.wonderment.

     Please forgive the "three posts in one day" routine.  Shouldn't happen that often, but because I'm just starting this one up, I would like to at least play some catch up.  Specifically, I just want to reminisce about this Christmas. 

     This Christmas was a season of firsts for us... our first as a married couple, our first in our new home, and most excitingly, it was our first with our first child. 

     The season started off with a small gift from the previous residents of our new home.  After nearly three months in our house which we had been tearing apart and putting back together again, we had never ventured up into the attic located in our garage.  Now, back during the home inspection, the inspector had told us there were a "few things here and there... a kiddie snowboard and a couple of boxes," but it never really occurred to us to go up there with everything else going on.  (Heck, I wasn't even allowed on a ladder to paint to the top of our 8 foot ceilings because I was "too pregnant!")  Then, a couple of days after Thanksgiving Brian suggested we take a look.  After he spotted more than a "couple of boxes" I jumped at the chance to explore.  As I opened the boxes, I was giddy... LIGHTS!!  GARLAND!!  A GIANT INFLATABLE SNOWMAN!!  As sad as it was to think that the previous owners had forgotten their decorations, it was a total gift for us seeing as how we weren't going to be putting any money into anything other than diapers and formula for a little while. : )  If that wasn't enough, Brian's mom is a property manager in the city and one of her tenants gave us their prelit Christmas tree.  I was ecstatic.  Am I the biggest fan of colored lights??  No, but when it's all just falling into my lap when otherwise I would have had none of it they become a lot more appealing!  I went to work hanging lights, putting up the tree, and even finding time to make salt dough ornaments for our baren little Christmas tree.

It's funny how the lights seemed a little more "twinkly" this year. : )

We still have some painting to do...

2 cups flour, 1 cup salt, 1 cup water  Knead, Roll flat, cut out and bake at 325 for 1-2 hours and voila!

Jackson made his first visit to Santa and made sure to drop his wish list off in Santa's mailbox!

Christmas morning wore him out!  Santa was VERY good to him for his first Christmas!

My favorite gift.

        Christmas means something different for everyone.  For us it's about celebrating the gift of family and friends and spending time with those we love.  This past Christmas was one of the best in my memory, and I can only imagine it getting better as our little one grows!

    P.S.  We didn't get the inflatable snowman up this past Christmas, but I'm sure we will next time around!