December 7: Rec Center Tree Lighting

On Friday night, the Bees Ferry Rec Center just up the street from our house was having a celebration to light their trees.  We really enjoy having the rec center so close to our house - I go there twice a week for Zumba classes, and the kids enjoy playing at the nice big playground there too.  For the tree lighting, they were having a winter carnival and a bounce castle and balloon room for the kids, as well as free hot chocolate and a bonfire to make s'mores.

Unfortunately, it didn't start until close to 6:45 which was getting too close to Ethan's bedtime.  We lasted through the actual tree lighting and then Santa said hi to both kids (which they were very unsure about) and by then Ethan was fussing so we had to pack it up and leave.  But it was nice to get out of the house for a change and do something Christmasy.

Gemma was so excited she just kept running back and forth from tree to tree (there were three Christmas trees).

 (Not sure why this one is so blurry but it's the only one we got of the three of us.)

December 6: Cute Kids in Cute Christmas Clothes

Today it was *slightly* cooler outside, so I dressed my kids in some festive new clothes (courtesy of Nana and Grandma). 

Then, because they looked so incredibly cute, I plunked them in front of the Christmas tree and bribed Gemma with Oreos and took a couple of cute pictures. 

I didn't even have to offer her another Oreo to get her to hug Ethan.  She just really loves him.  :) 

December 5: Another Warm December Day

This is pretty similar to my post of a few days ago (but then again, most of my days, sadly, are just about identical to the ones before), but the subject for my photo challenge today was "temperature."

I was whining (yes, whining, I admit) to Cy last night about how it just doesn't feel like Christmas.  It got cold for a brief stint and I was really enjoying the chance to use the fireplace every evening and drink hot chocolate and tea and now it's just too hot.  And it's been getting warmer.  Today it was pushing eighty.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...now if only it would just start to feel like Christmas too.

December 4: Paper Plate Angel

Gemma came home from preschool yesterday with this precious angel she had made out of a paper plate, some paint, and her own two little hands.

It was just the perfect size to serve as a tree topper on one of our smaller trees.  Isn't it sweet?

December 3: Christmas on the Coast

Today's picture doesn't look all that festive, but it's kind of hard to feel Christmas-y when it's a balmy 75 degrees outside!  So we listened to "Christmas in the Sand" by Colbie Caillat and we celebrated like Charlestonians...frolicking outside in the warm December weather like this:

And for the more "official" photo-a-day challenge I'm following, today's subject is red, RED, RED!!!  I will not be taking any pictures of any murderous red squirrels (that's for you, Laura!), but instead, I chose this:

A yard of Robert Kaufman Christmas fabric that I got in the mail today.  And okay, so it's not completely red, but there's a lot of red in it so I totally think it counts.  Plus, I love it.

December 2: The Light

Today at church, Phil preached on "The Light," using passages from Isaiah to talk about Christ's birth as the arrival into the world of The Light. 

I actually wanted to snap a photo of the Scripture with the Advent candles in the background but it didn't work out, so I took this shot instead.  (Unfortunately, my paper also got a little wrinkled due to Ethan trying to eat it.)

And speaking of light, as I was hanging up this wreath on my front door, I was struck by the way the sunlight hit it - it looked so pretty, so I snapped another picture.

Last (and completely unrelated to the title of this post), I was trying to find a specific "photo-a-day challenge" that had topics for each day of December.  I stumbled across this one and the subject for Dec. 2 is "favorite holiday movie."  I'm still going to try to come up with my own Christmas-themed subjects but it might be fun to follow a prescribed challenge as well. 

I tried to think of a not-lame way to do a picture of my favorite holiday movie, something besides just taking a picture of the movie box.  Then I realized that, duh! I was already wearing a T-shirt from my favorite Christmas movie, so I just had Cy snap a picture of me in front of our tree (one of them):

I look goofy as usual, but there you have it:  my favorite Christmas movie is Elf. 

December 1: Flamingo Tree

Everyone else seems to be doing this December photo-a-day thing, so I thought hey, why not...maybe at least it will motivate me to actually post something on this blog (because if you scroll down, you will see just how not motivated I have been of late).

Anyway...here is a photo I took yesterday of my decorated flamingo tree.  And yes, I am so obsessed with flamingos that I decorate an entire Christmas tree solely with flamingo ornaments (and pink twinkle lights) every year.  Awesome?  Yes.

Also, this year, my newest addition to this tree was this FANTASTICALLY FABULOUS Lilly Pulitzer glass ornament.  How excited was I about this?  I cannot even begin to describe it.