Merry Christmas!

Christmas Tree!

Last weekend we drove northwest just over an hour to our favorite Christmas tree farm.  Erik and I discovered this sweet farm buried in the beautiful countryside when we were first married.  We've gone a few times since and this time we took the Sinclair family with us for their first tree cutting experience - yay!

It was a gorgeous day for a romp around the Frazier firs :)

 hello, crunchy snow!  

 Eliza Wren was taking it all in...

Matilda enjoyed the ride too!

We found a little one to bring home.

Christmas Festivities

We spent several days after Christmas with Jonny's family (Jane's brother) in Mechanicsburg, PA.  Jane's parents drove up from NC with Will so we had a total of 7 adults and 4 children altogether!  

It was wild - here are the photos to prove it. :)

Erik unwrapping his gift from Jonny.

Getting ready to go outside for some snow play!

Romping with Daddy!

This is possibly my most favorite winter photo EVER!

Ellie Belle charming us with her cuteness. :)

Ah..these girls are too precious together.

Eliza Wren taking it all in...amazingly quiet and peaceful with all the chaos and commotion around her.

Cousins = best buddies!

 Granddad and Granna with their FOUR granddaughters! :)

simple toys

We had a lovely Christmas filled with many dear people and many generous gifts.  

And, as always even with all the new toys, great books and games she received, the simplest and most basic "toys" often provide the most fun. :)  After unpacking a large box sent from Grandpa and Grandma Petersons, Meredith and Erik had a blast jumping in and out of the box...throwing the peanuts and pretending it was snowing...etc...SO MUCH FUN!!! :)

Christmas Day!

We spent a leisurely day together as a wee family of four this Christmas.  Our morning began with stockings and gift giving.  

We gave Meredith an easel we salvaged and fixed up especially for her.

 Meredith's favorite part of her stocking was finding the lollypops - Trader Joe's Organic pops! :)

 Daddy and his girls :)

 Erik recently found an old cast iron skillet that needed to be restored and reseasoned...so, as a Christmas gift for me he did it!  It worked out beautifully and now we have a HUGE cast iron skillet - something that's been on my wishlist for some time now. :)  We christened it on Christmas morning with a batch of cinnamon rolls.

 Erik's brother, David, made us a delicious chai mix.  

Chai + cinnamon buns = a delicious breakfast for a winter's morning!

 Then, off on a family walk around our neighborhood in the brisk late morning.  

Do you see Eliza snuggled up?

 One of Erik's favorite gifts from me was a jar of marinated herring. :)  He enjoyed it as part his lunch.

 We finished the day with a lovely dinner with dear friends - the Nothackers.  Meredith is a big fan of their sweet girls and energetic puppy, Tucket. :)

Christmas Eve

We popped down to Tenth Presbyterian Church for their family service at 4:30pm today.  It was lovely - a brass quartet played, children's choirs sang and it ended with us all singing Silent Night by candle light. :)

 Now...this little one is off dreaming of sugar plums and all the festivities coming tomorrow. :)

N.C. times

Our time spent in N.C. over Christmas was very restful. We were very thankful to have time with Jane's Grandma and see Meredith show such love and devotion to her....she kept popping in to see G-gma and babble away to her. Grandma was always a sweet listener for our vivacious little girl.

Granna and Meredith had a favorite activity every night after dinner. :)

lots of music making time, of course ;)

...and lots and lots of silly faces!

Closing out 2011

Our Christmas festivities are over now and we are thankful for much as this year ends. As you can see in these photos, our little MJ finds joy in the small things - we hope to capture her delight in each day as we enter this new year. :)

happy new year!

play kitchen :)

Meredith's special Christmas gift this year was a play kitchen. :) Erik and I found this kitchen at a church rummage sale nearly 3 years ago...yes, before we even had Meredith, but when I saw it I knew it was the one! The price of $5 helped convince both of us that it was worth keeping in the basement until one day when we had a little person just the size for it. :)

Meredith didn't know what was coming...she was busy getting her pots and pans organized...

She immediately got to work once her kitchen was uncovered..."wonderful! A place to put all these pots and pans."

little ceramic cups, plates and bowls? yes, please!

A Melissa and Doug pizza set was a recent score at a consignment store - just the thing!

Lots going on in this kitchen! :)