The best thing about the holidays...

...is that with a kid, they become a little bit magical again.  Wes, unable to filter excitement, does a great job of reminding us grown-ups that the holidays are more than an agenda of decorating and a shopping list to be crossed-off.

We spent a quiet Thanksgiving at home.  The weather was pretty awesome, so we were able to play outside with neighbors in the morning and then hit the bike trail in the afternoon.

Wes had been looking forward to bringing out the Christmas decorations since July, so we took the opportunity of a laid-back Thanksgiving to unpack the kid-magic and watch our son transform into Buddy the Elf.

Wes spends a lot of time in Grandpa Miller's basement having "man time", so a man-tree went up down there as well. 

A week later my side of the family got together to celebrate an early Christmas.  We baked cookies, visited a reindeer ranch, and of course, opened presents.

Shortly before Christmas, we visited Sean's family in Springfield.  After more presents and a tasty pizza dinner, we checked out the Springfield zoo lights.

Once school had ended for Sean, we spent our days being festive in the most laid-back ways.

 On Christmas Eve, after dinner with my parents, we prepared for Santa's arrival.

Wes was happy to discover that Santa did indeed find our home, and I'm quite positive he enjoyed removing the wrapping paper as much as the gifts inside.

During the afternoon, we took a trip to the forest and left some birdseed so that the critters would have a good Christmas as well.

Finally, we closed out Christmas day as we have for the past 3 years: dinner with neighbor buddies.

Though the anticipation of the holidays is over and the decorations are coming down, Wes still finds ways to remind us to live each day as if it's as exciting as Christmas...even with a mere 0.25" of snow.