Kicking off Christmas

 

This past weekend we kicked off the holiday season in full force.

We don't have many weekends that are just the three of us deciding what we want to do and when, but this was one of them. It was nice to have loose plans with minimal obligations. It's one of my resolutions for 2015 - to commit to less.

Anyway.

The weather was forecasted to be mostly terrible for a lot of the weekend so I was adamant about getting our Christmas tree on Friday night. That way, we would avoid the rain and could decorate it all weekend at our leisure. Well it straight up poured on Friday evening. My train was so delayed getting home. I arrived home at 7:30 which is very late for me, especially on a Friday. We darted right over to the 14th street Garden Center in Jersey City to get our tree.

The trees were covered so totally dry and we chose one pretty quickly.

While the gentlemen tied and wrapped our tree, we went into the store to pay and let Penelope look around.

I spy a Christmas elf.

On Saturday, we were up and ready for our building's holiday tree trimming.

Every year, the residents enjoy coffee and snacks while decorating our large lobby tree. I wasn't sure how Penelope would do with decorating but she was totally into it.

She understood being 'gentle' and that the ornaments were delicate. All of the kids got cracking and before we knew it, the bottom quarter of the tree was completely filled in :)

Penelope also enjoyed more than one doughnut. She loved chasing around the bigger kids and cried when it was time to head home!

Our original plan was to take Penelope to Sesame Place on Saturday for their Furry Christmas, but since the weather was so miserable we postponed to Sunday. Instead, we hit Jersey City Project Market, a holiday festival with tons of local vendors selling handmade goods and lots of local food trucks and stands.

The rain was coming down in sheets but luckily most of the event was in covered tents.

I sipped on a really great apple cider Bellini and I plan to make some for a Christmas party this weekend!

Shaun and I shared these amazing cheese curds with sriracha mayo.

Meanwhile Penelope kept herself busy with a lovely cupcake from Cocoa Bakery.

It was really fun to spend an afternoon among Jersey Cityans, supporting the local business and culture. I hope that Jersey City has a lot more of these kinds of things!

On Sunday, we woke up for music class, let Penelope take her nap and then it was off to Sesame Place for the late afternoon and evening.

The whole park is decked out for their 'Very Furry Christmas' and it was adorable. The lights were fantastic and it was great to walk around the park without sweating (as in the summer time).

Penelope really had a blast, but not without a few meltdowns. It was cold and she was straight up terrified of the characters.

But, she absolutely loved the rides!

 

There were plenty of rides for P to enjoy and so Shaun and I took turns riding with her. It was pure joy. There was one ride that the 3 of us could go on together and since the park wasn't crowded, we could actually just stay on the ride and go a few times. After every stop, Penelope would look out and yell, "MORE!"

We had a really good time and I'm glad that we made the effort to take her. By the end of the night, P was a screaming mess and ready to GO. So we made our way home and it was really sad to say buh bye to to such a great weekend.

We have another fun & Christmasy weekend ahead! Have a great day!

Comments

[Christine]

Ah this seems like such a magical weekend!
Little P the elf. Too freaking cute!

[Sandy]

So cute. When did she grow up?