Birthday & Christmas Cheer

Here’s a recap of our weekend hunting for the perfect Christmas tree at The Market At Grelen and celebrating Thomas’s birthday!

Happy 38th Bday weekend to my man!

Bagels + presents for Thomas’s birthday breakfast!

We started the day slow and cozy with breakfast and gifts. 

Tree Hunting at The Market At Grelen

And after breakfast, we headed to The Market at Grelen, a “European-style garden shop” about 30 minutes from Cville. I had heard great things about The Market at Grelen but had never been there before! My friend says their wreath making classes are great. 

I would have loved to peruse the little gift shop longer. They had tons of patio space too – next spring we’ll have to drive up for lunch!

Tree Hunting

We started the day meandering through the Christmas tree “mountain” looking for one to cut down. 

Thomas, Mazen, and I darted between trees saying “I like this one!” and “What about this one” and soon enough Birch was doing the same! He ran up to a tree, put his nose next to it and would squeal “I love this one” It was quite cute.

Good thing we brought our electric saw

Once we chose the perfect tree (we nearly couldn’t agree!) Thomas did the dirty work of cutting it down. The hand saw they gave us wasn’t cutting it (ha!) so luckily he brought a little hand-held electric one. Did the job quick! 

Warming up with Hot Chocolate

This was THE BEST hot chocolate with peppermint and a homemade marshmallow!!

Santa was there!

We heard another family whisper that Santa was “in the tent” and much to our delight he was!!!! 

Both kids were quite nervous. I will say that talking to Santa through two masks + plexiglass was a bit hard to do! I told Mazen to yell so Santa could hear him, especially since Mazen mumbles when he’s shy! 

Thanks to The Market at Grelen for such a fun holiday experience! We were so glad we didn’t just pick up a tree at Whole Foods as we did in the past. This was much more exciting!

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Tree Trimming

We are also lucky we have a truck in the family – bringing it home was so easy! I remember always having to vacuum out the trunk in the past : )

We spent some time putting on the lights and ornaments before chilling during Birch’s nap. 

I got cozy on the couch with a big salad full of Catch Sitka Salmon and the Bachelorette!

Look at this cozy boy!

Thomas’s Royalty Party

We had a little party for Thomas in the afternoon, which was really just his parents and nephew coming over for cake on the patio, social distancing style. 

Birch was happy to show his cousin his favorite excavator!

The “royalty” joke came to be because Thomas requested the famous Princess Cake from Albemarle Baking Co. We call it the “Prince” cake in our house, so that’s what I had put on the writing

Here’s their description: “Our version of this traditional Swedish dessert features vanilla sponge cake layered with bavarian cream and covered with a thin sheet of marzipan.”

It’s so light and fluffy and like a cloud of cream! 

T’s mom brought him some balloons – including one perfectly fitting for the party!

We had a fire pit and played a few yard games with the kiddos.

Middle Jane + Blue Apron

We had this special bottle of wine for dinner – this is my VERY FAVORITE of the Scout + Cellar labels I’ve tried: Middle Jane Zinfandel. It’s juicy and complex and also not cheap, but you can find it on promo from time to time! Next time I’m buying a case. 

It’s also a special label because my grandmother’s middle name was Jane, and the description on the back of the bottle reminds me of her. If I had had a girl baby, I wanted her middle name to be Jane <3

“Four generations ago, there was the first Jane in our family: Our great, great grandmother. Jane was strong. She swore only when needed. She worked hard, she did things right and she always wore lipstick. The unofficial matriarch of our family. Jane was the woman we all aspire to become.”

For dinner, I made Thomas a special Blue Apron feast of pork chops and corn cakes with braised kale and apples and a spicy sauce. He played with the boys while I did the cooking. This one was a winner!!

On Sunday morning we had Albemarle Baking Co bran muffins that I picked up with the cake, plus eggs and orange. 

And we played all day!

Sunday night we had Blue Apron again. Look who sat at the table with us!

xo,

Kath