Christmas Season Kickoff

Well, we have truly kicked off the Christmas season this weekend! Never in my life have I done it before Thanksgiving (it's been some kind of mental no-no), but this year was different! I was just so excited to get things going (the music, the decorations, etc.) until I couldn't wait a whole 'nother week! :) I really think it is because we did not have any type of normal Christmas last year- it was spent in the hospital mostly, as well as Thanksgiving, so it's really been 2 years since we've done any of it. Savannah is just as psyched as I am, so I guess it's fair to say that I've been like a child at Christmas so far! :)

There's always the bittersweet part of not having Tori here, but I try not to dwell on it in a negative way, but instead remember her in a positive light as we're doing things this Christmas. For instance, pink was her color and I've gotten several angel collectibles since she's died, so it was only fitting that I bought a pretty pink, sparkly, angel ornament in memory of her to hang on our tree this year. I also thought as we were putting our angel on top of our tree this year how she is truly in the presence of angels right now. If you stop and think about it, it's pretty awesome to say the least. We put lights in our yard today, too, and to think that she's seeing the prettiest lights ever....I am certain heaven is full of light, along with shiny streets of gold, etc. My baby is seeing all that right now!! I still wish she was here to sing Christmas songs with her sister, but I will have to take comfort in remembering she is singing even greater songs to the King of Kings in His very presence!! WOW- is all I can say.

Last night we went to Red Robin at Bridge Street and had dinner with our family. We enjoyed great food and great conversation. We haven't done that with my parents and brother in quite awhile. Although we live very close to them, we don't see them hardly at all it seems. We all get too busy and have different schedules, but we need to make family time more of a priority like we did last night. We always enjoy being together.

After dinner, we froze our heiney's (sp?) off and stood outside waiting on the tree lighting ceremony to begin, when lo and behold, they had "technical difficulties" and couldn't get it to light/stay lit at first. We had fun, freezing mind you, but fun indeed. We walked around and window shopped, listened to the carolers, went to the carousel where Savannah and Micah wrote letters to Santa and lot's more! Here are some pictures below. Let me just tell you, Savannah L-O-V-E-D the carolers. We were all walking along when she stopped in front of the whole crowd that had stopped to listen to the carolers, and she was in awe. They were true carolers and went from place to place, so we saw them several times throughout the evening. One time, they even asked her to join them, so I got some good pictures of Savannah doing just that, singing along. (Once I get my new and improved camera!!, I will be able to show you even better pictures! Don't think I didn't point this out to the family several times throughout the evening because my camera is a piece of junk that is just trying to die on me....that, and my brother dropped it last night, causing it to have an even shorter life span now.)

Tonight, we went and got our tree. We get a live, frasier fir every year. It's traditional to have a LIVE tree vs. a "fake tree" in my family, so I am carrying on the tradition each year and plan to continue to do so. However, my mom finally caved two years ago since my sister and I were grown and out of the house and my brother could care less if it was real or not, and got a NICE fake tree. In case you're wondering, yes, there are different levels of niceness on fake trees. Just look at the prices. My mom lucked up and got a nice one with her employee discount that year because she was the decorating manager at a store where she did Interior decorating at Christmas and decided to invest in one then. Other than that, we've always had a real tree, and I refuse to change....for now. :) The good part is there's not AS many needles that fall off (in my opinion) with a frasier fir vs. a regular ole pine needle tree. Anywho, that's the long drawn out version, and we got ours tonight. There are some pictures below of our fantastic evening together. I told my husband that my night was complete....decorating our Christmas tree together as a family, "cardboard pizza" for dinner (what we call our cheap, boxed pizza we love!), and my Mariah Carey Christmas CD...what else could a girl want?!

Needless to say, it's been a good weekend! Tell me about yours if you've been getting in the Christmas (not holiday) spirit, too! Merry Christmas!