It's the Holly Days

Thanksgiving was pretty low key for us this year. We stayed home, which was nice, and my mom and brother came to stay with us. Brooke loves her Nona (Italian for Grandmother) and her Uncle Jared. They both were good sports to entertain Brooke while I did the cooking. Brooke would say "Jared, let's play!" and it was fun to listen to them laugh and play together. Of course, I didn't take any pictures of my family or me cooking my first Thanksvgiving. But everything turned out great! I tried a new stuffing recipe and it seemed to be a big hit. We have lots of yummy leftovers and it was fun to play games with my family while we were waiting for the turkey to cook. But I was exhausted at the end of the day! I was pretty much in the kitchen from 7a.m. to 3 p.m. cooking and cleaning up my messes. My mom was a huge help with dishes and giving me advice on cooking.

This is our only Thanksgiving picture: taking a rest and cuddling after Brooke woke up from her nap.

I do need to express how Thankful I am for my family: mine and Blake's. They are a huge support system for us and we are so grateful we have them in our lives. I am also especially grateful for Blake and Brooke and our new baby. Blake works so hard for our family and is my best friend. I don't know what I would do without him. And I don't know what I would do without Brooke. She is always doing something that makes me laugh, like when I told her to go put her shoes on the rug and found them like this:
Or amazing me with her talents. I know I have said this before, but she really has a knack for music. This is her Thanksgiving song:

After my family left Thursday evening, Blake and I crashed on the couch with a huge fire going and watched A Christmas Story.

Friday I decided to brave black Friday shopping at the stores for the first time ever. I was expecting the worst, and was pleasently surprised when I walked right into Wal-Mart at 5am and the store was practically empty! I got everything I wanted, didn't have to wait in line at the register and was able to to hit 2 more stores (with the same scenario) and be home by 6:30. I think a lot of people must've stayed up later to hit the 10pm sales or something.

Later that morning, we bought our Christmas tree permit and headed up on the mountain. Blake had the weekend off so we needed to take advantage of him being home. The next two weekends are busy with work and other activities, so we had to get our tree a little early this year.
Brooke was a little freaked out by the snow. The two previous years we have left Brooke in the truck while we got the tree. This year, she was old enough to come out with us and she didn't know what quite to think of walking in the snow--it's hard for a little person!

She was in heaven eating all the snow, though!

We found our perfect tree. Do like how my coat won't zip up anymore? Also it's funny how the tree looks perfect on the mountain and when you get it home it's HUGE in your house. Oh well. We are enjoying it.

Our community does a really fun kick off to the holiday season the day after Thanksgiving. It goes all day and all night and everything is free. This has become one of our favorite traditions. We were only able to go to a few events (it was getting close to Brooke's nap and she was fiesty) We watched the ice-sculpter:

Brooke went on a pony ride and LOVED it (we skipped standing in line for the camel rides this year)

And she went on a ride on the "polar express" train

There are also things like free swimming at the rec center, free Christmas movie matinees and the theater, free stands giving away hot chocolate, marshmellow roasting, a parade of lights in the evening and fireworks, and so much more. As Brooke gets older, we are slowly doing more and more of these activities.

Last night, Blake and I were both tired and laying on the couches in the living room looking at the Christmas tree lights. Brooke was laying with us and it was just fun to be together as a family--that is what the holidays are about. Brooke got up and said to us "Do you want to see my tummy?" We said yes and she pulled up her shirt to show us. Then she said, "There is a baby in my tummy! Don't push my tummy, it hurts the baby" (hmmm. wonder where she's heard that before?) I just laugh and think it's cute but it completely freaks Blake out. He always says to Brooke, "nope, you will never, ever have a baby in your tummy. Only mommy!"