making christmas!

one of the things i really love about toddlers is how they simplify everything. maybe it's due to their limited vocabulary but everything that comes out of my kids' mouths is very matter-of-fact, certain and passionate. take pumpkins for example. max only really took notice of the bulbous fruit this year when they popped up everywhere for halloween. now if you ask max pumpkins mean halloween. like if you see a pumpkin he says mama, "i see a pumpkin! that's halloween!" since halloween has passed, he now adds, "but halloween is over!" i tried to explain to him that pumpkins weren't just for halloween and actually we would be eating pumpkin in the form of pie for thanksgiving. he was not easily won over! actually, he replied hotly, "no mama, that's not for eating that's for halloween!"

lol max.

anyway, i'm not sure where he is at with it since now he of course LOVES pumpkin pie (he even stole my friend's slice during thanksgiving dinner!) but who cares. the harvest celebrations are over and we can finally focus on the sparkle and glitter and lights aka the most wonderful time of the year... christmas! and christmas is everywhere! so it was pretty much a given max would have a similar association with yuletide customs. wherever we go and we see a snowman or a reindeer max says, "mama! that's christmas!" to which i respond, "heck yeah it is!"

in that spirit, the sunday after thanksgiving we made christmas at our place! we got our tree and had the funnest time decorating it.

last year i decided that we should have a buying-of-the-tree tradition in the way of brunch at the 101 coffee shop prior. genius move on my part. this place really is so cool. and we rarely do brunch because TODDLERS.

josh teaching max how to warm up his hands. i think anyway? this place is kind of loud so i could barely hear what was happening.

 these here are definitely jazz hands though.

a few mandatory pictures in front of the restaurant.

knox still won't jump. probably a smart move on his part.

then off to mr. jingles to pick out our tree! we've bought our tree from this particular lot for the past four years. it's tradition!

chasing these two around the tree lot while josh commandeered our tree was not easy. these giant pine cones finally kept them in one place long enough for me to catch my breath and get over the mild heart attack they gave me. i won't even go into the tree they knocked over...

it finally came down to two trees and we let max make the final pick, a 6.5' frasier. we strapped her to the car and brought her home. josh and i strung the lights with knox's assistance and both of my little helpers eagerly placed the ornaments on the soft, shiny needles. we may have a whole lot of ornaments located on the southern portion of our tree, which i find incredibly adorable, and will most likely rearrange later. maybe. it looks kind of crazy. but it sure does feel like christmas... right max?

max approves.

happy holidays!

xoxo,

sony