Have a holly jolly Christmas...it's the best time of the year!

I've said it before and I'll say it again...this Christmas is gonna be so SPECIAL! We are going away for the first year up north the Flagstaff.  Spending time in the snow and seeing all the festivities- lights, snowmen, decorations and most of all SANTA!!!  Yes, Sofie is going to have a personal sitting session with her very own Santa Claus!

Nick is planning on surprising Sofia Christmas Eve night.  Christmas Eve Nick is planning on coming down to the lobby of the hotel we are staying at and surprising all the kids.  He is really looking foward to playing Santa for the first year! 

This year, Sofie was really excited to get her tree.  I love the smell of fresh pine as soon as you come in the house.  This year we continued our tradition and picked out one ornament for the each of us.  Nick and I have been doing this since we shared our first Christmas together in Minnesota back in 1999.  This year was special because Sofie was able to pick her own..

Here is the ornament I chose- When we traveled to Europe we found an ornament for each country we visited but never found one for England.  This year I found this and fell in love with it.  Plus, it's an omage to my prediction for the 2010 World Cup! Go Team England!

Here is the ornament Sofia chose. She is obsessed with Santa this year. It really is too cute!

And this is Nick's pick! He chose a really cute Chef making some holiday treats!

Looks like we need to make an addition to our snowman family!

This is my favorite tree topper!

Also, here is a preview of some of the pictures we took with a local photographer.  She did an amazing job!

As soon as we have the rest of the pictures we'll post them. 

Gingerbread fun!

Last week when we were picking our Christmas ornaments, we found this really cute gingerbread house kit.  We had to buy it and I thought it would be fun to decorate with Sofie. 

The kit was far from professional...but Sofie found it to be a blast! She really enjoyed getting creative with the sprinkles and candy decorations.

Sofie let me pipe the icing while she was in charge of placing the gum drops.

Sofie and Daddy putting the final touches!

Here is the finished product! Each time Sofia walks by the house, she points and says "My house"...it's too cute!