O Tannenbaum

We rounded out Thanksgiving weekend by our first New York stab at cutting down our own Christmas tree. I picked Matt's Christmas Tree Farm on Long Island, primarily because a couple websites told me (1) it is the closest tree farm to the city and (2) the people there will provide saws and tie the tree to the car for you. All of those things were true, and since my fatalistic predictions that we would have to saw off the top for the tree to fit inside our apartment didn't come true, we now have a lovely (and large) tree.

(You sure look good in that minivan, honey.)

The next night, we set the kids to work decorating. Notice how Hyrum's arm is blurry? Yes, his preferred decorating method mainly consisted of pitching ornaments in the general direction of the tree. He was immediately banned from all future tree or ornament contact in 2011.

At four years old, Evelyn has it down pat.

John and I finally finished it off Sunday night while listening to the First Presidency Christmas Devotional. I think we're going to try to make final decorating + present wrapping during the devotional an annual thing. It was the perfect way to finish getting into the spirit of the season.

Thanksgiving 2011

Thanksgiving started auspiciously---or not (depending on whether you are my mouth or my hips)---with the arrival of a large tin of Topsy's popcorn from my mom.

Cinnamon, cheddar, and caramel, just like old times. I didn't know whether to bless her or curse her. A couple days later, Laurel arrived. Since her boyfriend Mark didn't come until a day or two after she did, Hyrum had plenty of time to charm her with his winning ways.

What has him so entranced, you ask? Videos of himself, of course! What else?

Once Mark got here, the cooking and table setting and general hosting preparation started in earnest. We were lucky enough to have several great chefs as guests, so I mostly made meat and pies. Not bad at all. Dinner went off without a hitch other than a little trouble buttoning my jeans ever since. Thanks again to everyone who helped us celebrate. It was easy to feel grateful while spending the holiday with such wonderful friends and family.

Date Night: Helicopter Ride Edition

As my Christmas gift last year, John planned out several dates for 2011. I know, ladies, I know. I am a lucky woman. One of the most highly anticipated dates was a helicopter ride over Manhattan. As the date approached a well-timed Groupon even let us save a bit. I don't know what I can really say about it, except it was completely awesome. Not quite as romantic as it might have been, since John was in the back with two other couples and I was up front with the pilot, but 100% incredible all the same.

Also, I would like to say that these are the pictures John took . . .

. . . and these are the pictures I took.

Then we were home

The week after we got home from our trip west, Evelyn and I hosted little readers book club. The book was the Wizard of Oz. I looked everywhere online for cute Wizard of Oz craft ideas and found surprisingly little. I think most of the blogging world has forgotten that "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" is only part of the movie version. In the end, I had the kids use all the colors of Oz (and the rainbow) to make collages,

Then, we ate Rice Krispie treats meant to approximate the yellow brick road leading to the wall of the Emerald City.

None of the kids seemed bothered by the lack of resemblance to the actual Emerald City.

Hosting book club left plenty of time for leaf peeping in Central Park,

back-in-town errands, and just hanging out at home.

"Look, Mom, I got him to calm down and sit still. On my lap!"