a glimpse into our christmas eve

{just a few photos from our christmas eve morning}

{every year for christmas eve breakfast, chris' mama would make the same breakfast casserole, and since i knew we wouldn't be traveling home for christmas, i lovingly obliged to try my hand at it - albeit a bit healthier of a version. have to admit, it was pretty tasty, and just might be sticking around}

{homemade granola gifted from my sweet friend brittany, plain yogurt, and pears drizzled with raw honey}

{my tiny little foodie, she is the happiest when food is involved}

{i just couldn't resist these matching dresses. this was right before we headed to a beautiful christmas eve service, three local churches congregated together in worship. and although, i love, love my small intimate house church - these are the moments when i crave a little tradition. so we just kinda hopped on in. hoped no one cared too much. the music and the message were both so genuine, powerful yet simple, just lifted the veil a bit, to let me see the truth and beauty of Christ's  birth.} 

{carrying on a little tradition i grew up with, opening a gift on christmas eve. matching pajamas of course! we added a little touch - the girls also received, a charlie brown christmas, and we all enjoyed hot cocoa and one of those giant bins of popcorn while we settled in for the night, anticipating christmas morning}

christmas and little traditions

I have always loved the smell and feeling of a real christmas tree. growing up we never had one, supposedly my mama was allergic. but, i am still not truly convinced of that. so in our first year of marriage - our first christmas together - mind you before there were any littles running around, I convinced chris to get a real christmas tree with me. to my surprise, he never got a real one growing up either. so we got a little charlie brown tree.{our first christmas here}

and so our tradition began. if it was up to me, I would have the tree up by thanksgiving, but my husband is bit of a separatist when it comes to holidays. and honestly, i am starting to love it too. to fully celebrate thanksgiving and gratitude all month, and allow the waiting and tension of christmas to build. so on the first sunday of advent, we get our real christmas tree, I make homemade hot cocoa and cookies, and we all decorate the tree together. for as long as their attention span will allow. I just love it - and having our littles celebrate with us, makes it so much better.

so keeping with tradition, on the first sunday of advent, we got our real christmas tree. and it's something we look forward to every year, I just love this time of year. I made homemade hot cocoa and cookies, and pull out all of our christamas decorations, and we go to town. and i just can't stop listening to the she + him christmas album. this year juniper was old enough to participate, and oh my goodness it was darling to see her face light up with excitement over the tree. she kept giving it kisses and of course had more fun putting up and taking down the same ornament over and over. so precious. we basically just have lots of lights, homemade ornaments that sparrow has made or some from my childhood, and we've started getting one new ornament a year - usually from anthropologie because they always come out with the most darling ones. so our collection is slowly building, but I just love it.

the girls also get their own little tree to decorate in their room, we started this a couple of years ago with sparrow, and now juniper gets to join in! sparrow is so proud that she gets to pick her own tree out and can choose which ornaments to decorate with. she usually picks lots of candy canes and yarn.

i didn't grow up in a super traditional home filled with lots of specific traditions - we did have some, like wearing matching pajamas on christmas eve, and also getting to open one gift. but, it's something over the years me and chris have had lots of conversations about. what traditions do we want to keep that come from our childhoods and which ones would we like to cultivate in our own family. we don't have them all totally figured out, and most have just kind of happened organically. but, my favorite is doing advent as a family. neither one of us grew up doing advent, and so this is something we have been intentional about doing together every year. right now in this season of little ones, we keep it simple, it usually involves a little craft and scripture. we also have a nativity that sparrow helps set up and we use it as a visual story guide. but, i love being intentional and carving out time each evening to let go of empty busyness, choose joy and contentment, and receive the true gift of christmas. and to help give eyes to my children to see the truth and depth of why we celebrate. we give gifts because he first loved us and gave himself as a gift to us.

 

a bit of our thanksgiving

 

I didn't get too many photos from thanksgiving this year. my sister and niece came into town and we celebrated thanksgiving with some family friends. so much good food and company - turkey, ham, all the yummy sides, and pies! I just love thanksgiving! I really try and be thankful and practice contentment everyday, but I love a whole day to remind myself of all the goodness in my life. for all the people in my life. my little ones, my husband + partner in this life, our families, and all the friends who love us so well. the older I get, the more thankful I am for the very simple things. the things money can never buy or replace. the intangible goodies that the father gives.

during the month of November, we have a thankful tree at the center of the table. and over dinner we each share something we are thankful for and write in on leaves + hang them on the tree. it can be anything, there are no rules to being thankful. this tradition started a few years ago and honestly is something we have kept up most evenings throughout the year - either at dinnertime or bedtime. but during November I like to be super intentional about having the tree and being able to visually see everything that causes us to give thanks. coffee. babies. warm beds. pie. community. all kinds of things make the list. and sparrow's are some of my favorite. through the eyes of little ones, if we are slow enough to listen and watch - we will see so much truth. to be like my children is my prayer. wherever and whoever you were with, I hope you had a lovely thanksgiving.

MOZARTS!



while we were in Austin for thanksgiving, we took the littles to one of my favorite coffee shops-Mozart's! it over looks lake Austin and has the most breathtaking view, I love to sit on the outside deck, sip coffee and read a good book. 

during the holiday season, they have a light show synchronized to music, and it is just magical. sparrow + juniper were both a bit mesmerized by it. this year they did the infamous 'fox' song, and it was so funny to hear the crowd humming along.

sometimes when you ask a stranger to take a picture of you - you never really know how it's going to turn out, but surprisingly I love this one.



H A P P Y V A L E N T I N E S!

we had a few little friends over for a Valentine's Party! sparrow was so excited about having a 'party' and helped me put together the fruit kabobs and decorate the table, it was so precious! i made strawberry cupcakes with vanilla frosting and let the littles decorate their own cupcakes ~ and they also made valentines (i cut out hearts out of left over red + polka dot butcher paper from Christmas)!

all the littles ended up in sparrow's room (my plan all along! :) ) playing with all of her toys and jumping on her bed - they were all giggling so much i didn't have the heart to stop them. :) afterwards we took advantage of the beautiful weather and headed to the park - and i snuck in a mini photo shoot!

(tate! he loves sparrow's wagon!)

(so happy this little one came over + her mama brought baby rufus too!)

(penelope refused to look at me or hold the sign! haha still a cutie though!)

(sparrow just loves her daddy!)

(daddy came home with valentines treats for me + sparrow! he is so thoughtful!)

(gosh, even at 2 i am sometimes tempted to wake her up - i can't handle the cuteness)

 

Hope you all have a wonderful Valentine's Day!! it's a family holiday in our home, we just keep it simple, we always make chocolate covered strawberries and exchange little gifts!