Our PB&J Adventure Book

Merry & bright
Ben's 1st Christmas was definitely a special one for our little family. Christmas has always been my favorite holiday and this year would be extra magical since it would mark the last "first" holiday celebration for Ben. PB and I made sure to fill his holiday season with lots of family fun and adventures, but when it came to the official Christmas celebrations, we made sure to do what we could to make sure Ben's 1st Christmas would be *merry & bright*.

Family, Food, Gifts and Fun
The main event for Christmas in my family is our traditional family Christmas Eve celebration. I come from a huge family, so our Christmas Eve celebrations are always loud, full of food and most of all... fun! Ben channeled his inner Santa Claus and was showered with gifts, cuddles and lots of Christmas Eve love from my family.

Santa's Elves Working OT
After our annual family party, PB and I headed home to get the magic started on making Ben's 1st Christmas morning one for the memory books.

All about that Christmas morning
While Christmas Eve always meant "party-time" growing up, Christmas day on the other hand is traditionally a much more low key affair. I say "low key" but it doesn't mean any less special. Christmas Day, particularly the morning has always been one of my favorite parts about Christmas. It's those quiet moments, right after waking up as a child... running into the living room and realizing that Christmas magic had happened overnight and just maybe... a special visit from one called Santa Claus. This was something I hoped for Ben to experience and boy oh boy was it a Christmas morning to remember!
Santa stopped by and dropped off a little walk and play car for Ben! The look on his face when he came out into the living room and saw the gift set up was priceless. His big toothy grin, the giggles and curiosity. He looked around thinking "what is this thing and how did it get here?" LOL. There were definitely a lot of mama happy tears shed. I can't even begin to describe the emotion you feel as a new parent, seeing your child experience the magic of Christmas for the first time.

The merriest memories!
Christmas day also means more merry festivities! We spent the day with our closest family, more gift fun for Ben, food, tons of quality time spent with our loved ones and of course, more food. Ben's 1st Christmas may be over, but now we have so much to look forward to in the years to come. Here's to a lifetime more happy Christmas mornings and merry moments ahead. 💜

Thankful
November was a fun filled month packed with all the loviest events, adventures and memories. So incredibly thankful for another month of so much love. Let's start at the beginning!

Just Keep Swimming
November brought about a whole bunch of new adventures starting with Ben's first visit to a childhood favorite, the Monterey Bay Aquarium in Monterey, CA. Growing up, my parents would take me here and I'd always be so amazed by the incredible under water exhibits and fun. Our little family packed up for a weekend getaway and got to take Ben for his first visit to Monterey and to the aquarium! He loves the little adventure and making so many under the sea, ocean friends!

Love, Love, Love
Family is everything to me and it's something that both PB and I hope that Ben grows up to value and know: family always comes first! November held so many special family events starting with celebrating my grandmother's birthday, then my cousin's wedding aka Ben's 1st wedding guest experience!
I was part of the bridal party, so Ben got a LOT of daddy and me time while I was off doing my wedding party duties. This probably explains why Ben's dapper wedding guest outfit was unbuttoned 50% of the time, lol! But it was a beautiful evening at the most gorgeous venue, Nestldown in Los Gatos, CA. Ben loved getting to party the night away with my family!

When you leave it to daddy to dress you... #buttonfail

Holiday Magic
If an aquarium visit, great grandmother birthday and family wedding wasn't enough.... add in a dose of Disneyland magic to the busy month 11 mix. We took advantage PB's Thanksgiving week off and headed down to Disneyland to soak in all of the Disneyland holiday magic. There's really no feeling like being at the Disney parks when it's all decked out in it's Christmastime best!
We also lucked out by arriving to the parks on Mickey Mouse's 90th Birthday! We missed a majority of the morning festivities due to our drive down, but we were still able to soak in some celebratory fun with the day's special merchandise and getting to meet the birthday mouse himself!

We scored one of the Birthday Mickey sippers at Disneyland!

Ben got to experience his first Disney Christmas, complete with getting into festive style, catching "Snoap" or the soap snow that would fall down Main Street and just soaking in the holiday love. I can't tell you how much my heart soared during this trip. Disneyland during the holidays is my absolute favorite. So being able to finally share it with my little guy was beyond anything I could have ever asked for!

Turkey Day
As if there wasn't enough to celebrate or do this month, we also got to celebrate another "1st" holiday for our Ben, Thanksgiving! I can't tell you how amazing it is to watch Ben experience his "firsts" with the holidays. Since he's a little older, he's more aware of the day. Trust me, he didn't let those mashed potatoes and turkey go by unnoticed.
Oh Christmas Tree!
My family had a ton of traditions for the holidays while growing up. One of the traditions for us was to set up our Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving with my sister, holiday music on blast, truly kicking off the holiday season surrounded by love. We got to continue that tradition this year by sharing it with Ben. He loved all the Christmas tree action, especially when my dad would put up the colorful lights.
We also got to take Ben to his first Christmas tree picking experience for our own tree at home. He loved getting to be surrounded by all the trees and holiday spirit!

One year on the horizon
So here we are, 11 months into parenthood. I can't believe that our little Ben is one month away from turning ONE. It's crazy I tell you, simply crazy! I look at him sometimes and think "has it really been a year?". His little face is completely different from when I first laid eyes on him, he's no longer this little squish, he's now like a little grown man. Ben is so curious about the world around him and is becoming so much more independent and fearless. This kid is going to be a daredevil!
It's a little bittersweet knowing the next PB&J parenthood update will be recapping one whole year. There's been so many happy memories, growth and milestones. So here's to looking forward to what a whole ONE year will look like next month! Until then, thank you, as always, for reading along!💜