Wordless Wednesday: Father's Day

As a pregnant person, I am a ball of emotions in general. Anger, exasperation, joy, sadness, love - you name it, it's me, at some point and at some ridiculous level. (Feel bad for people who are around me on a regular basis.). This means I have lots of sniffly posts I could be sharing. Lots of mad posts I could be sharing.

And lots of gushy and nostalgic posts I do plan on sharing. You're welcome.

Here's one that won't go in to ton of words, but I think the photos do the talking pretty well ... I am thankful every day that I married such a great guy - one who is smart, hard-working, funny, caring, dedicated, patient and loving, among other stellar qualities. I am even more grateful that he's the father of my children and that they have such a strong man to look up to and learn from, every day. Elle adores him, and I know that Wesley will, too.

Even though Elle was convinced that Father's Day meant that it was also Tim's birthday, we had a nice day celebrating Daddy and spending some coveted family time together, including gifting him with his annual photo present:

Elle's last chance to be the sole star of Tim's Father's Day photo gift (2013).

Daddy's Day, Diva-style (2012).

"What is this green stuff I'm sitting on?" (2011).

We let Daddy sleep in, spent some time at the beach and went out for dinner - I'm not sure who enjoyed the day more, Elle or Tim :)

And two bonus photos ... I was staring at this one all day at work with my heart all melty and my eyes all teary:

Quite possibly my favorite photo ever (Nov. 2011). LOVE these two.
[Photo by Jodi Wells Photography.]

And this one, which makes me smile every time I see it - and we're just weeks away from another tiny person getting to know his daddy (and I'm guessing that while Elle was sleeping on him, Tim was watching the Reds, which will happen a lot with Wesley, too):

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter, everyone! Last Sunday we went to an Easter egg hunt hosted by the church that our friend Kelly goes to. The hunt is at a local park, and we've gone for the last two years - it is a very popular event, so it gets pretty crowded fast. It looked like there was chance it would rain, so we thought the crowds might be lighter than last year, but it didn't look like the weather kept anyone away.

Last year, Elle was too young for any of the egg hunts, but we checked out other parts of the celebration (free food, face painting, bounce houses, etc.). This year, we were contending with the fact that the Easter egg hunt for Elle's age group was right during her nap time, and she was quite cranky throughout the day. Since the egg hunt was the main event we cared about, we didn't spend time waiting in line for the face painting or much of the food.

We started by checking out the bounce house ... last year, Elle was unsure of it and didn't seem to enjoy herself at all. This year, we couldn't get her out. Tim, Kelly and I tried to reason with Elle and tell her she had to get out and give other kids a turn, told her she was going to miss the Easter egg hunt, etc. She ignored us. We had to enlist the help of another kid to guide Elle toward the opening and then snatch her.

We hurried over to our egg hunt area, where Elle quickly got the idea of grabbing eggs and putting them in her basket. The eggs were empty, but we were instructed to return the eggs after the hunt in exchange for a prize bag. When I told Elle that we needed to go get her prizes, she said "What are we waiting for?!" with breathless awe and amazement.

Despite Elle's crankiness, some ominous-looking clouds and the crowds, it was a lot of fun. I'm glad we got to do it as a family, and I think Elle had a blast.

The Easter Bunny was there, too. Last year, Elle was not a fan. (And really, she's never really been keen on characters in big costumes, so it's not shocking.) We tried to get Elle to go see him before we left, but as we stood about 25 feet away from him, she seemed super freaked out and did not want to get any closer. She didn't have a problem with him being there ... just as long as he stayed far away from her:

Elle pretends she doesn't know us.

Tim decided she's never going in to another one of these again after she refused to come out.

What, your Easter Bunny doesn't arrive via pirate ship?

Showing off her loot.

Death grip on the popcorn Kelly's mom gave us.

Visiting Santa, 2012.

I hadn't really planned on taking Elle to see Santa this year. She didn't seem really amped up about Santa at first, and since we were in Ohio for Thanksgiving and our weekends after that were full of parties and plans, there weren't a lot of opportunities to go see the man in red.

