Santa Baby

Mr Swell & I thought - what better way to spend our last day in sunny, hot Florida than to dress our darling Chloe up in red velvet Christmas attire and take her to meet Santa for the first time! We had actually attempted to take her the day before (a Sunday) along with 95% of the residents of Palm Beach. Seeing as the wait was well over 2 hrs we thought that first thing Monday would be a better plan. Well - sure enough there was not one person in line and we were scooted right through...literally. Even though there was no one behind us, it was quite the rush job. Nonetheless, Chloe gave a nice little smile after processing who this stranger's lap was that she was sitting in.

Step 1: play with daddy in the presence of Santa

Step 2: the handoff

Step 3: Not so sure about this guy

Step 4: Warming up

Step 5: Big smiles after finding out that this guy gives good gifts!

Speaking of gifts, Chloe managed to ask Santa for the Beaba Baby Food Maker:

"Your Baby Can Read" program: (It must be all that late night TV she's been watching lately)

And just in case he should forget her, she mailed him a friendly reminder:

She was also kind enough to ask for a few things for her mom - talk about expensive taste!

2 aweseome books:

Rachel Rae Stainless Pots/Pans:

Kitchen Aid pink Mixer

Pink Dyson Vaccuum:

Yudu Screen Printing Machine:

Lululemon giftcard:

It's so silly of me to post this wish list on here, because it's not like I send out an email blast to all of my family members every time I create a blog post. *wink*

Home

Today's our last day in Florida and I have to say I am actually looking forward to heading home tomorrow. It has been a great month here - the beautiful weather has allowed Chloe & I to get out for many beautiful walks & runs each day and I know that I'll miss this once I'm home and having to bundle up before heading out to the below zero weather.

We have been so blessed to have this time here and I'm so thankful!

I'm looking forward to decorating the house and just getting into the Christmas spirit...which is a bit difficult when the sun is shining so beautifully here!

I've managed to get all of my Christmas shopping done while here though so I can't wait to get home and wrap them all up under the tree! My almost daily trips to Michaels & TJMaxx did not disappoint!

Several of my gifts will be made this year too! A few months ago, I finally learned how to knit & crochet and it has become quite an exciting obsession of mine!

I'm hoping to finish a few projects on the plane tomorrow...but that'll depend on how wonderful Chloe is on the plane.

Wish us luck!

Ange

Christmas Traditions

Welcome December.

I can't believe you're already here but I have to say that I'm pretty, pretty excited.

Mr Swell & I often talk about how everything in life seems to be exaggerated with emotion now that Chloe is in our lives. Like when we went to see Blind Side (great movie btw) the other night...the story of Michael Oher was so touching and I couldn't stop thinking about Chloe. Or when I see a cute little puppy - I see Chloe in the puppy's eyes. Sounds strange I'm sure - but since having her, I feel things on a different level.

Christmas being my favourite time of year, I cannot contain my excitement as I think about what traditions we will forge as a new little family. After doing a bit searching, here is the list of ideas that I liked.

Dec 1st:

- Take Chloe to pick out tree; decorate while listening to Cmas music

- Have "picnic" candlelight supper in front of the tree

- Watch 1st Cmas movie: Home Alone, Cmas Vacay or Cmas Story...

- Start the advent calendar

Christmas Eve:

- Bake Cookies for Santa in the morning with Chloe

- Dinner with all the family at our house

- Attend evening church service

- Open up new pajamas

- Steam apple cider & light candles in memory of loved ones.

- Read Chloe a new book before bedtime

- Fill stockings & put out cookies

Christmas Day:

- Make special breakfast

- Open our family presents

- Dinner, presents & games with family

Throughout the month:

- make gingerbread houses

- Head to Niagara Falls to look at the lights with thermos of Hot Choc in hand

- Adopt a family to buy gifts for

I know this is very "listy" of me and I'm sure it just makes Mr Swell's skin crawl that I've just organized how I want it all to go...but the intention of this is to just put it out there and hope that we can incorporate most of these into our Decembers going forward. Love you babe :)

What are your traditions?