It's controversial, I know, but for me Christmas decorations go up BEFORE Thanksgiving. Here's my take- fall is from September through October with one day of Halloween, then it's Christmas season with one day of Thanksgiving. I really do love Thanksgiving... the festivities of the day, the good food, the time with family... but twinkling lights can go along with turkey too :)
So November 1st, the trees went up. Weirdly I have not been in the Christmas mood that much this year, but the lights sure look pretty anyway.
Our living room tree is our family tree with ornaments that represent each year and a mix of red, burlap, and rustic decor. Plus I added a big printout of our Santa picture from last year to our living room.
Our playroom tree has always been my biggest dilemma. I originally wanted a Grinch tree, then it was the tree that held all of Michael and my childhood ornaments, and this year I was going for a more 50s/60s tree with colored lights, my new tree skirt from Nana and Isla, and tinsel. I still really don't like it. So if you have any fresh ideas for this tree, let me know. I'm going for fun!
Isla's tree is flocked and pink and perfect for her :)
Eleanor's tree is snowflakes and pearls. She loves her twinkle lights so much!
Ewan's tree is colored lights and trucks! He doesn't sleep in his own room, so this just sits there for no one to enjoy I guess :)
Our dining room tree is probably my favorite. It's bare and homemade with dried oranges and cinnamon ornaments. This year I'm hoping to string popcorn and cranberries too!
And our last tree is the sugar plum, sweet tree in the kitchen! It's colorful and fun :)
For a family that doesn't really do the Santa thing, or at least doesn't really play into it much, I sure have a big Santa collection. Most of them came from Michael's grandma and a few are from my parents or they were gifts.
The mysterious Santa village... nobody knows where this came from. If you gifted it to us, please let me know! But the kids sure love peeking in the windows.
The State Farm building where the kids found their daddy working. He even has the same exact desk!
In other news, we've been plugging away at school. I'm proud of how far we've come this school year and what the kids have learned. Some days are hard or feel like I'm pulling teeth, but overall I'm more and more convinced that homeschooling is the right choice for our family.
We tend to lean towards unit studies in our homeschool. I often look at what's coming up in our life and try to plan our units around that. We also love to do deep dives into what the kids are interested in. So when I knew we were going to go owling AND I knew Isla's love of birds it was the perfect combination for a unit study on birds of prey! We spent a couple weeks doing all things BIRD. We dissected owl pellets, made clay owls, hiked out to a place we knew eagles were nesting at, watched videos on birds of prey, and read all about birds! Then we finished out the unit with real owling lead by a master naturalist and our co-op friends. Unfortunately, we didn't see any owls, but we heard some and got to experience owling in the dark!
Another co-op event we had was our annual friendsgiving. It was a sweet day full of games, crafts, stories, and really good food! We love our friends and were grateful to celebrate together.
Speaking of Thanksgiving, we had our own little practice round with our family. Since we are hosting this year, we needed to make sure we got that turkey just right ;) Every year I always wonder why we don't eat this kind of food more often. It's so delicious!
To ring in the festive season, we celebrated Amma's birthday with her. The kids were happy to share a cookie with her and then deliver them to all the residents in her facility.
I was able to have my own special festive start to the season too with a trip to Valparaiso, IN with my bestie, Crowder :) We shopped, ate good food, sipped wine, and chatted at our own little lake house. It was a relaxing, sweet weekend. I don't get to see Crowder very often, but every time I do I'm reminded of how blessed I am to have such a special friend. I had to come home a little early, though, because a blizzard was moving in. I got home just in time to be thrown back into the car and shipped off to a Christmas parade with the whole Ready crew :)
November has been full of outside time, faithful old recipes and new adventurous recipes, snuggles, read alouds, northern lights, and anything festive :)
And now I'm currently sitting here with my kiddos, all of us sick as can be, waiting until we feel better to get going on the rest of our November. I don't know what hit us, but we have every kind of symptom between the lot of us. Our first real big sickness of the season, I guess!
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