Santa Claus is Comin' to Town!

Oh, man. Kids make Christmas so much fun (and maybe a little bit more stressful, but anywho...) This weekend we decided to take Luke out to meet Santa for the first time. We were going to go to the mall, which is really unacceptable in my book after Thanksgiving. People can be so cut throat about their Christmas shopping and I'm just never really in the mood to deal with all of that. But for the sake of Luke and good pictures I was going to gear up and take him there, until I learned on Friday that Santa Claus also visits the Grove Arcade downtown. I figured there would still be a line and lots of kids, but figured it had to be better than the mall.

It was MUCH better. Dillon and I enjoyed our lunch at Chai Pani and then walked up the street into the Arcade, and then walked straight over to Santa with no line and no screaming kids or tense parents. We got several photos (for free, no less!) and Luke sent his thoughts over to Santa on what he wants for Christmas (I hope he said the Fisher Price doggie that sings and dances because that's what Santa's getting him!) 

Things in our neck of the woods have been going smoothly. Working a lot and gearing up for all the festivities. Luke is into everything nowadays. He doesn't like cuddling too much anymore because he'd much rather have the remote control or wiggle over to look at the texture of a pillow or the couch. He's still not officially crawling, although if you put him down somewhere, he will not be in the same place when you come back. When we go out to eat with him, people literally stop us to tell us how well behaved and what a good baby he is. Even though I think it's all genetic and he's just even tempered, I'll take that as a compliment! 

We're only two weeks away from Christmas! Lots of things happening between now and then and we couldn't be happier!

Professional photos

Gah, just melts my heart!

What a great Santa! He was so sweet.

Luke has outgrown his baby tub, so he now chills out in the big tub in a laundry basket, totally works!

A picture I got the other night from Dillon while I had to work late. Sweet boys telling me that they loved me!

Luke before church this morning in his outfit from Aunt Jerri & Uncle Charles!

So handsome

And pulling his ornament off the tree... I told you, he's into EVERYTHING.

Lunch at Chai Pani with some hot tea to warm up

Some of our pictures

Yesterday evening the boys napped while I made some beef stew

It's hard meeting Santa for the first time!

Tree Trimmin'

We've made it back home! We came back late yesterday afternoon and have enjoyed having one day at home before we start back to work tomorrow. Dillon and I both have busy weeks coming up at work and tied in with the holiday season, it makes me tired already. 

Yesterday we helped my mom and dad put up their tree before we came back. You'll see the pictures from that below.

Today, we went and got our tree and cleaned our house a little bit (not a lot, but just enough). We went out to the Farmer's Market to get a gen-u-ine North Carolina Christmas tree. I heard on the radio a few years ago that people in NYC were paying $900+ for trees that had been shipped up there from North Carolina. Silly folks. 

I made *only* two trips to Target today and have learned that the best time to visit is right when they open. There was no one there! I've wrapped all the presents we have and am just waiting on a few more to arrive here at the house. Most of our shopping is done, so now I'll just need to plan our Christmas dinner and bake some tasty things for gifts.

We're excited for all the festivities coming up and can't wait for Luke to experience his first Christmas! 

Getting the living room ready

Grandma keeps Luke company

Family photo!

Close up!

Snapshot!

Getting ready to come back to Asheville

Getting ready to pick out Luke's first tree!

This sweet lady helped us find a tree

Santa's already left a few gifts

Luke's ornament

Thanksgiving, Part Deux

Today we celebrated our 2nd day of thanksgiving with Dillon's immediate family. We had a great time hanging out with everyone while they cooked some amazing food!

Tomorrow, we'll be traveling back to North Carolina and Sunday will be Christmas decorating! Before we leave in the afternoon, we'll probably help my mom and dad put up their Christmas tree and spend some more time with Dillon's family. 

While we've had an awesome time with everyone, I think we'll all be glad to get back home. It's hard on the baby being out of his routine and then it's hard on us to get him to calm back down! He's decided he does not like traveling at night when he can't see out the window and screams the whole time. 

I'll update again soon with more pictures of our tree and tree trimming festivities!

Little Luke in his chair that my mom and dad's neighbor made for him

No babies were harmed in the making of these photos - Dillon was on standby

Taylor making some goose poppers

Dillon adding some music to cook by

Luke and his Grammy Debbie

It takes a lot to entertain him

Out to lunch

Luke and Uncle T

Luke and Larry the Dog

We're a classy bunch

Luke loves his Poppy Eddie

The spread

Dillon carves the turkey

Not the best picture, but how we spent the rest of the evening :-\