it's morning. at this very moment hadley is nestled into her crib, still sleeping away. i am nestled into our attic bedroom. i am showered. yessss. my hair is static-y. i am wearing jeans (aka not pajamas), my lumberjack slippers, and thinking about turning on our little electric heater, which i pretend is a wood burning stove. and i am too scared to creep downstairs for fear of waking up the little girl, because we have got a really good thing going on here. but i am celebrating up here in my chilly room. because it is december! and there is snow! just a little early morning dusting, but it's very happy. snow in december is the best of all! i hope it snows for you, too.

as i sit here thinking decembery thoughts, i'm looking at old photos. they are getting me in the mood. here are a couple from december 2009. doesn't that sound old now? we had just moved into our new house then. i remember how pretty our tree was!


we destroyed it with lights. so glowy! it made our walls look almost pink. and do you remember my sack lunch advent calendar? i loved that thing! maybe i will have to bring it back. and… remember the blizzard?


oooh. i hope we have another blizzard-full season ahead. according to the farmers' almanac (everyone goes by the almanac around here, you know) we are in for a whopper. like, 100 inches of snow or so. yeah. we have winter here in minnesota. no big deal. :)

but back to december 2011. here's what is going on so far:
1. the tree is up. this year we did a mixture of white and colored lights. it actually looks amazing.
2. our tree is not drippy with garland or spangled with ornaments. but it does have lights! 1,300 lights. on a tree that is way too small for 1,300 lights. that's how we like it.
3. if you've been following me on twitter, you know that i have already been watching Christmas movies, a gigantic guilty pleasure in my life. i'm with you guys who melt for The Family Stone. it's on at my house. over and over.
4. i'm letting my hair get dark. darrrrk. hello, winter blonde. at least according to rachel zoe's stylist, natural is so major right now.
5. only 3 classes left until grant gets his masters degree!!!!!
6. hadley is currently into sitting up and smiling so big her cheeks might pop. (she woke up at this point in the writing of this post. we got her dressed and fed and made some eggs for mom. she's playing on the floor now. i should be working in the kitchen instead of blogging...)
7. for christmas music i am enjoying the vince guaraldi trio holiday station on pandora, my old nat king cole stash, and michael buble's new album- which i am listening to on spottify.
8. the christmas quilt is out.
9. grant is planning another ice rink this year!
10. i've started making chai lattes after hadley goes to bed. mmmm.
11. basketball season is in full swing. (grant is coaching again.)
12. i've only gotten a couple Christmas gifts, but that's okay. amazon prime is my bff.
13. pajamas are really big around here. all day. at your house too?
14. we have a ton of yogurt in our fridge. homemade!
15. i will definitely be doing some more posting about GAPS. thank you guys for your awesome, honest feedback and cheering me on! i ate it up. how fun that some of you have been thinking about trying GAPS for yourself! i love that so many of us are thinking about the same stuff. i will be sure to share what i eat and some of my favorite recipes.