10 Favorite Things: Issue No. 5

We are in the thick of the holiday season. Our home is fully decorated, the tree has been placed next to the fireplace, the stockings are hung, and the countdown has begun. I’ve been playing Christmas music, indulging in sweets, and admiring how my almost two year old son (he turns two on Christmas Eve) is taking in all of the wonder and beauty of the season.

10 Favorite Things

1.) This past Monday, we went to Gaver Farm to pick out our Christmas tree. When we moved to the area last year, I searched all over for a great Christmas tree farm where we could cut down our own tree. I found Gaver Farm and knew that it would be the place where we would come back year after year to continue the Christmas tree tradition. We found a beauty this year.

2.) Piggybacking off of #1, while we were on the hunt for the perfect tree, we were approached by a staff photographer for the Frederick News-Post newspaper. He told us that he wanted to photograph a family for a feature on freshly cut Christmas trees and asked if he could follow us and capture the moments. My husband and I agreed. The story ran a few days ago and we loved seeing the photos in the newspaper. The photo above is one of the featured photographs. What a great moment.

3.) Our son is absolutely in love with Spider-Man. He has never seen a Spider-Man movie or show. All he knows is that he saw a massive Spider-Man balloon at the grocery store and now he’s hooked. We’ve bought him Spider-Man pajamas and even a Spider-Man book. We can’t wait to celebrate his birthday in a few weeks, Spider-Man themed of course. I’ve already been researching Spider-Man cakes. Last night, he went to sleep in his Spider-Man pajamas and this morning I looked at his monitor and saw him pointing all over his jammies say, “peta ban” (mama translation: Spider-Man). Oh my cuteness.

4.) Our holiday cards arrived this week and I put them in the mail today. It always feels so good spreading holiday cheer, especially with a super cute photo of our son. I took his holiday card photo last year at Gaver Farm and I took another one this year at Gaver Farm. I think I started a new tradition of taking photos every year when we get our tree. It will be fun looking through all of the photos when he’s grown. Alright … enough talk about him growing up.

5.) My parents sent our son a bunch of holiday gifts which I promptly put under the tree to add to the festive feeling in our living room. When I was in the other room cleaning, I heard our son keep saying, “Bear.” I walked into the living room to find him surrounded in tissue paper, hugging a stuffed bear that my parents sent him. He is officially and fully in love with this white bear. He sleeps with him, eats with him, cuddles with him, shares his bed with him. This bear has quickly become his best bud.

6.) I started a new column on this site that is all about Random Thoughts. I have so many random thoughts throughout the day and I would love to get a conversation started. Start here and here.

7.) I’m in love with baseball hats and these super cute outfits.

8.) Two words: Snickers Eclairs.

9.) My husband and I love a good cheese platter. Here’s a great ways to build a cheese platter that you and your guests will love.

10.) A recipe that tastes like Christmas? Yum! It looks beautiful. Grab the recipe here.