But over the last few weeks, Elle's excitement about Santa grew, and my mommy guilt over missing a childhood memory grew as well. I decided I needed this to happen, to make Elle's third Christmas full of magical memories (I know, I know) and keep a tradition of visiting Santa each year alive.

So last night, despite being absolutely exhausted and not feeling well, I searched once again for local Santa appearances. I really didn't want to go to the mall and shell out a bunch of money, especially if Elle spazzed at the mere sight of Santa like last year. I just wanted a simple, local Santa appearance. I was bummed that Tim wouldn't be able to come with us (I was still envisioning this fantastic connection between Elle and Santa) because of work, but I figured we'd make the most of it and I'd take pictures so he could see just how perfect everything was (in my mind).

I e-mailed the woman who heads up a local family events Facebook page, and she sent me a few events for the weekend, none of which I had been aware of. I did some research on them, decided that an event this morning at an area guide dog office sounded perfect, and I planned our day around that. They were going to have guide dog puppies (puppies!) AND Santa, it was free, it wasn't too far away, etc.

I told Tim and Elle about it, and Elle was jumping up and down, excitedly chanting "Santa! Santa! Santa!" and "Puppies! Puppies! Puppies!" Every few minutes, she ask "Can we leave to see the puppies and Santa?" and "When are we going, Mama?" We headed out for the guide dog office and ran in to major parking issues, but I decided it was worth walking quite a bit to get to see this magical, perfect holiday moment come to life.

We got to the office, and there were several people behind us waiting to get in the door. I didn't realize it until a second later, but Elle was causing a traffic jam because she was so desperately trying to get OUT of the door. I managed to get her in the doorway, but she'd seen Santa and buried her head in my shoulder and put a death grip on my arm. She was terrified of Santa, the guide dogs, the guide dog puppies. Gone was the excitement and non-stop chattering about Santa and puppies. The ideal photo op? This is what I got:

That's the angle that resulted from the death grip, and you can see the fear in her face. That was also before one of the guide dog volunteers acted like we were crazy for passing on a chance to sit with the puppies, but I could tell that would also not go over well with Elle, and I wasn't going to push it.

She did get close enough to Santa to snatch a candy cane from him (candy that she claimed was broken the entire walk back to the car) and refuse to answer any of his questions - he wanted to know if she had been a good girl, what she wanted him to bring her on Christmas (she's told me "presents" and specified "rocks, toys and presents" when pushed), and if she wanted to pet the guide dog sitting next to him (that was a big jolly fat no).

So we left, with no awe-inspiring memories or any magical present revelations. I'm fine with Elle not "getting" Santa yet, but I think that her excitement had led me to expect (foolishly) that she'd be happy to see him in person. And for the rest of the day, she didn't show any fear when we talked about him, mentioned again that he's going to put presents for her under the tree, etc. If I didn't know better, I would think that we could visit Santa tomorrow and things would go fabulously.

The funniest part of the day, though? Elle's recap of the experience about an hour later, when we were at the grocery store: "Santa gave me a candy cane, and I was freaking out." I burst out laughing in the cereal aisle at that one :)

Wordless Wednesday: Fireworks and flashbacks

I was doing laundry tonight and listening to the fireworks outside when I realized I really, really don't like fireworks. I don't mind watching them, but I'd rather not have to deal with the heat and bugs one has to face while watching them outside, and tonight I'm cursing my neighbors for the loud booms that threaten to wake up my daughter.

I tried to figure out why I'm hating on such a mainstay of Independence Day celebrations when I started to remember past July 4th holidays. And honestly? Most of them were spent working, which is why I probably don't remember much. I remember watching fireworks from my parents' backyard when I was in high school. I remember driving to my sister's my first year out of college to spend the holiday weekend with her and my brother-in-law. But for the most part, in the last decade, if I wasn't working, I didn't want to venture out and battle throngs of people for a prime viewing spot of the fireworks that I'm so "meh" about anyway.

