Thanksgiving and Christmas are my two favorite holidays of the year. There is something so warm and magical about the weeks between these two major holidays, and I just plain love everything about the season. Spending time with my favorite people, gathering around a big table to share a wonderful meal, decorating until my feet ache and baking up delicious goodies in the kitchen make me a very happy woman. Having a child to share this time with is more rewarding than I ever could have imagined.  I’m lucky to be Emma-Kate’s Mom and to show her all of the wondrous things that make up this time of year.

Every year we spend Thanksgiving week with my parents in Fayetteville and most of the Christmas festivities and celebrating with Andrew’s family in Little Rock. Last week was non-stop hustle and bustle and entirely too much eating. Here are some of my favorite shots from our time with my parents and our time at home preparing for Christmas:

My Dad is always in the kitchen, so Emma-Kate naturally spent a lot of time there too. Here, she’s smelling spices with my Dad and reading with my Mom.

We made a trip to the Fayetteville Square to take in the thousands of twinkling lights. Unfortunately, when you have a professional camera and custom settings its hard to get a good photo from your helpful father – Thanks, Dad, for trying! 🙂

A quick shot I grabbed of Emma-Kate playing computer games with her favorite ‘uncle,’ Matthew

Here’s my favorite girl standing on her tip-toes trying to sneak a peek at the lit snowman and reindeer outside.

I saved the cutest and most precious for last – Emma-Kate and her Daddy heading out for the Sugarplum Ball