My Favorite Time of Year

I absolutely love this time of year ... the lights, the music, the anticipation, the celebrations, the fact that I get two whole weeks off to spend with family and friends! Now that we are parents, Eli and I think it's really important to establish our own holiday family traditions to share with Ellasyn. One of our favorite things is to to do is to go pick out a Christmas tree. When I was little, one of my favorite Christmas memories was getting all bundled up and heading out to a local Christmas tree farm to chop down a tree. My brother and I would run back and forth among the rows, playing hide and seek. When we found a tree we liked, my dad would get down on all fours and saw that sucker down. We'd tie it up on our roof and take it home to decorate.

Well, our tradition doesn't involve a tree farm, just our local Lowe's store. It's still fun (there are rows of trees to go up and down, and you still have to pick out your favorite one), but there's no sawing involved. Plus, you can get a Frasier Fir, which doesn't grow anywhere around here. Ella had a lot of fun doing this with us this year .. all bundled up in her stroller. I'm telling you - as soon as that cold air hit her face, she froze like a statue. Good thing she had her rabbit hat and mittens to keep her warm!

Now, funny story. The picture above? Well, that's the first tree we bought. We took it home and the trunk was too fat to stick in our tree stand, so Eli had to shave it down. We finally got the tree up and thank goodness didn't decorate it right away, because two days later, it was all dried up. Eli packed it up and took it right back to Lowe's. The lady at the cash register asked Eli, "what was wrong with the tree? Was it acting up?". Eli started cracking up ... um, I guess you could say that - it DIED. Then he realized she thought he was returning an artifical tree! I think we were the first person in history to return a live Christmas tree :). Needless to say, we got a much prettier, healthier tree in return, and here it is in all its splendor and glory!

Here's our family room mantle, which I absolutely love.

Another family tradition that we started is Ella taking a picture with Santa every year. This is another funny story. One thing I don't like about this time of year is the mass crowds you find at each and every shopping center. One place I refuse to go near during Christmas is Oak Park Mall. It's not worth it to me to wait 30 minutes just to get off the exit on the highway and then to spend another 30 minutes trying to find a parking spot. 

We live right down the street from a Bass Pro Shop, and I heard they have the best free Santa, so we gave it a shot. Well, we walked in the door to find the world's longest line to see Santa. Ella's not the most patient baby, so we decided to pass. Better luck next year. Instead, we went to the Olathe Great Mall (where nobody goes) to see Santa. We still had to wait in line, but it was much shorter. The teenager-disguised elf at the front of the line told us the best strategy was to not let Ella see Santa until the last minute. We were to walk her up with her back facing him, and turn our bodies when she tried to turn around. We plopped her on his lap and the first picture was taken. That was the "why the heck did you leave me here and you're over there" look. Well, then the inevitable happened. She turned around to see whose lap she was on. She saw Santa's face and immediately freaked out (the second picture). Not sure all the effort was worth it, but at least we got a good laugh.  

The last tradition that we started this year was to tour some Johnson County Christmas lights. Go here for suggestions and a tour map. I have lived here my whole life and never knew about some of these displays. It was one of the coolest things I have done in a while. I highly recommend it if you live anywhere near. Here are three of my favorite displays:

Balbick's Falmouth Christmas Display (this has been around since I was little)

Vince and Associates Animated Lights & Music Display

Christmas Place in Overland Park, KS (an entire subdivision decorated)

Whew, so much excitement around this time of year. May the holidays bring as much joy and love to your life as this little muchkin has brought to ours.

Bye bye!