But one July 4th definitely stands out to me, and I think it will always be one of my favorites. Tim and I started dating in November 2003. I moved 2.5 hours away in December 2003. And in May 2004, we broke up for a few weeks, largely due to circumstances caused by/involving the instability of a long-distance relationship that didn't really have a "local" foundation. (But also because I'm part spaz and was miserable in my new job. But that's a different story.) Three weeks of dating while living in the same area code isn't much, especially when the long-distance that follows involves hectic work schedules and other life stresses.

So we broke up in May. It was hard, and it was emotional. But after a few weeks, we both realized that we weren't happy apart - there was definitely something there, and we both wanted to give it another shot. We were cautious, and we took things slow - phone calls, then a short visit by him up to me in Michigan, and I think the July 4th visit was the first "we're seriously getting back together" visit that lasted more than a day or two. I drove down for the weekend, and by some miracle he was off, too, so we went to one of our favorite parks for the city's big July 4th bash. We ran in to the mayor and several other city officials that Tim knew, and we saw the publisher of the newspaper that we had met at and Tim was still working at, so it kind of felt like I was dating a celebrity :)

Eventually we spread out on a blanket, the sun began to set and the city's symphonic band filled the air with patriotic tunes and John Philip Sousa marches. Before it got too dark, we had someone take this photo of us (I think it might actually have been the mayor!), and it is one of my favorites.

We both look young and happy and hopeful, and it was such a relaxing, enjoyable, reassuring night.  I'm a pretty anxious person in general, and I just remember being content that night - happy to be with Tim, to be enjoying the evening's sights and sounds and relaxing in the night air of the city where we had met and started our relationship.

Truth be told, we did break up one other time under different circumstances, about two years later (still long-distance dating, although at that point I was 4.5 hours away instead of 2.5), but it didn't last as long. Now that we've been together for almost nine years, those short break ups feel like little speed bumps in a longer, exciting road trip. This first break up was definitely a defining time in our relationship, marked by one July 4th holiday that showed us that we are simply happier together,.

A Father's Day letter to Elle

Dear Elle,

Today is Father's Day - our second with you. Baby girl, I don't know if there are adequate words to describe how enamored you are with your daddy. And I can't blame you - he's amazing.

He works so hard - for us, for the newspaper - and does so without complaint. He works late five nights a week and gets up with you five days a week. He does chores around the house, runs errands,  packs your lunch, stocks your diaper bag, plays with you ... basically runs around nonstop and then puts in 10+ hours at the office. He takes you to doctor's appointments, chooses your outfits every day and drops you off at daycare four days a week.

He takes you to swim lessons every day and even saved the day when another child got sick and the mom basically froze. Daddy helped take care of the mess without hesitation. He's that kind of guy, Elle - calm and selfless. The kind of person you always want to have around, and lucky for us, we have him :)

He's got a seemingly endless amount of patience. He never raises his voice to you unless you're putting yourself in danger (like the let's-stand-on-the-couch shenanigans you've been pulling lately). He doesn't like to see you sad or mad, so you're extremely likely to hear "Yes" from him. And you're well aware of this. You ask him for "Dessert, Daddy?" When he tells you to "ask Mommy," you look at me for a nanosecond and then direct the repeated "Dessert, Daddy?" plea to him. If I ask him why he did something (like give you a second pack of fruit snacks for your afternoon snack), I receive the seemingly obvious answer of "Because she wanted them." 

You beg to watch "pig movie" (aka "Babe") and he obliges, because it makes you so happy and you're so emphatic about it. You possessively yell "MY Daddy!" if anyone comes near him. You love to know where he is when he's not with you: "Daddy work? Daddy gym? Daddy outside?" The other morning, your first words were "Go see Daddy?" When I told you he was golfing, you said "Go see Daddy golfing?" You bolt from my lap whenever you hear him come home from the gym, and I hear you saying "Daddy Daddy Daddy" as you hurry down the hall. When he's working, you solemnly tell me "See Daddy tomorrio" because you know he'll be there when you wake up.

 Note the golf ball in your hand.

He's taught you so much - from colors to shapes and letters to numbers. You've already developed a respect for and interest in several sports. You cuddle with him while you both watch baseball. Your recent unprompted cheer of "Go Reds!" nearly left me in a puddle. You proudly bring him golf ball after golf ball.

