"The symbol of the Christmas spirit" (said with a lisp)

I cannot believe it is December 15. There is a LONG list of things that I still have to get done before next Friday and I am dreading it. I've been telling Brad that it just doesn't feel like Christmas time. I guess it's the 78 degree weather we've been having! Crazy. I love this weather...in September and April! Well, finally this week it is "beginning to feel a lot like Christmas". We have our tree up and Mallory met Santa Clause.

We get a real tree every year (a family tradition on my side) and usually wait until a couple of weeks into December since they tend to get on the dry and "fire hazard" side if you get it too early. Well, this year we found a tree farm near us and decided to go check it out. They have pre cut trees and then also have trees that the owners grow so you can have a "Griswold moment" and cut it down yourself. Apparently, these trees will last from the end of November to the beginning of January. Unfortunately, when we got there, all they had left were 5-6 foot skinny trees. I guess they had a really good selling season. So, we were off to Home Depot where we purchased this beauty. It wasn't much cheaper than the farm and seems a lot drier. Oh well. You live and learn. We will be going back to the tree farm next year. It will be fun when Mallory is older and can help cut down her own little tree.

And here is the little girl with Santa. I was kind of worried about starting this tradition because I don't want her to be super disappointed when she finds out he isn't real. But for now, she is only 6 months old and doesn't know any different. She did pretty well, I think. We were thinking that she would either scream or just stare. She didn't really cry until we talked to her while he was holding her (or maybe she was crying because the "elf" only had 2 teeth and was scary-looking??). We caught the crying on video. All in all, it was pretty anti-climactic.

Now I need to get a move on and finish up shopping, baking, Christmas cards (they might end up being New Year's cards!) and everything else on my list...yikes!