Happy Thanksgiving

one of the many turkey cupcakes Tyler & I made

A little light has been rekindled in me this year. One that I lost somewhere in high school. The magic of the holidays. The true magic. More than the lights and smells and the music. The head to toe excitement that used to over take me somewhere around Thanksgiving and last until my head hit the pillow after ringing in the new year.

Having Aliyah has brought it all back tenfold. Everything about celebrating Christmas with her this year has me nearly bubbling over. I’ve been searching for the perfect Christmas dress for months, I’ve been dreaming putting up our Christmas tree and looking forward to Christmas morning - seeing Ali in her new Christmas jammies exploring all of the goodies from Santa.

I have waited to start decorating and playing music until after Thanksgiving so that we can truly enjoy and take in this holiday as well. Today we head towards Baldwin in the morning to enjoy a feast with tons of little ones running around at Tyler's aunts house and then in the afternoon we travel back to Kansas City to celebrate a quiet dinner at my parent's house with the possibility of family games to wrap up the evening.

I am so excited for the weekend - to put up the decorations we purchased on our first Christmas as husband and wife and the many others we have collected along the way.

I feel so grateful to have found this holiday spirit again. It sounds completely corny, I know, but it’s true! What a gift it will be to hang her stocking there on the mantle between ours - A symbol of our growing family. I cannot wait to experience the joy and celebration of the holiday season through Aliyah Jacquelyn’s eyes.

I have a feeling it just keeps getting better every year as she becomes more aware of the magic of the holidays!