A Visit With Santa Claus

Our tradition each year is to visit with Santa before right before Thanksgiving Day. The reason we do this is because the line gets much crazier to see Santa after Thanksgiving. Also, Doug and my dad both have time off of work around Thanksgiving, so they are able come and watch Miss B visit with the big guy. It works out for everyone.

Here are all our past visits...

2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013

Briana was all dressed in pretty purple to visit with Santa...

Gramma came with a small goodie for Briana...

She was ready with her list...

Briana and her Christmas entourage (hee, hee)...

We got to the mall about a half an hour before it opened. We were second in line...

Santa finally arrived!!!

Briana walked up armed with her list...

Briana was excited to tell me what they talked about...

Pictures with Papa and Gramma...

Doug, Bri and I...

Bri earned a well-deserved cake pop...

I love watching Briana visit with Santa. I will keep doing this with her until she is ready not to anymore. I just love the magic of Christmas, and I love seeing the excitement of Christmas through her eyes.

All About Christmas

This Christmas season is kicking my tush. I promised myself back in November that I was going to get everything done early in December this year (shopping, wrapping, decorating, etc) so I could hang out and relax for at least a few days with my best girl before Christmas. I am pretty much on track now - which is a good thing. I wish I had gotten things done even earlier, but even going at what I felt was lightning speed, I still couldn't get it all done as soon as I wanted to.

I can say that my house is fully decorated (inside and out), I've done all my wrapping, all my cards are filled out and I've sent off all my packages. Bri's elf Red has visited daily, we've had some fun Christmas outings and we even slipped in a weekend trip to Chattanooga. So, we've been super busy - and I'm exhausted. My poor blog has been severely neglected and I desperately need to fold some laundry.

  Whenever a get a quick chance post over the next week or so, it will be Christmastime related. You will be inundated with all things Christmas - for a while. Until possibly after the New Year. I'm apologizing now - heh. Christmas has been the all consuming theme in our world over the last few weeks.

Here are a couple of sneak peek pictures...

And I just realized that this is my 1800th post! Wow!!!

Thanksgiving Day

My family came over to my house on Thanksgiving Day this year. Miss B was all dressed in sparkles.

I had the elongate my dining table and I had the right amount of mismatched chairs for everyone to fit. ;)

Luckily, my turkey came out a golden and delicious. Thank goodness...

Doug and Bri sharing some turkey neck...

Bri and Cousin N1 watching the Macy's parade on TV...

We tried several times to get a nice family photo - as you can see, Doug didn't always behave...

Bri's favorite part ~ pie...

My mom came bearing early Christmas gifts (as well as my sister)...

Make a wish on the wishbone...

Bri was happy to win...

My little turkey had a great Thanksgiving...

Hope you all did too.

The Week Of Thanksgiving

Briana absolutely loves when she has a week off of school. She loves her teacher and her friends, but she still prefers if she doesn't have to be at school. ;)

 Monday, Bri and I had some secret Christmas shopping to do. We stopped at Chick Fil A for breakfast first and then it was off to do our secret mission...

 Tuesday, I got my hair done. I was in desperate need of a trim and some gray covering. Heh...

And Tuesday evening, Bri got to spend some time with her sweet friend ML...

 Wednesday, we headed to the mall to see the big guy. More on that wonderful visit in another post...

Thursday was Turkey Day. My family came over to my house for a lovely dinner. More on that later too...

Friday, Bri and Elsa, I mean Ella, got together for a play date...

And Friday evening, we bought our live Christmas tree...

Thanksgiving weekend was all about decorating Christmas trees. Christmas decorating, heck Christmas in general, is just exhausting!

A Busy November Weekend

The weekend before Thanksgiving was another full one for us.

Friday afternoon, I picked Briana up from school and then Doug, B and I headed to midtown to see Cirque's Amaluna...

The famous blue and yellow tent. Bri was so excited...

You are not allowed to take pictures during the performance, so I took some images off of G@@gle...

The girl that usually plays the main role of "Miranda" did not perform that day. It must have been her understudy that filled in. The understudy was a beautiful Asian girl and she was simply amazing - a very talented contortionist. I was so happy Briana was able to watch this beautiful girl as the lead. Sadly, she wasn't even mentioned in the program. I managed to find a picture of her online (I am pretty sure this is her)...

The show was spectacular per usual. The music, costumes and performances were all stellar.

The next day was a 9th birthday party at Benihana for Bri's friend April. B was all ready in her little black dress...

Briana, Maisie and the birthday girl April...

Sweet friends...

What you lookin' at??? ;)

Waiting for the show...

Pin the nose on the Olaf...

Look at how they served the oranges...

Birthday cookie time...

The adorable party guests...

Then Sunday, I went on my own to the annual craft show that is hosted by my former high school. It was raining cats and dogs that day and Bri decided she wanted to stay home with Doug. It really gave me time to look around and enjoy all the craft goodies...

As I shopped, Briana decided to do a beauty makeover on her dad. LOL!

I just love fun-filled weekends!