and is the official Christmas street decoration in Winston-Salem, which was founded by Moravians in 1766. I’m pretty sure Matt’s parents gifted this star to Matt long ago because we’ve been hanging it for years! Anyway, you can find one here.
See our previous Christmas trees here:
2014 Christmas Tree
What great memories! You look great!
I LOVE that you frame your Xmas cards – where do you but the frames??
Your tree is gorgeous! And the pics from picking out the tree are so cute!
OMG Caroline's face in that last picture is priceless!! We frame our Christmas cards too but I didn't even attempt to think I could get the frames to match so I am embracing the mis-matched 🙂
That last photo! oooh it tickled me, so cute!! And your home is so beautiful. Merry Christmas!
So so sweet! Your babies are just adorable, I could eat them up! Merry Christmas 🙂
Such great memories that you have. Caroline and Thomas are so precious!! And that gorgeous tree…love!
Your tree is beautiful!
Gorgeous Tree! Where do you find the beautiful star hung on the front porch?
Beautiful Christmas decor my friend, and what excitement with two special kiddies!! x
Great pics of fun family times! We aimed for fuss free tree decorating this year as well- no convos about strategy- we just got to it and got it done. (wish we could have celebrated with champagne!!) Love the advent calendar- fun family activity and tradition to start!
The frames…. oh my gosh I can just imagine that discovery, the worst!! Do you know where the advent calendar is from? I'd love to get one for my niece so they don't have to buy a store one each year, what a great idea!
You could always "purposefully" change the frame every 5 years. 🙂 I love your pantry doors/ card display.
gorgeous family pics! xo jillian – cornflake dreams
Aw this post makes me so happy! So glad Thomas can see and is taking everything in his first Christmas! So glad you're feeling better and able to participate in Christmas! And so glad Caroline is getting excited for Christmas too. Y'all are going to have the best Christmas!! Love your tree ribbon and the fun gold poking out of the top!
So many things to love about this post! I love your bow on your tree it looks fabulous! What a great idea to put the cards on the pantry door with washi tape and I love the cranberries and rosemary in the champs! I love doing that too! Your minis are too cute, oh what fun this time of year is!
You look great & thank God for your sweet babes vision improving! I'm sure that make your mama heart so happy & the best thing on your Christmas list this year! xox
Such sweet memories you're making!! I love that you frame and display each years Christmas card, such a great idea!
Where do you get your stockings? I've been looking for ones like yours! They are exactly what I had in mind.
So fun! And it is so neat to see Thomas taking in the tree- so so sweet! 🙂
Omg! I'm obsessed with the pics of the matching jammies (esp the one of Matt loving on the minis!!) and that last pic of Caroline cracks me up!!
Spray paint that frame silver. 😉 That will show him. Ha! You found a great tree though and I love the Moravian star!
There definitely needs to be a bow tutorial…. because that's AMAZING!! I loled at Caroline's face in the family picture!!
love your star!! we live outside of winston salem and i love the moravian stars around here- we have a metal one we hang each year, and it might be my favorite Christmas decoration. I didn't grow up in the area, but my husband did- so it was a tradition and symbol I learned about when we got married- its so beautiful, isn't it?