Kicking off the Christmas Season!

One of my favorite ways to kick off the Christmas season (aside from all the gift buying!) is to take a trip to Turck's Trees. First we walk through rows of trees to find just the right one ;) Then Max does the 'manly' thing and cuts down the tree for us where we bring it to the workers to shake all the excess branches/etc out. After that, it gets loaded into our truck and we head into the giftshop to visit Santa Claus and have some cider. Before leaving, we make a quick visit to the reindeer outside and then head home to begin decorating our tree.
Piper was a little intimidated by Santa this year (I figured she would be, but she did let me hold her and stand by him to take a picture). If you ask her what she wants Santa to bring her this year, she will tell you, "a teddy bear-- a blue teddy bear". (Which means my shopping is not actually done, because apparently I need to add a blue teddy bear to the loot!) Ryder chatted it up with the big guy and asked for "legos, snowshoes, and a flying helicopter". I have a feeling he will be a happy boy come Christmas morning!
My parents live close by and stopped out while we were there so I could snap some photos of them so the kids were excited to see them. :)

Hoping you and your families had a great Thanksgiving weekend as well! Between taking in our first movie as a family (Frozen--we all loved it!), stuffing our faces all day on Thursday, relaxing on Friday, shopping ALL DAY Saturday with my sister, and doing the tree thing on Sunday after church-- we are exhausted!! Spending this dreary/snowy Monday relaxing in sweats, cleaning, and finishing up with decorating for the holidays!