Airwalk

One of Nate's favorite Christmas break activities was spending time with his friend, Gabe. We love Gabe's family and are so thankful for their friendship.

Christmas Lego Creations

Christmas Lights

We started our tour of lights at Oak Mountain.  It was smaller than we expected, but fun.  Nate really enjoyed it. 

We also visited a couple of homes that are well-known for great light displays.

We loved the countdown to Christmas.

It was so much fun, I took my mom, Jill, and Ashlyn to see the lights too.  We were actually supposed to see Christmas Vacation at the Alabama Theatre, but there were tornado warnings/watches in the area so we decided to stay closer to home.

I am so thankful for our community running group.  We have so many kind, encouraging people in our group.  This year someone decided to plan a Christmas light run.  It was so much fun - beautiful lights and good company. :) 

Christmas Shopping & Co-op Christmas Party

Nate and I had a fun day, just the two of us, doing some Christmas shopping for Cora and Darren and attending his co-op Christmas party.  Cora stayed with my parents.  This was the first time since her birth that Nate and I had several hours together alone.  It was nice, but also strange at the same time.  I kept having to remind myself that Cora wasn't with us.  

We started with some shopping for Darren at the Galleria.  Nate still wanted to ride the carousel, but I know it won't be long until he says "carousels are for babies."  We also enjoyed a cookie from Cookie Company.

We left the Galleria to do some toy shopping for Cora.  Nate picked out a sweet, soft baby doll for her.  He said he wanted to give her her first baby doll since girls liked them so  much. :)  He also picked out a cute lion teether.

Finally, it was time for the party.  Nate got to build a gingerbread house and play with his friends.  It was such a fun day together.  I am so thankful for kid.  :)

St. Nicholas Day

We love talking about the real St. Nicholas during Christmastime.  If you aren't familiar, you can read about him here.  Last year we celebrated St. Nicholas Day, December 6th, for the first time.  The tradition is to leave small treats inside shoes.  

Since St. Nicholas is known for giving gifts in secret, we also gave a couple of friends gifts and signed the card "From Secret St. Nicholas." We left the gifts on their front porch when they weren't home.  Nate absolutely LOVED sneaking around to leave the gifts. 

I hope this will be a tradition we continue each year. :)

Tree Farm

It's become our tradition to get our Christmas tree the Saturday after Thanksgiving.  How cute is this guy?

This event was a little crazy.  I imagined a sweet family photo of the four of us standing in front of the Christmas trees smiling and happy.  Instead, Cora was extremely fussy the entire time we were there.  We were all just ready to get home and let Cora get a much needed nap. I should have gotten that family photo, fussy baby and all...I must do better.

Thanksgiving

Our sweet little Thanksgiving blessing. :)

We spent the Wednesday evening before Thanksgiving with my family.  We, of course, had a huge feast.  My mom is always sweet to try to include all of our favorites.

Unfortunately, Nate had a pretty bad bike wreck at my parents'. Notice the bandages on his hands.  Ice cream helped him feel a little better. 

We spent Thursday with Darren's family.  It was a fun time.  Nate and Darren enjoyed playing football with all of the cousins.