I love December

This morning I had one sleepy girl on my hands. Maddie and I fell asleep in the recliner* at 9:30pm last night not to wake up except to eat until 11am. Let me clarify...the munchkin did not wake up except to eat until 11am. She looked so sweet sleeping in her Nap Nanny.

*The recliner has been our bed since Madelyn's reflux developed about a week after we brought her home from the hospital the first time. She sleeps really well at night as long as she is being held. I felt like I had to explain myself and justify why I was doing something that I know will create a terrible habit for the little one...but the truth is I do not care. Sure, I may gripe later when I have an 8 year old climb into my lap to go to bed, but for now it's the least of my worries. We plan to work on it...some day.

Of course the sleeping didn't last long once she realized she wasn't being held.

I was glad to see this sweet face though. She normally wakes up between 7am-8:30am so 11am was really pushing it. I can't tell you how many times I almost woke her up just to make sure she was OK. So I did wake her up a couple of times, but I didn't feel bad about it because she went right back to sleep each time.

Once she did wake up Madelyn was unusually fussy. Considering she usually loves her baths, I thought it was worth a shot to try to calm her down. It worked. She loves the water.

She kicked her feet and splashed her arms for a solid 30 minutes. I finally had to take her out because it was too cold. Her water cooled off and she started to get goose bumps. So I wrapped her up in one of her hooded towels...Bath time was enough to wear her out...

Around lunch time it started to snow around here. It was Madelyn's first snow day. I am sure my cousin in Montana would argue whether it was truly snow but we did have some flurries. It was the truly East Texas kind of snow. I tried to take a picture but got nothin'. It wasn't the picture takin' kind of snow I guess. In honor of Madelyn's first snow day she wore her "snow much fun" outfit...

My sister was babysitting for my brother and brought Madelyn's cousins over to hang out tonight. We enjoyed yummy pancakes (I made Emily some that were shaped like Gingerbread men, Christmas trees and stars), watched as much of a movie as a 15 month old will allow you to and played. I love these girls.So I have had my Christmas tree up since the day after Thanksgiving November 13, but since this is the first week of December it's time to finally share. For most of my life my family's living room was filled with the smell of a live tree at Christmas time. A few years we went out to the tree farm to cut them ourselves (I hope to do this with Maddie some day). Others we let someone do the cutting for us. I remember the smell and the needle trail the tree would leave from the front door. One year we had to buy 3 trees because the darn things kept dying. Once we were all grown, my parent's decided to join a lot of the population and get a fake tree. As much as I love the idea of a live tree at Christmas, Luke and I bought this tree the first Christmas we were married. We were so excited. It was the perfect first tree. We laughed so hard the night we bought it...the box boasted that it was a 7 ft pre-lit tree...what they failed to mention was that the top foot and a half was one single twig that stuck straight up. Maybe next year we will go for the upgrade. Until then...I am not the "themed tree" type of girl. However I did buy some super cute bells pictured top left in the collage above that really add a little unity to the tree. I love ornaments that mean something. A guitar for my musical hubby, a wood carving of the magnificent night that gives us the reason for this season, a reminder of the joy we have because of his birth and other ornaments of this nature. We also have ornaments from places we have traveled to together...Cabo San Lucas, Playa del Carmen, OKC, Denver, Savannah, Tybee Island and a few more. Our tree is donned with ornaments that spark special memories not soon forgotten.

I also love our tree topper. I found this a couple of years before I ever had my own tree and I plan to use it for many years to come...I have another tree on display this year. It is my centerpiece for my dining room table. You may remember me mentioning my one-of-a-kind-finds at the Greshman Barn Sale a couple of weeks back (if you don't you can click here to read all about it). Well, here they are...I found these awesome antique bells. Each one of the 12 bells says Merry Christmas on the front and has one of the 12 Days of Christmas on the back. I love them. And they look perfect hanging on the wire tree that I also found at the barn sale. The red balls were a Target find and I think they mix perfectly with the bells. I love this tree. I don't really think the picture does it justice, but that's just me.