Holiday Prep 2010

"It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas..."

A week after Thanksgiving we jumped into the Truman Family Wagon and set out to cut down our Christmas tree. The rest of the afternoon we enjoyed decorating the tree and house with all sorts of holiday spirit.

Instead of tying the tree to the top, Scott thought it'd be easier stashing the tree inside the van. I think Jack liked dad's idea the most.

Truman tradition: cup-of-hot-cocoa-after-tree-cutting. Just to warm the bones.

Digging right in!

This is Kate's first Christmas. She jumped right in with the decorations!

I'm holding Kate's first Christmas decoration.

I bought her a ladybug when I went to Bronner's earlier this year.

Jack gets to top the tree. At least until Kate is old enough to hold it. Then I'm sure they'll fight over it. That is until Jack is too old to care.

Red Nose Ruckus Fundraiser

Scott got us tickets to the Child&Family Services annual charity event Red Nose Ruckus. We gathered up my brother and SIL, Ian and Brandy, and had a super fun night out with the family.

Jack with friends Jake and Luke.

The event had a few carnival rides we just couldn't stay away from. I asked Jack to ride the carousal with  me only to find I wasn't allowed to ride a pony. I was sad but we had fun none-the-less.

Jack and I also rode the spinning apples. Only got a little dizzy on that one.

I'm sure the glass of wine prior had nothing to do with it!

Baking time!
My friend and neighbor Holly gave up her kitchen so we could make a mess of it trying our hand at making holiday treats. We did a pretty good job... at drinking some wine and making a few cookies.

While Holly and I were upstairs, the boys made a good mess downstairs.

A few days later I decided it was time for those dreaded sugar cookies I love the most. As you may have read earlier, my mother's 90+ pound, extremely over weight dog, Cocoa, ate the family's share. So, I tried my hand at it, with the help of Kate VanderVeen's gift of a new bear shaped cookie cutter (read last year's post to understand The Last Sugar Cookie), we got the job done! Thank you Kate!!! :o)

Verdict, they're a lot of work. But Oh-so-yummy!

And last, I had to show you this cutie-pants. On Jack's last day of preschool, before break, the kids got to wear their jammies, bring a packed lunch and they enjoyed a picnic in front of a movie. Jack was so excited to be able to take his lunch pale to school. Just like a big boy.

More holiday pictures to come.