You two have a special bond that has only strengthened in these two years. You trust him completely, and he would do anything to make sure he never disappoints you. The love you two have for each other makes my heart so full it feels like it could burst on a regular basis. You adore him, and he adores you.

Today is a day that draws attention to some other pretty special men in your life, including G, who has worked hard to provide for his four children (including your favoritest mommy ever) and is one of the smartest, most driven and stubborn people you'll ever know (you've likely inherited many, if not all, of those qualities). And Grandpa, who taught high school math for more than three decades - something you can't do without patience, intelligence and dedication, and raised two successful, compassionate sons. We're extremely lucky to have them both in our family.

You've changed SO much from last year's photos - you're way more
mobile and expressive, which made the photos quite a challenge :)

Belle, I hope you someday realize that you are so, so blessed to have such an amazing father. When Daddy and I were dating, I knew that he'd be a great father, but there's no way I could have imagined just how great. I've fallen in love with him all over as I've seen how fantastic he is with you and how head-over-heels in love he is with you, and I pray that you always know how lucky you are.

Love,
Mommy

Wordless Wednesday: Mother's Day

Although belated, I wanted to share some photos from Mother's Day. On Mother's Day, we went to church, got coffee, I took a glorious nap, went for a quick run and then we went out to dinner at one of my favorite restaurants, Carrabba's, which is where most of these photos were taken. I thought they were exceptionally cute :)

The Easter egg hunt that wasn't

I really didn't care about Elle participating in any egg hunts this year. She's still too young to "get" it, and she's in super "MINE!" mode, so I figured if we instructed her to go out and try to get eggs that other kids were targeting, it would be a bit of a mixed message.

But one of our friend's church was hosting an Easter egg hunt in the park last weekend, and Tim was ADAMANT that Elle go to it and participate in the egg hunt. The weather was gorgeous, there were lots of other activities planned, and it's like 10 minutes from our house, so we woke her a bit early from her nap and headed out.

Our first glimpse at the set up was this:

That was just one of the fields, because there were several age groups, starting their hunts at different times. The youngest group was scheduled to go first, and we got a wristband for Elle and headed to check-in before the hunt. We were told several times that she wouldn't be allowed on the field in her stroller (I didn't realize we had a sign on the stroller saying our child was stuck there for the afternoon), and then after we'd waited in two lines (and kept the restless toddler strapped in her stroller until we could arrive on-time at her age-appropriate field), we were told that she wasn't allowed on the field at all. Apparently the 2-3 year age group got a little rough last year - mostly because of parents. So they were not allowing any child under two to participate in the actual egg hunt. She could claim a goodie bag, but no eggs would be hunted.

I was bummed and a bit irritated, but we took advantage of the situation and hit up the bounce houses (designated for younger kids, although I'm certain Elle, at 20 months, could have easily been trampled by the "younger kids") while the lines were short.

Then we checked out the free hot dogs, picked up a Elle's goodie bag, met the Easter Bunny, watched a clown show and just enjoyed the fresh air.

Elle spent the rest of the afternoon saying
"Hi Bunny" any time she saw him.

We utilized a strategy of one of us staying in line
for things while the other chased Elle around until
we reached the front of the line and reconvened.

Then we waited in line for face painting. Elle was extremely patient and kind of stunned by the whole experience.

Elle rockin' a purple butterfly.

After she was released from the face painting table, we trekked over to a playground at the park and she played some more. Needless to say, she slept extremely well that night :)

We hope you had a happy Easter!

Elle shows off some eggs from the Easter Bunny
(or, if you ask her, "Easter Money") after church.

Technology for the win.

From the people person who brought you the gift version of "Holidays away from home," I bring you "Christmas via technology."

Elle and Daddy chat with Grandma.

On Christmas Eve, we attempted Skype-ing with Tim's family because they had celebrated Christmas that day and it was Tim's birthday. Tim's brother's family got their parents a Web cam so we can chat with them and they can see Elle more. Unfortunately, there were some technical difficulties and were unable to get it to work ... but on Tuesday we tried again and were successful!

