Happiest Season of All

I am so excited that it is officially December! Christmas is my most favorite time of year.

I love the lights and the smells of the season. I love the cozy feeling I get around Christmas. I love watching holiday movies like Rudolph and Elf. I love getting two full weeks off of work to celebrate with family. I love Christmas Eve service, with the traditional hymns and candlelit singing of Silent Night. Aaaahhhhhhhhhh...

We had a fun year last Christmas with it being Nora's first one. This year she will be SO much more involved in everything and I just can't wait to enjoy the time and experiences with her!

Nora checking out the Christmas tree!

I've been thinking a lot about traditions and although she won't remember them now, I still feel the need to start from the beginning. Last year, we all opened pajamas on Christmas Eve and we will do that again this year, but I decided that Nora needs to open her winter jammies and Christmas books and enjoy them all throughout December, not just the day before Christmas! Sooooo... I decided that on the first day of December, Nora will open one gift to start the season!

Nora's "Welcome December" gift!

I was a little worried that once we opened one, she would not understand that we couldn't start ripping into all of them, but she did just fine with it, actually. The biggest problem I had was that she wanted to open a different present instead of her own. No idea why! I mean, they all look the same, really.

Opening it up!

I wrapped up a few winter pajama sets and her Christmas books from last year. She did get one new book "Christmas in the Manger" which I am pretty excited about because it is a super simple story of baby Jesus.

Checking out the Christmas goodies.

Nora loves her books, but she is definitely a clothing and accessories girl, too. She carried those pajamas around the house until dinner time. She even tried to put them on before dinner, without success.

Pajamas!

Mommy picked one out to wear tonight after bath time. It has been pretty chilly, especially at night, so we were in need of some long sleeved pajamas, for sure! Thank you to Carters for having cute & cheap pajama sets!

Ready for bed!

This week will be super busy and fun, filled with holiday festivities, and I'm sure it will just continue the entire month of December. It's going to fly by (which is also slightly terrifying...) but, yay for the happiest season of all!