It's begining to look a lot like...

Officially a week to go until the big day, and I couldn't be more excited. This is the first Christmas that my time will be split between 2 families, and thankfully, Drew's and my family only live 20 minutes apart. I'm so looking forward to being home for Christmas. There's something comforting about it, even amidst all the busyness and mess of leaving work/home for a week, traveling with hordes of people, and managing to find perfect gifts for everyone much earlier than normal (because they have to be ready by the time you leave). I do have to say, that Christmas definitely seems to get crazier the older everyone gets, which is a little counter-intuitive to me. It seems like once everyone is grown and takes care of themselves, it would just be a nice relaxing time. But growing older has its charms too. Like being able to enjoy the looks of pure delight on new family additions as they open their gifts.

Another plus about not being a kid anymore is the wonderful selection of holiday beverages now available. I love the adult versions of peppermint hot cocoa and eggnog, they just seem to make the season more festive. And of course, make the time with family much more enjoyable ;).

I'm also really excited to spend part of the holidays with my newly inherited family. The more people in your holiday, the better. At least in my book. Happy traveling!

It's Officially Winter

You know the smell of the air on the first really cold day of the year? The smell that stings your nose a bit and makes your eyes tear up because it smells literally like icy air? Well today, as I stepped out into the frosty air, the smell of cold greeted me, officially announcing the beginning of winter. The light flurries in the air and thin covering of snow on the ground didn't hurt either. :)

Because we had to start our advent calendars a little early in order to finish before we go home, we are now on day 10, and here's a glimpse of what we've gotten so far.

The Christmas scenes are starting to come together, but the first one, mine, has a few to many things than the kids can hold, which makes it interesting. This has definitely become one of my favorite Christmas traditions.

Speaking of traditions, our decorations have been up for about a week now, but I still haven't posted any pictures except of our tree. Here are a few of the things we put up every year:

It's the perfect kind of day to curl up with a good book in the glow of our Christmas tree. I think I'll go do that...

The Countdown Begins

The holiday season has officially begun, and I couldn't be more excited!! With tummies still full of turkey and pie, we decked our halls yesterday. And may I just say, I love decorating my house for Christmas. It just feels so much more homey to me. We have a new tree this year, which is fantastic. It's much nicer than our other one. And we actually have enough ornaments to fill it up finally!

This year, we also have two "new to us" advent calendars, from 2002-2003 that will help us count down the days. However, because we'll be gone during the calendar's climactic moment, we started a little early. The first three days are pictured below. Drew has the Electric Sleigh calendar. I don't know if that's the official name, but I call it such because of Santa's brilliantly colored ride. Mine features charming carolers.

On an entirely different note, our squirrels have been absolutely ravenous this year. They figured out an interesting way to reach the feeder, that amused our cats for quite a while.

It's been a great start to the season so far, including our first snow of the year. I can't wait to see what's to come :)