Elle and I often iChat with my parents and brother, and we've Skyped with my sister - she's no stranger to the video chat. This time, she and Tim chatted with his mom, brother and nephews. Elle was a little overwhelmed by the new faces on the computer screen, but she warmed up quickly and was hamming it up in no time.

Later that night, we tried out the Facebook video chat for the first time with my family. Elle chatted for a while before she had to head to bed. She had talked with them on Christmas, but she always has something new to babble about :)

Having our new laptop makes video chats a lot more portable and impromptu - there's no parking ourselves in front of the desktop, and it just feels like we have the capability to be more spontaneous. (Yes, I know, I'm lame.) Elle can walk, crawl all over the couch, grab a toy to show, etc. Either way, I'm appreciative of the technology that allows us to see our families - it definitely makes the 1,000 miles between all of us seem a little smaller and helps them see Elle grow up from afar.

2011.

Hopefully the last mistake I make of the year: Going through old photos, papers and memorabilia while emotional.

Nevertheless, my decluttering and reorganizing made me really think about the past 12 months, as well as what the next 12 might bring us. I keep record of a lot of our life events on the blog, and it's easy to reference some things I've posted about here and try to remember other things that happened this year.

Tonight, I sit at home while Tim is at work. I'm pretty sure we weren't able to spend last New Year's Eve together, too - I *think* I was probably working. In January of 2011, we rode the waves of our half-year-old daughter's eating and sleeping schedule.

February brought Tim a new job - he was promoted to sports editor, a position that is perfect for him. Elle chalked up quite a few milestones - solids, sitting and army crawling! We also did sleep training this month. The three of us enjoyed a lovely Valentine's Day dinner and ended the month with an awesome family day.

March brought a visit from my sister and brother-in-law, coordinated around a half-marathon relay that my sister and I ran. March is always busy in the sports department, so Tim and I worked a lot. In late March, my grandmother passed away, and Elle and I flew up to be with my family. I was grateful that I was able to get the time off work without any problem, and even though losing my grandmother was hard on everyone, we were thankful that she wasn't suffering any more and happy to have the family together.

In April, Elle got her first teeth! I turned 30, and we flew to Colorado to spend my birthday weekend with my siblings and mom.We spent a snowy weekend in the mountains, eating a lot and lounging around a gorgeous house while battling altitude sickness :)

May was busy - Mother's Day, Elle started talking, I donated breast milk and we started attending the church that we are now officially joining.

I found out that I needed a mouth guard in June. This is notable because I spent most of the month at the dentist because of it. We celebrated Tim's first Father's Day, and the Reds played a three-game series in St. Pete (Tim attended all of the games). We changed the blog name! Elle went to the pool for the first time out of utero.

July was a fun, busy month. We took a long family trip to Ohio, visiting both sides of the state (east and west), meeting a blog friend and watching a good friend get married. We were able to celebrate Elle's first birthday with both sides of the family. OH! And Elle turned one. ONE.

In August, I stopped pumping. I was also gearing up for a major life change, as I accepted a new job and put in my notice at the newspaper.

September was hectic. Nursing came to an end for us. Elle and I went to Ohio for a short trip  (and the wedding of another good friend), and as soon as we returned, I started the new job. I also came down with a nasty cold. Awesome.

I feel like the rest of the year flew by - the new job and new schedule have really thrown me for a loop. We took advantage of my weekends off in October to go to a few pumpkin festivals and Busch Gardens with my new company. Elle was the cutest Elmo ever.

November seemed to be a bad month for household appliances. Tim's friend Tim came to stay with us for a week, and Tim had surgery for a root canal that didn't have a root (yeah, let's leave it at that). Tim and I celebrated our third wedding anniversary. The molar monster came to visit. We met with a financial adviser. I ran a five-mile turkey trot. My sister and brother-in-law came to visit us, and we observed Thanksgiving a few days late.

And now, December - I spent a lot of this month preparing for Christmas. I still have a blog to post about our family photos, which we used on our Christmas cards. Elle visited with Santa again and wasn't really in to it. We celebrated Tim's birthday and Christmas. 

There were definite highs and definite lows in 2011, but we have big plans for the next year, and I'm excited to see what 2012 brings us.

