Black friday

The Muscato family tradition has always been to ignore the Black Friday commercialism and instead hit the hills and find our Christmas tree... Soren and I have continued that tradition in our home (except for that one fateful year when Soren became so enamored with the American Black Friday experience that he spent days pouring over flyers and rose around 4 am to compete with old ladies for good deals... I still made him wrestle a tree home that afternoon!). Last year we mosied around the property and found a tree that I trimmed from the top, bottom and all sides to fit into the house, so this year I tricked Soren into going to a sweet little tree farm nearby. The kids scored hot cocoa, candy canes, cookies and a new little 6 year old friend. It was perfect.We spent the afternoon putting up the lights and decorating the tree and house together - it was a lot of fun even though K and A broke a few too many ornaments...

The kids found their Santa cups from Nana and we filled them with their first ever taste of eggnog. Since juice and sweets are a rarity in this house it was quite a hit and guzzled down at an alarming rate.

It is one of my favorite days... Cozy. Warm. Twinkly lights. Pulling out so many of the ornaments given to us by friends and family. Smelling the amazing balsam throughout the house. Decorating the table. Putting up the little tree in the kids room. Decorating the house elf's door. Just being together as a family and knowing there is no need to prepare dinner - Yum! Thanksgiving leftovers! (well, Soren groaned at this one or maybe that was Saturday night when I tried to do leftovers again...)
Hope Black Friday shopping or relishing in the coziness of family was the perfect start to the holiday season for you too!