Christmas Trees and Santa Claus

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas over here!

We finally got around to getting our Christmas tree last week. We always do a live one and we just went to Home Depot this year. Probably should have gone to the Christmas tree farm again because Em had a blast just at Home Depot!

She wasn't sure about this big balloon.

She found this random stick on the ground and spent the next half hour pretending it was a walking stick. She kills me.

Every time she saw a little tree, she had to hug it!

Oops, dropped her stick down there!

We also went to Hallmark to pick out a keepsake ornament. It's a long-standing tradition. More on that later :)

And {surprise!} we went to the Woodlands last weekend. We totally weren't planning on going anywhere, but stuff happened. We have been scouring Craigslist for the past few weeks looking for Em's Christmas gift, and we finally found one last week. So we jumped in the car to go get it.

It ended up being a really great weekend. We spent time with my godparents et al. and as a bonus, we got some unexpected time with Hans' parents, brother, and niece. Mostly, it involved eating. Why is that all you do when you're with family? But we seriously had the best time.

He's all smiles here, but he wasn't all smiles for Santa

Once again, why does she do these silly things? She is so funny

Oh, just doin' a little shopping! She could barely carry the bag, but wouldn't let anyone take it from her.

She absolutely adores her cousin. Didn't want to leave her side for one second.

Oma and Opa with two out of three granddaughters = pure happy!

We also took Em to see Santa for the first time. I fully expected a meltdown (let's be real, Ryan was NOT a fan of Santa on his turn), but sweet girl did so well!

She seemed a little nervous, but she just kinda stared at him at first and then ended up smiling so great for her photo! I'm a proud mama. Though a little disappointed I don't get the bad Santa photo hahaha.

I love this holiday season!! Hope you all are having a wonderful time, too.