Happy New Year!

Christmas wrap up

I was so moved by the "Christmas past vs. Christmas present" at the end of my last post that I kind of ended our Christmas recap prematurely. You're not missing anything exciting, but for the sake of keeping accurate records, I'll finish up here.

After we got home from church, I worked on our Christmas dinner while Elle played with the new toys. We enjoyed a large meal (and dessert, which was Tim's traditional birthday "cake"), then naturally, we all took naps! It was glorious. Then Tim had to go to work, and Elle and I video chatted with my family. The only other productive thing we did was to go for a run, and the rest of the night was full of leftovers and playing with new toys.

On Monday, we headed out for lunch at a water-front restaurant and walked along the water.

The water and sky were absolutely gorgeous.

Unfortunately, it was rather windy and cold (for Florida, I mean), so we didn't do too much beaching. Elle was content to stay warm in a sweatshirt as long as we let her little legs keep moving.

There were meltdowns if you tried to stop her from walking.

The rest of the day was pretty normal - Elle and I checked out the post-Christmas clearance at Target while Tim did some work from home. Then I had an appointment to go to, so Elle and Daddy ate dinner and hung out for a while.

A lovely Christmas weekend was had by all :)

Our Christmas weekend

Tim's birthday is Christmas Eve. Elle and I gave him the gift of sleeping in - we went out to breakfast so he could have quiet (I think I'm going to make breakfast-on-Daddy's-birthday a tradition). When he woke up, I made him breakfast and he settled in to watch the Bengals game. After the game, we attempted a video chat with his family (more on that later!) and then headed to dinner (at Moe's, Tim's birthday restaurant of choice).

After dinner, we took a walk along the river and looked at all of the lights on the boats and the light displays. This one was my favorite:

Tim spent the last part of his birthday putting together Elle's play kitchen and watching a movie with his favorite wife :)

On Christmas morning, Elle woke up unusually early. Like 5:50 a.m. I got her back to sleep at 6:30 ... until she woke up 20 minutes later. At that point, we decided we were all up for the day, and we brought Elle out to see what Santa had brought.

She was so cute - she didn't even realize anything was different at first, and then she got super serious about exploring the kitchen.

Elle wasn't really in to the actual opening of the presents, but she was very interested in playing with them. She loved everything, and she received a lot of really cool toys, books and clothes.

The laptop from Mommy and Daddy has been a hit. You can customize it, too, so Elle gets e-mails (a new word she's picked up) from Mommy and Daddy. She's learning letters and animals from it already, too, and Tim and I are quoting it to each other (if you have the Scout or Violet toy, you'll understand the catch phrases that are easy to pick up from these toys). 

She started reading the "Llama llama" books right away, too.

The bright side of Elle waking up so early is that we were able to get ready for church without rushing. Elle wore a cute dress and (shockingly) sat quietly throughout the service - I think it was part Cheerios, part lots of singing that kept her distracted.

And just for the sake of humoring my addiction to Elle nostalgia, I offer you Christmas past and Christmas present:

2010: Totally overwhelmed by the jumperoo.

2011: Can't be bothered because we're busy with our new kitchen.

A Christmas Survey

Since we're about two weeks away from Christmas (eek!), I present light and fluffy holiday blogging borrowed from Shannon - enjoy!


1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate? Hot chocolate. I think if egg nog wasn't so fattening I would enjoy it more, but it's so rich that I can't drink much without feeling sick.

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree? Santa hasn't worked in our home long enough to decide. So far, the big gifts don't get wrapped.

3. Colored lights on tree/house or white? White all the way.

4. Do you hang mistletoe? Nope.

5. When do you put your decorations up? After Thanksgiving - we usually put the tree up right after Thanksgiving so we get the most mileage possible out of the tree and effort behind putting it up :) 

Tim and Elle sort ornaments.

6. What is your favorite holiday dish? Pumpkin pie.

 
7. Favorite Holiday memory as a child? Seeing my uncle dress up as Santa and visit us. He would bring us oranges, too. I also remember one of us pulling the tree down (I think it was my brother) and while that was memorable, it wasn't exactly good. 

8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? I actually don't remember. I know I was probably around 8ish?, but I don't remember it being a huge deal. I remember my brother finding out, because he discovered that the Easter Bunny wasn't real and kept adding it up, like "I always wondered how he could get across the oceans all in one day."

9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? Nope. We had to wait. We got stockings in the morning but had to wait until after church and after my grandparents and uncle(s) arrived to open our gifts. It was maddening. Tim and I usually open our gifts to each other on Christmas Eve around midnight - his birthday is Christmas Eve, so after he opens birthday presents we open Christmas presents :) We try to open the rest in the morning. 

10. How do you decorate your Christmas tree? We've had a pre-lit tree for the last three years. It has white lights, and we each put on "our" ornaments (childhood ornaments, Tim puts up his IU basketball/Reds/Bengals stuff, I put up my Steelers/Sidney Crosby stuff/ones my grandpa made, etc.). Tim started a tradition of getting me an ornament for each year the year we got engaged, so I usually try to put those up myself (Tim put some up this year because I was trying to distract Elle). Then we split the "us" ornaments - whether they be super sentimental or just decorative, we go through them and talk about who gave us the ornaments from our first year of marriage, which ornaments are from Elle's first Christmas, etc. This year we left the bottom of the tree pretty bare because of Elle. That basically just means we didn't use the super cheap shiny ball ornaments that we usually sprinkle throughout, so it was no big loss :) We top the tree with a country-ish star that might have to be retired after falling a few times this year (did I mention one of my cats has been climbing halfway up the tree?). We have a pretty red velvet skirt under the tree, too (basically it's just a blanket for the cats' naps, apparently).

11. Snow! Love it or Dread it? I like it when I don't have to drive or fly. If I'm just going to be home for a lazy weekend, I love to watch it fall outside while I curl up under a blanket. I also say this as a person who has never had to bundle up a small child to take out in the stuff :) I've lived in Florida for five years, so I've seen snow only once or twice in that time, and I don't miss it that much.

12. Can you ice skate? I wouldn't qualify what I do as ice skating. I've only gone a handful of times in high school and college, and I don't know if I ever let go of the side rail.

13. Do you remember your favorite gift? I have a really bad memory ... I know I've gotten a lot of awesome gifts, but nothing stands out as "favorite Christmas gift ever."

14. What’s the most important thing about the holidays for you? Family and traditions. It's hard being away from our families, but we've tried to incorporate some of our family traditions in to the holidays and make our own new traditions. It's interesting being married to someone who celebrates his birthday the day before Christmas (and his parents' anniversary is actually Christmas day, too!). We always make sure to call/iChat with our families.

15. What is your favorite Holiday Dessert? Hi. Pumpkin pie.

16. What is your favorite holiday tradition? I love putting the tree up right after Thanksgiving. Tim and I make hot chocolate and open our gifts to each other together, which is really nice since things can get crazy on the actual holiday. We've also gone to the beach on several Christmases, which has been fun. And I like playing "Santa" for Elle - I'm excited that this year and the coming years she'll have a better grasp of the holiday, and I'm looking forward to sharing the "reason for the season" with her and seeing the anticipating and joy for her, too. This will be the first year Tim and I have a mutual church to go to, and I am extremely happy about that.

17. What tops your tree? A star.

18. Which do you prefer giving or receiving? Give.

19. Candy Canes: Yuck or Yum? I like them, but I don't like to have them very often. 

20. Favorite Christmas show? Movie? Not big on either. Maybe I just need to find the right one - suggestions?

21. Saddest Christmas Song?  This might be ridiculous, and I like the song, but "Have yourself a  merry little Christmas" makes me sad. I think it's because I haven't gotten to celebrate Christmas with my family in so long, and it makes me remember all of our family gatherings - gatherings that included many family members who are no longer with us.

22. What is your favorite Christmas song? I like to belt out a solid "Jingle Bell Rock" and have always loved "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen." I also like cheesy pop Christmas music. (Sue me.) Really, I like almost all Christmas music. I've already started singing songs to Elle in the car. (I think she hates it, but that hasn't stopped me yet.)