It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

Christmas has been in the air since Halloween. It seems as though stores were shoveling out Christmas decorations and playing holiday music much earlier than years before. The family life has inspired tons of warm and fuzzy feelings about the holidays. Pre-Noah, I used to find the holidays rather annoying and stressful. I am still not one for hitting the crazy, packed malls for gift shopping and becoming a target for a mugger. However, I will admit that I am a bit more cheery and cheesy about decorating and creating memories for that sweet child of mine.

On another note, it is official. My mini ninja is now officially a toddler. I am still amazed at just how fast an entire year of motherhood, marriage, and life has passed. Noah's first year has been such an amazing journey. Every single moment (even those occasional tantrums) spent with my sweet little one makes me realize just how precious life is. He is the epitome of my genuine happiness. I can only hope and pray that we are blessed with many more blissful years, filled with love, laughter, hugs, kisses, milestones, and family. 

So, the birthday party decorations are down. Turkey Day has come and gone. I am almost finished with Christmas shopping & wrapping gifts. We actually put ornaments on the tree this year. Last year, between going back and forth to the NICU + the uncertainty of when Noah would be able to come home with us +  the adjustment of finally having him home and being a nervous new mom, we completely neglected decorating for his first official Christmas. This year will be less anxiety-ridden and filled with warm memories + new family traditions. 

Step 1 was to figure out our pre-lit Christmas tree. Seriously, finding the plugs to connect each section of the lights should NOT have been so complicated. We thought perhaps sleep deprivation had clouded our vision and patience. My husband and I spent hours searching within the scratchy fake tree limbs, untangling branches and strings of lights, before finally surrendering. After pulling off ALL the attached strings of lights on our pre-lit tree, we discovered that we were indeed NOT losing our minds. The tree had 4 set of lights. Only one set contained both male and female plug ends. Therefore, it is impossible to connect all the sets together, as the instructions stated. One string of lights did not work, so we ended up purchasing additional lights for the "pre-lit" tree. 

Step 2 involved online shopping on Cyber Monday + wrapping gifts we had already purchased months earlier + hanging stockings + decorating the tree. Easy peasy.

Step 3 will involve mailing out Christmas cards + celebrating my 3rd 29th birthday (ha!) + figuring out who's cooking/hosting Christmas lunch/dinner this year.

Happy holidays! Cheers to a very Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!