Throw your arms around the world at Christmas time*

Last night we headed to Maya's favorite place (Stew Leonard's) to get our tree  :)

Have I mentioned that I love Christmas time?

And Maya's learning to love it, too :)

Dave and I are excited to get the tree, Maya's perplexed that some strange lady just took our camera.

We quickly grabbed our tree  . . .

 . . . because it was pretty cold.  (Those are my gloves on Maya . . . if you follow our Facebook page you would know that getting her to keep gloves on is tricky business.)

"Santa, your beard is mighty suspicious"

And today has been as magical as last night . . . the holidays are definitely here, complete with a deliciously pine-scented apartment (courtesy of the above tree). 

Maya helped me make cookies (for the first time ever)!  It makes me kind of giddy to think about the ways that she'll soon be able to "help" in the kitchen (she's a big fan of "helping".  Note the quotes.).  Today she loaded cookies into the food processor to get crushed:

KIPP teachers, you will be eating the fruits of her labor tomorrow if you're cookie-exchanging.    Don't worry, her hands were spotlessly clean :)

Then she helped me bring out the lights and beads for the tree . . . which quickly evolved into a mini photo shoot, because she's just so darn cute.

Parker!  Get out of here, I'm tryin' to untangle these lights and you're just makin' me giggle!

And then she showed me that she's totally ready to unwrap presents by destroying her walker.  Yeah, you read that right.  I'll post about that tomorrow(ish)---it was a handy DIY project, but now I'm back to square one on it.

(cue big, announcer-type voice)

And now, folks, it's the moment you've all been waiting for . . . the winners of the first ever Holiday Card Giveaway are . . .

 #6- Jerri

#11- Lucie

#1- Candice

Hooray!  Congratulations, ladies!  Please email me your name & address (uncommonfeedback@gmail.com) and I'll get those right out to you!