Hello December

I was so happy to flip the calendar to December this past weekend. This is my favorite month- I love that for one month of the year I have a free pass to geek out over cheesy heart-warming songs, drink way more hot cocoa than a person should, and that it's perfectly legitimate for this brief period to suggest that we all hold hands, snuggle and watch Christmas cartoons. Everyone is so much nicer to each other this time of year, and I love that a lot of Christmas activities center around making gifts, crafts, ceremonial activities and traditions-- all things that I love! Basically, I hope to be reincarnated as an elf in my next life. So hang onto your Santa hats folks, and prepare for a mega-injection of Christmas cheer on this blog for the next month!

First I want to post some cute photos of our family on our yearly balsam tip collecting expedition. We go into the woods behind our house and collect a giant bag of balsam branches for wreath making and also cut a little Charlie Brown tree to put outside in front of the kitchen window. Of course, we also bring a thermos of hot cocoa and have a picnic in the woods together. This year, Rowan thought we also needed to bring a compass to be on the safe side. Then we return home to make wreaths and do some exterior illumination. Making the wreaths always takes Aaron and I back to the winter we made wreaths and garland for Piper Mountain Christmas tree farm, and it smells so good!

Also, here's a happy list of things I'm loving right now:

• Rowan calling Retta "Miss Cutie Megquier"
• The dangerous nightly ritual Aaron and I have fallen into of drinking Trader Joe's Sipping Chocolate--it isn't really hot chocolate, more like hot melted chocolate in a cup
• Waking up to Rowan running into our room saying, "I wonder where Jingle is today?!" (our Elf on the Shelf)
• Buying gifts for an angel tree child and volunteering at the animal shelter
• Rowan's self-proclaimed Christmas nook in the space behind the tree and next to the couch. I see she's leaving her Hello Kitty slippers in there now. Sometimes I look over and just see two legs sticking out from under the tree as she lays in there looking up at the lights on the tree.
• And this cute picture: