Life {R+S}: Christmas Traditions

I don't know how you mama-bloggers ever get anything written. I started this blog post almost two weeks ago and have been working on it a little every day since then. I had a whole other blog post scheduled to post today, since it is mine and Ryan's third anniversary...but that'll just have to wait until another day! Happy Anniversary, Ry-Guy!

This month has been filled with new and old Christmas traditions!

Visiting with Santa

Marietta square this year transformed into a winter wonderland, complete with an ice skating rink and Santa welcoming parade! Wanting to create some new traditions with P, we decided to check it out on Thursday evening.

We got to the square around 5 and walked around for about 45 seconds before P had a major explosion in the diaper region. Luckily, this Mama can't be fooled (anymore) and didn't dress her in her fancy "sit on Santa's lap" outfit. After finding a place to get changed, Peyton was ready for a visit with Santa! Unfortunately, the line was at least 100+ people deep, so we decided to grab dinner first and then go get our picture.

We ate at La Parilla, but the line there was really long also, so we didn't actually sit down to eat until about 7:45. Santa took off for the North Pole at 8:30 and by the time we finished eating, he was gone. Boo. At least we had some fun with our families and new friends in the area!

On Saturday, we decided to try to catch Santa again, this time at a winter festival in downtown Kennesaw. We got to the festival about 45 minutes before it closed down to avoid any long lines. We got in to see Santa with no problems and even had a little time after to walk around the festival and pick up a Christmas gift or two. Peyton was less than impressed with Santa and let him hold her no problem, but we couldn't coerce a smile out of her to save our lives! Maybe next year.

Christmas Cards

Making Christmas cards this year was F.U.N. and totally different/time consuming. Taking a good picture of my baby is easy and impossible at the same time. I mean... look at her, she's adorable. Unfortunately, she also can't sit up on her own yet and squirms all over the place so pictures are almost always blurry! All of this did make for some pretty cute outtakes though!

Decorating the Christmas Tree

One of my favorite little family traditions that Ryan and I have started is the decorating of our Christmas tree. I love it because it combines traditions from both sides of our family. While putting the ornaments on the tree, we listen to the Alabama Christmas CD (which is a Smith tradition) and drink our first egg nog of the season (which is a Schoeff tradition.) This year, we got to include our little nugget, which made the process even more special. She LOVED staring at the lights and playing with the ornaments (that couldn't break of course.)

The flowers in the bouquet I carried down the aisle THREE years ago today...still looking pretty good!

Stanley/Stone/Smith Christmas Gift Exchange

For a few years now, the Smith's and the Stanley's have gathered for dinner and a white elephant gift exchange around the holiday season. Ryan and I have never been able to attend since we lived out of the state and were never around until right around Christmas time. This year was our first Smiley Christmas party! We all met at Brandon and Rachel's house to watch the Falcons (lose), hang out by the fire pit, and enjoy some of Brandon's famous smoked pulled pork and chicken. After dinner, we drew names and participated in the white elephant portion of the evening. The gift theme this year was "As Seen on TV." Ryan and I walked away with a "Car Cane"... (yay!)