Our weekend...and more

Scott and I have tried our darnedest to not rush things with Fiona, but this year has been so special watching her get excited about Santa and all things Christmas, we just can't help it!!

We started the Elf on the Shelf this year.  It was absolutely adorable to see how excited she was when we told her that Santa had brought her donuts and her elf, which she named Elf.  It hasn't really phased her with the whole "Santa can see you throw this temper tantrum," but Hey! there's always next year....

We have already completed a couple items off of our Christmas bucket list.  This past weekend the girls and I joined my parents up in the mountains to pick out the good ol' Bartow family Christmas tree.  I think this is the prettiest one yet! 

We still have a couple more fun items to complete before the big day! 

We have tickets to ride the Triangle Train next weekend.  The train is an open air steam engine.  It looks straight out of a Harry Potter book!  I am so excited about this.  Fiona is in love with trains.  We have actually tried to ride a train with Fiona 2 times and we have been thwarted by the weather 2 times!! I'm feeling good vibes that the third times the charm. 

We still have to see Santa, make Christmas cookies, take a ride to look at Christmas lights and let's not forget squeeze in a couple Christmas vacation marathons! 

So excited the Christmas season is finally here!! 

Ashe County Tree Shopping

This past weekend we ventured up to the family mountain house and picked out a fresh Christmas tree.  We started doing this the year I was pregnant with Fiona.  We missed last year due to Scott's Fire Academy schedule, but plan to make it a yearly family trip.
We always have so much fun.  It always feels like the first real taste of winter and Christmas.  We have toasty fires every night, there is always a greater chance of snow up in the mountains, and its always so great to be with family.
There are so many wonderful tree farms all over the place in Ashe County, but I think we have finally found the perfect farm this year. Every tree was perfect.  It made it very difficult to find the right one.

We definitely lucked out on the weather.  It has been such a rainy messy fall, I was afraid it would be dreary and wet all weekend.



Saturday morning, we all piled in the car, listened to Christmas music, drove to the tree farm and picked out our Christmas tree.

Fiona was more interested in talking us into letting her play on the tree neighbor's swingset, than pick out a Christmas tree, but once we got it home, she hasn't stopped looking and pointing at each ornament. 

 

She saw the garland, and immediately tried to wear every strand like a necklace.  I just love her pleased little smile here, as she looks at the garlands.

Here is a little throwback to our first trip to the tree farm, when I was pregnant with Fiona. 

We are in the middle of a major living room remodel, more on that later.  But as soon as that is done (hopefully in the next week) I'll post pictures of our tree!