Happy New Year Everyone!  It’s been so busy I just realized I haven’t written since Halloween.  I hope you all had a great holiday.

Christmas time is my favorite time of the year.  We always try to make it special for Owen and I hope he grows up with fond memories of our holiday traditions.  

We start the season with going to a tree farm to pick out our tree.  This year we let Owen be in charge of choosing just the right one.  And he picked the best tree we’ve had yet.  It was so big we had to move some things around to make it fit, but in the end it brought us all so much joy.  

This is the second year we visited the same tree farm, it’s run by the nicest family.  After you cut down your tree you can go inside for some homemade snickerdoodles and hot chocolate.  And we were surprised to see Santa while we were there!

Of course one of the highlights of the holidays is decorating our tree.  Before we had Owen, I was very particular about our tree, it was always perfect.  Now, our tree is covered in ornaments made by Owen and his cousins, and it’s more beautiful than I could ever have imagined.  I never understood why my grandmother kept every single thing I ever made and gave to her, now I do.  

The first weekend in December was Owen’s Christmas dance recital.  I was so nervous that he might panic on stage, I had nothing to worry about.  His Daddy danced on stage with him and his group performed “I Want to be a Snowman.”  He made the cutest little snowman I ever saw!

Another of our favorite holiday traditions is family cookie baking.  This year I got enough aprons for Owen and his cousins.  My niece didn’t take her apron off all day long!  The boys were slightly less impressed with wearing them.

Everyone enjoys baking, the best part is watching the mixer!  All the little ones wanted to gather around and watch the magic of everything being mixed together.  it really is kind of magical watching all the ingredients turn into cookies.  

Actually, the best part is eating the cookies!  

Christmas Day is so much fun now that Owen enjoys opening gifts.  He loved everything so much but his favorite gift was his math slam game.  We got it to help him with math concepts but it backfired a little bit.  The math problems are too hard for Kindergarten math and he really just likes all the music and lights involved with playing.  

We were also able to attend the Sensory Friendly performance of the Nutcracker again this year.  I can’t say enough what a treat it is to be able to take Owen to the ballet!  This year he was so amazed by it that he sat through the whole first half of the ballet.  He was bouncing up and down in his seat and clapping his hands.  

We ended the year with a casual New Year’s Eve celebration at home.  We usually go out and get a sitter for Owen but this year we thought it would be fun to stay home and just have a nice quiet night.  

At the last minute we decided to set up a balloon drop for Owen.  We used a plastic table cloth, balloons, and confetti.  After counting down to midnight (OK fine, 9 pm) we pulled the cord and dropped the balloons yelling “Happy New Year!”  Owen loved it so much that we all spend the next 15 minutes collecting confetti and throwing it into the air again, proclaiming, “Happy New Year!”  If the rest of our year is as happy as the beginning, we will be truly blessed.