These are a few of my favorite things...

The first day of December has come and gone and now we are in full-on Christmas mode. I adore this time of year, for so many reasons (the lights! the food! the gifts! the family!) and I am oh-so-happy it's finally here.

As I look at my life (and the season right now), my heart is bursting with some "favorite things."

Things like...

Family traditions. Here is Sydney reading out some of our "thankful strips" on Thanksgiving morning. Traditions are what bind us together.

Football with Delaney. Here are Delaney and I all decked out in our crimson and white and houndstooth, getting ready to head out to the Iron Bowl last week. Alas, our beloved Bama team lost...but (amidst the wailing and gnashing of teeth), we sure enjoyed our time together with 101,000 of our closest friends.

My sweet, sweet girls. I absolutely ADORE this picture of Delaney, Sydney, and McKenna (which we took on Thanksgiving evening at my parents' house). The girls are just becoming more and more independent and lovely, and I'm proud to be their Momma. (McKenna is away at college and loving it, so we especially love when we get to spend time with her!)

Friends. Here are Chris and I at a recent 8os Silly Supper for the youth at our church. We were absolutely rocking the big hair, tight leggings, and heels (I was going for a sort of Red Version of His Royal Pupleness Prince). Chris is an amazing friend...one among many, many that I'm blessed to have.

Our special Malorie Ornament. We are all still just grieving the loss of our dear friends Greg, Karen, and Malorie, and this Christmas just won't be the same without them. Malorie loved Christmas so much and she also loved fashion. She always was dressed to the nines, and especially loved shoes! So, McKenna picked out this glittery, sparkly high heel ornament for our tree. It's always the ornament I notice first...and I wouldn't have it any othe way!

My white Christmas tree. The green tree is in the living room, the smaller tree is in the den, and the white tree is upstairs in the dining room. And I gotta say that there is something about that white tree, its disco ball ornaments, its sparkly lights, and the giant glittery "Peace" topper that just makes me smile extra big!

A visit with Santa. We went and visited the Big Guy yesterday and this Santa was a most excellent version. He talked with Sydney for several full minutes, and they seemed to be having quite the conversation.

My presents from Gary. One reason I love Gary is so much is that he absolutely understands my love of Christmas, and he indulges me big-time! He wraps my presents early so that I can shake them for weeks, and he always gets creative with his gift tags (it's a little something-something we do; we are required to write cute nicknames on each other's tags).

Music. I've been listening to a lot of Glee music lately (the Glee Christmas CD seems to be our holiday music of choice), which all of us just love (we love the show, of course, too and it's the highlight of our Tuesday nights!). But, yes, you also see some Green Day and Beatles peeking out from under the Glee music.

I hope you are enjoying some of your favorite things this December. If you aren't...what's stopping you?

Love you all, and see you soon!