Coming Soon to a Christmas Near You

Hello! My goodness...things do get busy right before Christmas don't they! This weekend was no exception. We had plans for hosting dinner Saturday night, which meant that some of Friday was spent cleaning and preparing (isn't that the best thing about having people over, how you super-mega clean your house?). We put extra leaves in the table and Katie wanted to see just how big the new table was. This is how big:She had a blast on that big table!
Saturday morning we had a lovely breakfast planned at the Derick Club with Grandma Mary and all the sisters (Katie's great aunts...all sisters in law actually). They breakfast about once a month throughout the year and in December daughters and granddaughters get to come too!
(and grandmothers in law this year!) Grandma Cheryl brought measuring spoons for Katie...which she was very excited about.

And Auntie Andrea was very good at keeping her away from silverware and other various table things. She also spent time on Grandma Mary's lap and played with a newly gifted turtle (Thanks Great Auntie Muriel!)
We did eventually tire of holding her and found the nearby high chair.
The real fun in the chair was found down below:


And for the rest of Saturday, Katie was visiting with both Grandparents in order to give mom and dad time to prep for dinner. It was our very first time cooking Turkey (the whole reason for the get-together which I like to call "Turkey Saturday"...perhaps a new tradition?) The big table before: And during (but no after because I forgot).The evening was superb and both food and company were excellent. Really feels like the Christmas season is here now.

Sunday was fun and relaxing (dinner hosting is hard work...Ben and I were both exhausted) and we made up for our Katie-less Saturday. All I wanted to do was squeeze and cuddle her, just like this!
She's so good at tolerating the squeezing. And I played around with camera settings while she sat with her dad...Ooo...dad and Katie now come in a wide-screen version!
And kicking it old school in black and white.
We did have some work to do on Sunday...getting Katie's first Christmas tree. Traditionally we often go into the woods and cut down a tree with my mom and dad, but decided to keep it simple (and warm...er) by buying a tree. But Katie says it looks like a forest!
A rigorous tree selection process.
All that hard work deserved a coffee break! (puffed wheat for you know who!)
Katie was reunited with her Starbucks bag-O-fun.
And spent time with Grandma Cheryl in the Big Comfy Chair (we've been very lucky getting the BCC lately!)
A few hours later and we had a real, pine-y smelling tree in the house. Katie got up close and personal. with her first Christmas tree. And it definitely passed inspection. The first miracle of Christmas...
And preview of what's to come...