We started the month of November with a trip out to Washington and Oregon for a wedding of some college friends, catching up with more friends, and a week with Carl's family. We had a JAM PACKED 9 days! We celebrated an early Thanksgiving and ate our hearts out every day. Carl and I enjoyed the extra help with a very busy 18 month old and Grandpa, Grandma, Aunt Sarah, and Uncle Mark were more than willing! It was hard to say goodbye but always nice to be back home.
We celebrated Thanksgiving in Lansing with my parents, who came up for a few days. It was a nice low-key day with plenty of food and fun!
Ellie has been just delighted with the sights and sounds of Christmas. She loves having a glowing tree in her house and runs out to see it every morning. She happily shouts "ights" when the lights are turned on and her favorite ornament is the same one she loved last year. Same thing goes for her favorite Christmas song. We have a video of her last year dancing (as I'm holding her up) to "Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree". The first time she heard it this season she froze in her tracks, her jaw dropped, and she gasped...to which she responded with outright dancing! She gets so excited when we play it for her and is equally excited when it plays on the radio or in a store somewhere. She hasn't touched the presents except to rip off the tags and stick them on her shirt...at least no presents have been fully opened. She did start to tear into one when Grandpa and Grandma Trott were on the webcam asking Carl if she has opened any of them...the little girl understands EVERYTHING!!! The last couple times she has gone to my parent's house my mom has a small gift for her to open (my mom says it is for her to practice for Christmas...aren't Grandmas the best!). Yesterday it was "Melmo" plates and napkins (that is Ellie talk for "Elmo"). She also got a her first nativity set this year...the Fisher Price set...from her Great Grandpa and Grandma. We gave it to her early so she could have fun playing with it. Her favorite piece is Baby Jesus and she loves kissing him. When she gets to my parent's house the first thing she does is run to their nativity and take Baby Jesus out of the manger and show him to everyone. I pray daily that her love for Jesus continues to blossom from a little girl gingerly kissing a plastic Baby Jesus to a woman daily choosing to following Him.
This year we will be spending Christmas with my family...the first time in 7 years! It is a bittersweet thing. We love spending the holidays on the West coast but it will be nice to actually see my family on Christmas this year and not just wish them a Merry Christmas over the phone. We are incorporating some of the Trott family traditions on my family this year. I made Carl's Grandma's Chinese Pork for us to have on Christmas Eve and we're making a breakfast dish that we've had the last few years out there as well.
We have so much to be thankful for and a wonderful 2009 to look forward too.
