WNC Arboretum Winter Lights

The Christmas Season is officially underway, and we haven't wasted any time getting in the Christmas spirit!

Lydia and I met up with Mrs. Julie and Leo for a special holiday story time at the library. The kids loved the stories, music, and ornament craft. Afterwards we walked downtown for lunch at West 1st. It was such a fun day with some of our favorite friends!

Grandma and Grandaddy treated us to tickets at the WNC Arboretum's Winter Lights show. It ended up being an extremely rainy day and was even thundering and lightening on our drive to the arboretum. We were concerned that the weather might keep us from being able to go, but thankfully the rain cleared shortly after we arrived. The lights were so pretty and the kids had so much fun looking at all the displays. Grandma and Grandaddy even treated us to hot chocolate before we left. It ended up being a great night!

Our church hosted an International Advent Festival on the Sunday following our visit to the Arboretum. It was so cool! Stations were set up throughout the church that represented different countries. The kids had passports that were stamped as they rotated through the stations. They loved making crafts, listening to music, and sampling foods from around the world. It was fun to learn more about advent customs across the globe.

Last year Aunt Lori shared a children's advent devotional with us that her friend created and sold in her Etsy shop. Even though we weren't super consistent with it last year (its a little much to do every day), we did enjoy it and look forward to making it an annual tradition in our home. Jacob really loves coloring the picture while we read the Bible stories, and Lydia hangs in there for a little while before dancing to the Christmas music playing!

And I have to share this picture of Jacob, who is holding hands with his friend Mia while skipping down the car rider line! 

Christmas Tree Day

After a great Thanksgiving Day in Charlotte we headed home and then headed to Sandy Hollar to get our Christmas Tree. 

For some reason we're always waiting on Daddy...

We stopped for breakfast on the way up the mountain!

Back to Sandy Hollar Farms!

Lydia was over it pretty quickly. She's not a fan of the cold.

We found our perfect Christmas Tree!

While there were no poop emergencies this year, it was still an eventful excursion. While waiting for our tree to be picked it, a guy on his ATV bumped into our freshly cut tree with the tree he was carrying, sending it rolling down the mountain. The ATV tree also bumped Jacob, also sending him rolling down the mountain. Its a lucky thing that Scott and I have healthy reflexes!

It turned out that our perfect Christmas tree was a bit plumper than we realized! Poor Daddy had to rearrange the furniture to accommodate its size.

We decorated Saturday evening. The kids loving putting all the ornaments on the tree...in the same 1 foot vicinity. We definitely had to do some rearranging after they went to bed.

Before we decorated our tree, we went to our neighbor's house to decorate Gingerbread houses. I don't think the Grove Park will be calling us anytime soon, but it sure was fun!

Jacob helped his sister get ready for the first Sunday of Advent - crown and wand included.

We are so excited about this Christmas Season!